Flipping Amazing Pancakes
For us, the best pancakes to have on Pancake Tuesday are the soufflé pancakes. Light, fluffy and oh so delicious, these do take a little more time than the traditional pancakes, but they are worth it!
Served warm, straight from the pan with your choice of toppings, nothing can beat them!
See the Recipe below from our Head Chef Trevor:
Ingredients
- 5 tbsp cake flour or plain flour will do
- 1 1/2 tbsp skim milk
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 tbsp granulated white sugar
- 2 large eggs egg whites and egg yolks separated (keep egg whites chilled in fridge until ready to use)
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Method
- In a bowl, add milk, melted butter and egg yolks. Sift in cake flour or plain flour using a flour sifter or fine mesh strainer (make sure you don’t skip this!). Mix with a whisk until batter is smooth and mixture is a pale yellow.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add chilled egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar. I don’t recommend skipping the tartar as it really helps to keep the egg whites stable so that the soufflés don’t collapse. Make sure your mixing bowl and whisk attachment are completely clean and dry. If there is any oil, your egg whites won’t turn into meringue. Whip on the highest speed your mixer allows, until stiff peaks form. (About 2-3 minutes). Your meringue should be able to hold it’s form and if you turn the mixing bowl upside down, the meringue will not slide out.
- Using a spatula, scoop out one third of the meringue and add to your egg yolk batter. Gently fold the meringue into the batter until there are no more white streaks. Make sure you start your folds from the bottom, so that the batter at the bottom of the bowl doesn’t go unmixed. You need to be gentle when folding. if you mix too hard, the meringue will lose it’s structure. Once the meringue has been incorporated, add in another third. Fold in. And then the final third. At the end, your batter should be very light and airy, with the meringue only just incorporated to the point where there are not visible white streaks.
- If this is your first time making these, you may want to start with just one as a test, to determine the heat setting for your stove and how long to cook the pancakes. But the directions I am sharing is for how I would normally cook these. Add two ring molds to a large skillet. Spray the insides of the ring molds with cooking oil spray. I found that this is the best method to grease, as it completely greases the interior of the molds and also the bottom where the pancakes will be, but doesn’t spread grease to the rest of the parts of the pan you won’t be using.
- Bring your skillet to low heat. It may take a test one to figure out where exactly you want your heat setting. For me, I turned my dial to heat setting 4 (with 10 being the highest) on my gas stove top. Once the oil and pan are hot, fill each ring mold between 1/2 to 2/3 full with batter, allowing some room for them to rise. Add 1/2 tbsp of water to each side of the pan (preferably not touching the pancakes). Close the lid and allow to cook about 4-5 minutes.
- Your pancakes are ready to flip when the surface looks completely cooked. The cakes will rise quite high (possibly past the rim of the molds), but they will start to collapse slightly once you remove the lid and let out some of the heat. Be careful not to try to flip these too soon because they will collapse and will stay collapsed. Use a spatula or turner to flip the pancakes (while still in their molds). If you have batter spilling out when you flip these, then they are not ready to be flipped. I prefer to use a cookie spatula because they are thinner and slip under the molds easier.
- Cover and cook for another 3-4 minutes until pancakes are completely cooked and golden brown on both top and bottom. Place pancakes onto plate. Gently push out of the molds to remove from molds. Repeat with remaining batter.
To serve:
Serve warm with syrup, powered sugar, whipped cream, fruit or other toppings of your choice. Our favourite combinations are:
- Lemon Syrup
- Strawberries & Cream
- Maple Syrup