Pancake Cake

I love pancakes in all their myriad forms. But crepes are my real favourite. What could be better than this pancake cake with it’s layers of luscious crepes and all that yummy fruit too.

Pancake Cake

Don’t you just love foodie days! Days where we are positively encouraged to eat something special in the name of tradition. Next week is Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day. Whoopee, an excuse to enjoy pancakes in all sorts of ways from crepes with lemon or American style stacks served with maple syrup and bacon.

The history bit

Shrove Tuesday is the day before Lent and takes it’s name from the old word ‘shrive’ from the middle ages. Shrive means ‘to confess’ as people would confess their sins before Lent began.
Because such things as eggs, butter and fat were forbidden during the 40 days of Lent leading up the Easter people would have to use them up on Shrove Tuesday so that they were not wasting good food. Whipping up pancakes seemed like the best way to go and so our Pancake Day was born.

Around the world

Shrove Tuesday is celebrated all over the world. From France, Greece, Sweden, Denmark and Germany to Brazil, the USA, Canada and Iceland as well as others. It goes by different names too, Mardi Gras being the one most people will recognise. Mardi Gras actually means Fat Tuesday.

Fun facts

Pancake Day is celebrated in all sorts of ways, from coins and charms being hidden inside pancakes in Newfoundland, to the tradition of Pancake Races in the UK.
The first recorded pancake race was held in Olney in 1445 where local housewives would run around the market square and had to toss the pancake in their frying pans three times without dropping it.
The world’s biggest pancake was made in 1994 in Rochdale and measured 15 metres in diameter, weighed in at a whopping 3 tonnes and contained no less than 2 million calories!

My pancakes

Normally I’d just make crepes with lemon juice and sugar for myself and do them with Nutella for Idgy. This year I’ve decided to ring the changes and going a wee bit fancy with my Pancake Cake. Don’t you just love this, layers of pancakes with mixed berries in a light syrup in between.

My pancake cake looks so decadent but it’s a breeze to make and would look a treat on any table. Good enough as a dessert at a supper party.

Ingredients

• 200ml milk
• 100g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 50g sugar
• 2 eggs
• zest of half an orange
• 250g mixed berries (I used a mix of frozen and fresh here)

Method;

• Whisk together the milk, flour, salt, half the sugar and eggs in a jug
• Set aside in the fridge for 20 minutes
• Heat a small pan and warm the berries and remaining half of the sugar
• Heat a small frying pan and add the butter
• Fry two tablespoons of batter at a time for approximately 2 minutes on each side to create your pancakes (I got 6)
• Layer the pancakes on a plate with the berry mixture between each layer and top with more berry mix plus the grated orange zest and a few mint leaves

How many pancakes do you need for a pancake cake?

The amount of pancakes you will get depends on the size of your pan. I use a small omelette pan to make my pancake cake recipe.

So that’s my Pancake Cake and Shrove Tuesday all sorted in my house. How are you going to serve your pancakes this year?

Karon x

Here are a few of my other pancake recipes you might like to try. Just click on the image to whizz to the recipe;

Porridge Pancakes

Pesto Pancakes

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