Happy Pancake Day! If you’re looking for something a bit special this pancake day then I thoroughly recommend making these red velvet pancakes. I’ve made them twice in the last week… just to make sure they were good enough for you all. Obviously.

The thing is with these super thick and fluffy ‘american’ style pancakes, is that they’re actually just cakes cooked in a pan as opposed to the oven. They have all the same ingredients as cakes and this makes them super fluffy and filling. It might seem like a lot of ingredients for a few pancakes but if you have the time then it’s definitely worth it! I got this recipe from a youtube channel called “Gemma’s Bigger Bolder Baking” but i halved the quantities to make only four pancakes. They may not be the prettiest pancakes in the world but they’re certainly the tastiest!

Stack them up nice and high to present and serve with maple syrup, a dusting of icing sugar or a softly whipped cream cheese topping (my topping of choice).

Makes four pancakes

For the pancakes:

110g plain flour

15g cocoa powder

30g golden caster sugar or normal caster sugar

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

pinch of cinnamon (optional)

pinch of salt

30g butter, melted

150ml buttermilk

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tbsp red food colouring (you may need more depending on your food colouring, keep adding until you’re happy with the colour! For vibrant colour, use gel food colouring)

For the Cream Cheese topping:

50ml double cream

50g icing sugar

2 tbsp cream cheese

drop of vanilla extract

1) Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl and whisk together.

2) Melt the butter and let it cool slightly.

3) In a jug, mix all the rest of the ingredients together except the melted butter.

4) Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients (not including butter!) and mix but only until incorporated, literally a couple of mixes.

5) Add the melted butter and give it a final mix or two. The batter should be VERY lumpy and extremely unappetising!

6) Heat a pan on medium-low heat and grease lightly with butter.

7) Dollop the pancake batter on to the pan, smoothing out the circle shapes as you go along. You probably will only be able to do a couple at a time.

8) When the pancakes are done on one side, they will begin to bubble on the surface and lose their shine around the edges. Flip them over and cook for another couple of minutes on the other side.

To make the topping, just whip the double cream and icing sugar to almost soft peaks and then add the cream cheese in, careful not to over-whip.

Serve with fresh berries and tuck in!