Panscapes: Creative pancake recipes for Shrove Tuesday

Pancakes are important. The debate as to how they should be consumed raged for at least 10 minutes here at Independent.co.uk. Savoury or sweet? Thick or thin? American or crepe? The possibilities are endless.

But if you’re feeling adventurous this year (and have rather more ingredients in the cupboard than lemon juice and sugar to use up before Lent) then you could find yourself deciding between volcano or forest? Desert island or iceberg?

The artistic and gastronomic potential of the humble pancake has been thoroughly explored by experimental foodies Polly Betton and Andrew Stellitano, who have come up with a host of pancake recipes designed to look so good that you may feel rather guilty gobbling them up.

These edible masterpieces may look like the work of Heston Blumenthal, but they are easy enough to make at home.

Full recipes below:

Easy recipes

1. Forest

Ingredients:

American style pancake mix (see pancake recipes below)

Green food colouring

1 Apple

1 Ripe Pear

2 tsp Elderflower Cordial

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tbsp Lyle’s Golden Syrup

Sprig Lemon Balm (or mint)

Butter

Equipment:

Frying pan

Spatula

Cocktail Sticks (trimmed down)

Method:

1. Make up pancake mix as per instructions, add in a few drops of green food colouring.

2. Warm up frying pan over medium heat, melt a knob of butter. Make a series of little pancakes, each one smaller than the last.

3. Stack pancakes on a cocktail stick with the largest at the bottom and the smallest at the top to make tree. Keep your trees warm on a plate under foil in the oven until you’re ready to serve them.

4. Peel, core and finely dice 1 apple and half a pear. Put into a bowl with elderflower cordial, lemon juice and golden syrup, stir through

5. Slice the other half of your pear and place on plate to make little hills. Poke little hole in the slices to secure lemon balm sprigs. Drizzle around the syrup and diced fruit, decorated with a few more sprigs. Secure the pancake trees in the pear slices. Serve and enjoy.

2. Desert island

Ingredients:

Crepe pancake (see pancake recipes below)

Butter

200g Granola.

Kiwi

Passion fruit

Pineapple

Lyle’s Golden Syrup

Water

Green food colouring

Mint

Equipment:

Frying pan

Spatula

Cocktail stick

Method:

1. Make up crepe pancake mix as per instructions.

2. Warm up frying pan over medium heat, melt a knob of butter. Make a series of large, thin pancakes. Save a little pancake mix for later.

3. Put pancakes onto a baking tray and into a pre-heated oven at 100 degrees for 1 hour, or until pancakes can be snapped, then crush into a powder.

4. Cube pineapple and half of the kiwi, and spoon the flesh of your passionfruit into a bowl. Add Lyle’s Golden Syrup and water, stir.

5. Pile the syrup fruit on the plate. Finely slice the rest of the kiwi and lay around the edge of the pile. Spoon over a generous helping of sand. Drizzle the syrup mixture around the island.

6. Stir a drop of green food colouring through your extra pancake mix, then make a little ‘X’ shaped pancake. Place on a cocktail stick and anchor the tree in the island. Finish off with mint leaves – use a little syrup mixture to help them stay on.

Advanced recipes

1. Volcano

Description:

Black American style pancakes stacked to form volcanoes served with black pancake ‘sand’ (not light as shown), raspberry syrup ‘lava’ and meringue or candyfloss ‘smoke’.

Ingredients:

American pancakes (see pancake recipes below)

Black food colouring

Black ‘sand’ (see island recipe, add black food colouring to mix)

Lyle’s Squeezy Strawberry Syrup

Juice of 1/2 Lemon

Raspberries, lightly crushed

Ready made meringues or candy floss

Cocktail sticks

Equipment:

Frying pan

Spatula

Cocktail Sticks (trimmed down)

Method:

1. Make up black sand in advance (see Island method)

2. Make up American pancake mix as per instructions, add in a few drops of black food colouring.

3. Warm up frying pan over medium heat, melt a knob of butter. Make a series of pancakes, each one smaller than the last. Keep your volcanoes warm on a plate under foil in the oven until you’re ready to serve them.

4. Mix together syrup, crushed rapsberries and lemon juice. Set aside in a covered container.

5. Place crushed meringue or small amount of candyfloss onto cocktail sticks – 1 per ‘volcano’.

6. Scatter a generous amount of black pancake ‘sand’ in the middle of the plate. Place your stacked pancake ‘volcanoes’ on top of the sand. Drizzle over the raspberry ‘lava’ sparingly and finish off by anchoring the ‘smoke’ on top of each volcano.

 

4. Pancake Rapids

Ingredients

Crepe pancakes (see recipe below)

Lyle’s Squeezy Chocolate Syrup

Lyle’s Golden Syrup

Strawberries

Yoghurt

Blue food colouring

Equipment:

Frying pan

Spatula

Foil

Method:

1. Make up crepe pancake mix as per instructions. Add Lyle’s Chocolate Syrup to the mix and beat in.

2. Warm up frying pan over medium heat, melt a knob of butter. Make a series of large, thin pancakes.

3. Drape the pancake over a foil shape (can be any shape, the more random the better) and place on baking tray in a pre-heated oven at 100 degrees for an hour, until pancake is stiff.

4. Make a pool of yoghurt in the bowl. Trim the tops off strawberries and place upside down in yoghurt pool. Break up small pieces of pancake and scatter among the strawberry ‘rocks’. Choose a large piece of baked pancake with a fold in it and balance on the edge of the bowl to form a small waterfall.

5. Mix the golden syrup with a little water and a few drops of food colouring then pour down the pancake waterfall to serve.

 

5. Iceberg (NB! There is a video demonstration, above left)

Ingredients:

Eggs (separated)

Icing sugar

Blueberries

Milk

Vanilla pod

Lyle’s Golden syrup

Double cream

Blueberry juice

Gelatine sheets

Meringues

American pancake (see recipe below)

Equipment:

Ice cream maker

Thermometer

Baking trays x 2

Cling film

Baking parchment

Method:

1. Heat milk and split vanilla pod to a simmer in a pan over medium heat. Once simmering take off heat and set aside.

2. Beat the Lyle’s Golden Syrup and egg yolk together in a bowl until light and thick.

3. Re-heat milk to a simmer, remove vanilla pod. Slowly pour the milk into the egg mixture while beating constantly.

4. Place bowl over pan of simmering water and whisk while heating until the mixture reaches 85 degrees. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Once cool pour into ice cream maker and leave to churn.

5. Put gelatin sheets in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes to soften. Meanwhile heat a small amount of blueberry juice in a pan.

6. Once softened, squeeze excess water from the gelatin and add to pan. Stir until melted through. Add the Lyle’s Golden Syrup and stir through until melted.

7. Remove pan from heat and pour in remaining blueberry juice, stir to incorporate. Set aside to cool.

8. Once cooled, pour a thin layer into a cling film lined baking tray and put into the fridge to set.

9. Place egg whites in a bowl and beat until they form stiff peaks. Add icing sugar 1 tsp at a time while continuing to beat.

10. Use a flat knife to spread a thin layer of meringue over a parchment lined baking tray. Put into a pre-heated oven at 70 degrees for an hour and a half or until cooked through and brittle.

11. Make up American pancake mix as per directions. Pour into boat mould and microwave for 30 seconds. Set aside to cool before unmoulding.

12. Remove set jelly from fridge. Use a flat knife to cut slices, which can be arranged on the plate to resemble a stormy sea

13. Remove ice cream from freezer and place a single scoop on the plate. Break off meringue pieces to decorate the scoop as an iceberg. Dot around blueberries and finish the scene with the pancake boat.

Pancake recipes

1. American Pancakes.

110g Plain Flour

5g Baking Powder

20g Tate & Lyle Caster Sugar

4g Maldon Salt

150g Full Fat Milk

3 eggs (separated)

- Mix all your dry ingredients together in a bowl. Gradually add egg yolks and milk, continuously beating until smooth.

- Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, then gently fold into the batter.

- Cook in desired shape in a frying pan over a medium heat with a little butter.

2. Crepes.

90g Plain flour.

5g Tate & Lyle Caster Sugar

Pinch Maldon Salt

145g Full Fat Milk

1 large egg

75g water

10g melted butter

- Mix all your dry ingredients together in a bowl. Gradually add all liquids and eggs together , continuously beating until smooth.

- Cook in desired shape in a frying pan over a medium heat with a little butter.