Fluffy Pancakes with Chocolate Sauce
Thick, fluffy pancakes in the morning not only smell amazing, they are a delight too! My family enjoy stacking them up and drizzling chocolate sauce and honey, occasionally having them with a dollop of peanut butter on the side. Lightly crispy when warm, but so soft and tender when cooled.
All the ingredients are very simple and common – with the addition of dark-cooking chocolate make the chocolate sauce!
Be warned: after breakfast as indulgent as this, a family will be in a food coma; perfect for hanging out and watching movies on a lazy weekend!
Ingredients
Although couverture is the best quality for making anything chocolate, this time I’m using humble cooking/ baking chocolate. Not only does it cost less, the smoothness and taste are easily improved with some full cream milk in a 2-to-1 ratio. This also makes it even more glossy and slightly runny – the perfect consistency for thick, chocolate sauce. There is so much chocolate sauce made in this recipe, the leftovers can be kept as chocolate spread over warm toast, or as a quick ganache fix to cakes when needed.
The rest of the ingredients needed for a classic pancake are all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, unsalted butter, milk, eggs and unscented cooking oil.
All-purpose flour is also known as wheat flour. Cake flour (also known as self-raising flour), which is all-purpose flour mixed in with raising agents (like baking powder) can be used as well. Do note that the baking powder used in this recipe should be reduced to 1 tsp, otherwise the pancakes may end up with a metallic taste.
Cold milk is used in the pancake mix to bring down the temperature of the butter once melted, so there is less chance for it to cook the egg. For the chocolate sauce, I recommend using either warm or room-temperature milk to easily mix the chocolate sauce. Cold milk will seize up the warm chocolate, however, it is not the end of the world as the chocolate will melt once again with a longer cooking time.
Lastly, while butter can be used to cook the pancakes, it is recommended to use cooking oil instead. This is because butter has a lower smoke point, and burns easily – in some cases, it burns even before the pancakes are cooked, especially in the 2nd and 3rd batches. Additionally, unscented cooking oils are highly recommended as the fluffy pancakes will taste strange otherwise.
Steps
- Melt chocolate in a double boiler.
- Stir in milk until smooth. Remove and set aside.
- Sift flour and baking soda together.
- Mix in salt and sugar.
- Melt butter.
- Whisk in cold milk and egg.
- Mix dry and wet ingredients.
- Spread cooking oil in the nonstick pan.
- Pour 1/2 cup of pancake batter.
- Flip after bubbles appear in the centre.
- Remove from heat.
- Add butter and drizzle chocolate sauce over the fluffy pancakes.
Tips
- Cutting the chocolate into smaller pieces helps it melt faster.
- If using a glass bowl to melt the chocolate, let it heat up together with the water to prevent it from cracking.
- Butter can burn quite easily, so once 80% has melted, the remaining 20% will melt through residual heat.
- Adding cold milk to the butter is important as it reduces the temperature significantly. This prevents the egg from getting cooked before it is added to the wet mixture.
- I used a 4-compartment non-stick pan – so 1 tsp was used for each compartment. If using a normal non-stick pan, add about 1/2 tbsp of cooking oil instead.
- The pancakes are ready to be flipped once the edges have solidified and the centre is full of bubbles.
- Resist pressing down on the pancakes as they cook – we do not want those precious air bubbles to escape and deflate the fluffy pancakes.
- If the chocolate sauce is too thick when cooled, warm it up in a double boiler, stirring until the consistency desired is reached.
- Watch the video to see exactly how it is made.
Storage Instructions
These fluffy pancakes are best consumed immediately once cooked! However, leftovers are pretty great too. They can be kept in the fridge overnight, or frozen for 3-4 days.
Just reheat the fluffy pancakes over a steamer for about 3-4 minutes after the water boils, or in the microwave until warm.
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Pancake with Chocolate Sauce
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Hand Whisk
- Non-Stick Frying Pan
- Silicone Turner
- Steamer Stand
- Sieve
Ingredients
Chocolate Sauce
- 200 g dark chocolate, chopped to small pieces
- 100 ml milk
Dry Pancake Ingredients
- 1.5 cup all purpose flour, *aka wheat flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1.5 tbsp sugar
Wet Pancake Ingredients
- 60 g butter, melted
- 200 ml milk, cold
- 1 egg
To Cook
- 12 tsp unscented cooking oil, *or 1/2 tbsp if using a large pan
Instructions
- Cut the chocolate into pieces and place in a heat-resistant bowl.
- In a pan over medium heat, add a steamer stand. Pour water until the stand is submerged by 1 inch. Place the bowl on the stand and stir for 3 minutes, or until the chocolate is 80% melted.
- Add 100ml of milk into the bowl and stir for 2 minutes, or until the chocolate is fully melted and glossy. Switch off the heat, remove the bowl from the pan with a steamer clamp or mittens, and set aside to cool slightly.
- Sift the all-purpose flour and baking soda into a mixing bowl. Add the salt and sugar, and whisk until fully-combined. Set aside.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, stir to melt the butter for about 45 seconds, or until 80% of the butter has melted. Switch off the heat. Continue stirring until it has completely melted.
- Pour in the cold milk. Crack the egg and add it into the saucepan. Whisk until well-combined.
- Pour the wet mixture into the mixing bowl. Whisk the ingredients gently until smooth. The consistency should be thick enough to show traces of the pancake batter briefly before disappearing.
- In a non-stick pan, add cooking oil and spread it throughout the surface. Let it heat up for about 30 seconds.
- Pour 1/2 cup of pancake batter into the pan and cook for 1 to 1.5 minutes, or until the edges are a slightly different colour, and a lot of bubbles have formed at the centre of the pancake.
- With a turner, carefully flip the pancakes and cook for another minute. Remove from the pan and place onto a plate with a steamer stand on it.
- Oil the pan and cook until all the pancake batter has finished.
- To serve, add a piece of butter and drizzle chocolate sauce or honey over the pancakes.
Video
Notes
- Cutting the chocolate into smaller pieces helps it melt faster.
- If using a glass bowl to melt the chocolate, let it heat up together with the water to prevent it from cracking.
- Butter can burn quite easily, so once 80% has melted, the remaining 20% will melt through residual heat.
- Adding cold milk to the butter is important as it reduces the temperature significantly. This prevents the egg from getting cooked before it is added to the wet mixture.
- I used a 4-compartment non-stick pan – so 1 tsp was used for each compartment. If using a normal non-stick pan, add about 1/2 tbsp of cooking oil instead.
- The pancakes are ready to be flipped once the edges have solidified and the centre is full of bubbles.
- Resist pressing down on the pancakes as they cook – we do not want those precious air bubbles to escape and deflate the pancakes.
- If the chocolate sauce is too thick when cooled, warm it up in a double boiler, stirring until the consistency desired is reached.
- Watch the video to see exactly how it is made.