Red velvet pancakes

New York diner-style chocolate pancakes meet red velvet cake in this ingenious brunch dish, stacked up with a sweet maple cream cheese frosting, chocolate chips and fresh blueberries.

Prep:10 mins
Cook:20 mins

Serves 4
Easy

Nutrition per serving

kcal 585
fat 28g
saturates 16g
carbs 67g
sugars 29g
fibre 4g
protein 15g
salt 1g

Ingredients

180g self raising flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp golden caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
200ml milk
3 eggs
25g butter, melted plus extra for frying
red gel food colouring
100g cream cheese
4 tbsp maple syrup
100g chocolate chips
icing sugar, for dusting
handful blueberries (optional)

Method

Mix all of the pancake ingredients (except the food colouring) together in a large bowl, whisk thoroughly until smooth. Now add a small amount of red food colouring and mix again. Add more colouring until the batter is a rich reddish brown.
Put a small knob of butter in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium-low heat and cook until melted and foaming. Pour 2 tbsp of the mixture into the pan and use the back of the spoon to shape it into a 8-9cm round disc. Depending on the size of your pan you may be able to get 2 or 3 pancakes to cook at the same time. Cook for 2-3 mins on the first side, then flip over and cook for another 1 min on the other.
Heat oven to its lowest setting and stack up the cooked pancakes on a baking tray to keep warm in the oven while you cook the rest. In a small bowl mix together the cream cheese and maple syrup then set aside until needed. To serve, stack the pancakes with the cream cheese mixture and chocolate chips in between them then finish with a final dollop of the cream cheese, a dusting of icing sugar and a few fresh blueberries if you like.