Did you know there are food holidays for just about every day of the year? There are also food weeks and food months – it’s sort of crazy, but definitely the kind of crazy that this food blogger can get behind. Of course, the problem is that I almost never know about a particular food holiday until it’s too late to cook or bake anything to celebrate.
Not this time though! Over the weekend I was hanging out on Twitter and saw several tweets from Rachael that alerted me to the food event for this fourth week of February – it’s National Pancake Week! I’m not dedicated enough to bake pancakes every day this week, but it just so happened that I’d made pancakes for dinner on Friday. Though I hadn’t originally planned to post them so quickly, it only made sense to share these pancakes today in celebration of the beginning of Pancake Week. Besides, these pancakes were really tasty, so I’m glad I’m telling you about them sooner rather than later.
I love batter in any form – cake, cookie, brownie….the list goes on and on. Yellow cake batter though? That’s definitely my favorite of all of them. So, when Jessica of How Sweet It Is shared these cake batter pancakes last month I knew it was only a matter of time before I tried them. The recipe is simple, and because these pancakes are so much fun, I think they’d be a great weekend project with kids. Like Jessica, I used rainbow sprinkles in my batter (very reminiscent of Funfetti cake) but it occurred to me afterward that chocolate sprinkles would have been a good option too. The pancakes are light and fluffy in texture, and in case you’re worried, they’re not as sweet as you might expect. The cake batter flavor is mild so these didn’t scream dessert to me. I just loved the whimsical nature of the recipe, definitely a repeat!
Cake Batter Pancakes
from How Sweet It Is
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup yellow cake mix
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 cups milk
sprinkles
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cake mix, baking powder, sugar and salt together. Combine 1 cup of the milk, the eggs and vanilla extract in a measuring cup. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Depending on the brand of cake mix you use, you may need additional milk to achieve the proper consistency for your batter. I added about an extra tablespoon or two of milk to my batter; it was still fairly thick, but easily pourable. Fold sprinkles into the batter – how many you use is entirely up to you!
Preheat a skillet set over medium heat. I used a nonstick skillet and sprayed it lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Use a 1/4-cup measuring cup to portion the batter into the pan. Cook the pancakes on the first side until bubbles form on the top, about 3-4 minutes. Use a spatula to flip the pancakes and cook on the second side until golden and cooked through. Repeat with the remaining batter. You can keep the pancakes warm in a 200 F oven until you’ve cooked all of them, if desired.
(I served my pancakes with maple syrup, but Jessica made a glaze for hers – you can find that recipe over on her site.)
Makes about 12 pancakes
Jessica is a genius! π These look wonderful.
Sounds like a perfectly delicious way to kick off pancake week! π
I love these! I made pancakes for the girls for dinner last night. Next time I’ll have to try these. I put multicolored non-pareil sprinkles in the batter whenever I make angel food cake–it has that same effect. Very cool.
These look so fun Tracey. It’s like a fun birthday cake but for breakfast.
So pretty! My daughter would adore these π
Love it! These would be perfect for a birthday morning breakfast!
I made these (and posted about them) this weekend as well. When I saw these on How Sweet It Is, I couldn’t help but make them! Yours turned out great.
Love these! What a fun breakfast!
What a great idea! I am going to have to give this a try:) I am your newest follower. Found you through your flickr pics!
@Cris – Welcome! Thanks for following π
I have never even thought about using cake batter to make pancakes, but I now know that I can. So I will try them for sure!
Thanks for sharing!
Charlie, 12 year old food blogger
They look great Tracy! I saw these, when Jessica did them too. Between the two of you, you’ve got me hooked!
Whoa, these look really good.
What a cool idea!! I definitely want to try these with the boys. Thanks for sharing!
Nice idea, I think its worth trying π
I loved these on Jessica’s blog as well! I can’t wait to try them, probably for my husband’s birthday!
I made these over the weekend too! Loved them!!
These look incredible. Can’t wait to try them out! I wanted to let you know that we’re featuring cookies this week on the M&T Spotlight so if you have any great cookie recipes you’d like to submit, bring them on over! http://www.makeandtakes.com/spotlight
I will try this one for sure! Pancakes look devine, thank you for sharing π
Pancakes with sprinkles…where were you when my boys were little and loved sprinkles on absolutely everything (including meatloaf)! Very fun and definitely worth a try even now…big guys like sprinkles as well.
What a great idea. Cake batter is always good, and put them in a pancake. Perfect!!!
The pancakes look awesome! I made these a few weeks ago when I saw them on How Sweet – so good! If you have leftover cake batter, there is an excellent cake batter ice cream recipe on Annie’s Eats.
Made these for my brother & sister’s birthday back in December – I love them!
What a perfect birthday morning treat this would be. π Although, frankly, I think they’d be a great start to any day.
i made these with red velvet cake mix and it was soooo good, just in case you’re wanting to experiment π i bet chocolate or better yet devils food cake would work just as well. maybe even strawberry… oh boy, going off on a tangent. either way, these look great!!
Wow, love these! Definitely haven’t ever thought about trying cake batter pancakes… and they look much prettier than the blueberry and sprinkles pancakes I tried! π
You had me at the picture of the sprinkles on top of pancakes. And then you said cake batter and I passed out for a minute from excitement.
OH YUM! Yes please!! π
when you say cake mix, do you mean the dry packet mix or the mix with ingredients added?
@Anonymous – Just the dry mix. Enjoy!!