Secret Sale!

With a very special event coming up shortly in the UK I just thought I'd drop everyone a quick whisper about a sale we're planning. Your favourite Devnaa sweets and chocolates in lovely gift boxes, at special prices, especially for the leading lady in your life (you know who she is!) Sssshhhhh....!!!! :)

Pancake Recipe 2: Chocolate Ganache Filled Pancake Cake (Egg Free!)

Here's the second offering from Devnaa's Pancake Day Kitchen - a chocoholics delight filled with yummy chocolate ganache and cheeky hint of Nutella :) once again, feel free to substitute the batter with a regular 'egg full' one if you prefer and we have used a small 15cm frying pan so if you want to make a bigger pancake cake just double the recipe. Enjoy :)

Chocolate Ganache Filled Pancake Cake:
For the pancakes:
200g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
25g Butter (melted)
400ml Milk

For the chocolate ganache:
200g Dark Chocolate, broken into pieces
50g Butter (at room temperature)
100ml Double Cream
3 tblsp Nutella

• Start by making the ganache


• Place the broken chocolate in a large bowl


• Place the bowl over a saucepan over simmering water and allow the chocolate to gently melt, stir occasionally (make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't come into contact with the water)


• Once the chocolate has melted remove the bowl from the heat and carefully dry the bottom to remove any vapour


• Gently stir the butter into the chocolate, a little at a time making sure each bit is fully incorporated before adding the next


• Once all the butter is in pour in the cream and stir to combine


• Fold in the Nutella


• Leave aside to cool and thicken while you make the pancakes


• Lightly brush your frying pan with oil and allow to heat up over a medium high setting


• Once your pan is hot (and not a second before!) pour in some of your batter and swirl to thinly coat the pan - I found that using a 5cm ice cream scoop provided the perfect measure for this but if you don't have one - all in all you should get about 12 pancakes out of this batter (egg free pancakes will generally be slightly thicker than regular ones)


• Once the edges of the pancake start to shrink inwards and the base is lightly golden you can flip it over, yay!!


• Cook until golden (the egg free pancakes will need to be a little more on the browner side to make sure they are cooked through)


• Transfer to a baking sheet and repeat the entire process (including brushing your pan with a little oil) until you have used up all your batter


• By now the ganache should be cool enough to spread (if for any reason its not put your oven on a low setting, cover pancakes with foil and place on the bottom shelf to keep warm while your ganache cools)


• Place 2 pancakes on a plate, apply a generously thick layer of ganache (at this stage you can sprinkle on some ground nuts if you like) and repeat until you have used up your pancakes or the cake is as tall as you want it


• Leave the top layer plain and cut into slices using a sharp knife


• Serve warm (microwave for a few seconds if the cake has cooled too much during the assembly procedure) accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream and scattered with nuts (or in our case - pieces of honeycomb!) if you have them handy

These pancake cakes are so different and so versatile - you can stack with jam and top with cream and fruit or for a celebration - top with fresh sweetened whipped cream, lots of fruit and/or chocolate, add some candles and if it's really special, pipe on a message and make someone's day!

Pancake Recipe 1: Baklava Inspired Pancake Cake (Egg Free!)

Happy Pancake Day Everybody!!!! This is one of our favourite days in the Devnaa kitchen as I don't think we ever otherwise make pancakes and yet today we eat them endlessly!

As ever, we've jazzed up our pancakes by taking inspiration from some of our other favourite sweets and desserts and today is a double blog treat as I post our two best pancake recipes for Shrove Tuesday 2011. As an extra bonus both the recipes are created using an egg free batter (although you can easily substitute this with a regular batter if you prefer). To start with, here's the recipe for our Baklava inspired Pancake Layer Cake:
(FYI we used a small, 15cm frying pan to make the pancakes as the slices can become quite rich and filling - especially if you're making lots of different types! Feel free to double the batter mix to make larger pancakes x)

Baklava Pancake Layer Cake:
For the pancakes:
200g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
25g Butter (melted)
400ml Milk

For the Honey Syrup:
80ml Water
85g Honey
50g Caster Sugar
1/2 tsp Rose Water
1/4 tsp Ground Cardamom
A few strands of saffron

25g Shelled Pistachio Nuts

• Start by pre heating your oven to gas mark 4 (350F/180C)


• Now place the pistachio nuts in a frying pan and dry roast over a medium heat until aromatic, you will notice that they also become much more vividly green (you can do this in the oven but as it's just a few and you're using the pan anyway it only takes a minute or two this way)


• Transfer the nuts to a plate to cool and rinse out the pan. Dry thoroughly and place ready for action on the cooker!


• Prepare your pancake batter by sifting the flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl


• Pour in the butter followed by the (cold) milk and whisk until completely smooth


• Lightly brush your pan with oil and set over a medium high heat


• Once your pan is hot (and not a second before!) pour in some of your batter and swirl to thinly coat the pan - I found that using a 5cm ice cream scoop provided the perfect measure for this but if you don't have one - all in all you should get about 12 pancakes out of this batter (egg free pancakes will generally be slightly thicker than regular ones)


• Once the edges of the pancake start to shrink inwards and the base is lightly golden you can flip the pancake over, yay!!


• Cook until golden (the egg free ones will need to be a little more on the browner side to make sure they are cooked through)


• Transfer to a baking sheet and repeat the entire process (including brushing the pan with a little oil) until you have used up all your batter


• Cover your stack of pancakes with foil to keep them warm while you prepare the syrup


• Place the sugar, water, honey, rose water and saffron strands in a small saucepan over a high heat


• Stir until the sugar has dissolved and then allow to come to the boil


• Once boiling, leave to simmer for about 6-8 minutes, stirring ocassionally, until slightly thickened


• Turn off the heat, stir in the cardamom and allow the syrup to cool a little


• In the meantime grind the pistachio nuts


• When the syrup is cool enough to handle you can start assembling the baklava


• Unwrap your pancakes from the foil and place the stack on a plate


• Line your baking sheet with the foil and place a pancake in the middle


• Drizzle some syrup over and place a second pancake on top


• Generously scatter with ground pistachio nuts and lots more syrup


• Repeat the process - pancake/syrup/pancake/pistachio & syrup until you have used all your pancakes (or until your pancake cake is as tall as you like)


• Leave the top pancake plain without any syrup or pistachios


• Wrap in the foil and bake in your pre heated oven for 25 minutes


• Allow to cool slightly on a rack

Slice using a sharp knife and serve warm alongside a scoop of your favourite ice cream, drizzle with any remaining syrup and scatter on any extra pistachio nuts.

:) xx