Fluffy soufflé pancakes

Fluffy soufflé pancakes

30 min
Japanese fluffy pancakes or soufflé pancakes are super easy. They resemble an American pancake a bit but are much fluffier and soufflé-like. And just like soufflé, they also need to be eaten here and now if you want to enjoy how fluffy and light they are. Serve with sour cream, fruit, and fresh berries for a nice tangy counterpoint to the sweetness and enjoy for brunch, breakfast, or a scrumptious snack on weekends.
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Instructions

Pancake batter:
  • Beat egg whites until stiff with a hand mixer.
  • Add vinegar and beat for a further 2-3 minutes while adding sugar little by little.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk together egg yolks, milk, melted butter, vanilla seeds, and salt. Stir flour into the mix.
  • Stir some of the stiff egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, then gently fold the rest of the whites into the batter.
  • Put the dough into a piping bag.
Baking:
  • Melt butter in a frying pan over high heat, but without browning, then turn the heat down to a gentle simmer.
  • Butter a pan with the melted butter with a piece of kitchen towel.
  • Cut a hole in the piping bag.
  • Make 4 pancakes in the pan by piping the batter straight up (5-6 cm in diameter and almost up to the edge of the pan).
  • Put a lid on the pan – if you do not have a lid, you can use a baking tray.
  • Bake the pancakes for about 3 minutes – do not peek! Remove the lid, turn the pancakes with a palette knife and bake the same way on the other side.
  • Bake the last fluffy pancakes and serve with fruit, berries, and crème fraiche.
Enjoy!
Tips

The most important tip to ensuring the delicious airy texture of a soufflé pancake is to not disturb them as they cook. Once you have placed the lid on your pan, it must be left on for the recommended 3 minutes. If you do not resist the urge to check up on your fluffy pancakes during this time, there is a high chance that they will collapse.

Tips

You also need to be careful when folding in the egg whites. Do not stir or mix as this might ‘deflate’ the batter, ruining the airy texture, the stiff egg whites would have otherwise added. Soufflé pancakes are all about air and lightness, and carefully folding your airy, stiff egg whites in the batter is an important step.

Questions about fluffy pancakes

Preparing a delicious, homemade breakfast or an indulgent snack from scratch is easy with our fluffy pancake recipe. Here, you can learn more about what truly makes fluffy pancakes, reading the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about these light and airy soufflé pancakes and what makes them so irresistible.

What is a soufflé pancake?
The difference between a soufflé pancake and a classic American pancake is found in their height, with the former towering over the latter. The soufflé pancake gains its distinctive, superior height from the addition of stiffly beaten egg whites. These allow the pancake mixture to rise as it cooks, just like the soufflés from which they have gained their name. The result is an even softer and lighter type of pancake that has an airy consistency to accompany the classic taste of a sweet, delicious pancake.
How to make a fluffy pancake?
Our fluffy pancake recipe is easy to follow, especially with our tips for perfecting the soufflé technique. When mixing your batter, make sure that the egg whites have been properly whipped and are folded gently into the rest of the batter to ensure the texture of the fluffy pancakes. Also remember to let them cook undisturbed under lid. Serve them hot from the pan garnished with your chosen fruit or berries and some cold, refreshing crème fraiche or Greek-inspired yogurt for a perfect breakfast or snack.
What makes a pancake fluffy?
The whipped egg whites that you gently fold into the pancake batter before cooking it have air bubbles trapped inside them. When the batter cooks, these air bubbles expand and inflate, making the soufflé pancakes rise and gain that wonderfully fluffy texture. The white vinegar in this recipe also ensures the characteristic texture of the fluffy pancakes as it helps stabilise the egg whites, and there is no need for baking powder.
Why is my pancake not fluffy?
Perhaps you have accidently disturbed the fluffy pancakes while they were cooking? This will unfortunately make them collapse, resulting in a pancake that is not very fluffy. It is also possible that you have waited too long to serve your them as they are best enjoyed straight from the pan. Fluffy pancakes will never be as light, thick, and soufflé-like as right when you finish making them. When the trapped air bubbles inside them begin cool, the pancakes start to lose their beautiful tower-like structure.

Ingredients

Pancake batter:
Egg whites
3
White vinegar
1 tsp
Sugar
2 tbsp
Egg yolks
2
Milk
1½ tbsp
Butter - melted
10 g
Vanilla pod (seeds) or vanilla paste in equivalent quantity
½
Coarse salt
¼ tsp
Flour
3 tbsp
For baking:
Butter
5 g
Served with:
Fruit or berries, e.g., orange fillets, raspberries, blueberries and/or blackberries
200 g
Sour cream, 18%, or Greek inspired yoghurt 10%
2½ dl
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Dig into a stack of fluffy soufflé pancakes

Most people know the expression 'flat as a pancake', but a pancake does not need to be flat to be delicious. In fact, these fluffy pancakes truly put that saying to shame. With our easy recipe, you can cook the lightest fluffy pancakes that rise to the occasion. The soufflé-like texture gives a much lighter experience than any other kind of pancake. A stack of our elegant Japanese soufflé pancakes is sure to impress friends and family alike with their sweet flavour and airy texture.

Enjoy as a luxurious breakfast or snack

Perfect for both breakfast and snack breaks alike, these fluffy pancakes are best enjoyed hot with your choice of fresh fruit and berries. Choosing a tangy berry like raspberries or blackcurrants pairs nicely with soufflé pancakes. But if strawberries or blueberries happen to be your favourites, you cannot go wrong in choosing those either. Adding sour cream or Greek-inspired yoghurt to balance the vanilla sweetness with a touch of acidity rounds out the fluffy pancakes nicely and makes for a scrumptious meal.

Are you in the mood for another kind of pancake or just more sweetness in general? Why not try our recipe for American pancakes, which are also light and sweet like our soufflé pancakes, but not as thick, and served with sweet maple syrup and butter.

Discover the secret to Japanese soufflé pancakes

One secret to making these soufflé pancakes extra airy and fluffy is the white vinegar. Adding vinegar to a sweet fluffy pancake recipe might seem strange. But do not worry if the sharp taste of vinegar is not your thing, you will not be able to taste any of the vinegar's bitterness in your cooked soufflé pancakes.

The other secret to attaining that wonderful texture is the use of eggs whites. When eggs whites are whipped until they are forming stiff peaks, air is introduced into their protein. This air expands as the fluffy pancakes are cooked, giving them their airy consistency. The whipped egg whites must be slowly folded into the pancake batter, so to not knock the air out of them.

Experiment with flavourful spices

Our recipe for soufflé pancakes can be tweaked in a number of ways. If you enjoy bold flavours like those in our recipe for chai latte, try spicing the fluffy pancakes up by adding cardamom, clove, star anise, or cinnamon to the batter. These warm spices are sure to give them another dimension and make them perfect for those crisp autumn mornings or dark winter nights.

Another option to mix up your soufflé pancakes in a way that is very much in line with the Japanese theme is to add matcha to the batter. This powdered green tea gives the fluffy pancakes an earthiness, making their flavour profile more complex by adding a touch of savouriness to it. It also gives the soufflé pancakes a green hue that looks amazing with the colours of the white crème fraiche or Greek-inspired yoghurt and red fruits like raspberries.

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