Kaiserschmarrn
Kaiserschmarrn is a lovely, sweet addition to any brunch menu. The sweet pancake strips are inspired by the Austrian and Bavarian dessert, Kaiserschmarrn. They can be prepared in advance and heated whenever your guests are ready for something a little sweeter. You might also want to serve the pancake strips as a dessert. In that case, our Kaiserschmarrn recipe serves about 4 people who are hungry for some sweet and butter-fried pancake strips.
Ingredients
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Buttermilk
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350 ml |
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Flour
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150 g |
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Buttermilk
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350 ml |
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Baking powder
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2 tsp |
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Egg yolks
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2 |
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Cane sugar
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1 tbsp |
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Egg whites
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2 |
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Butter, for the pan
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25 g |
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Butter, for frying in the oven
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25 g |
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Cane sugar, for frying in the oven
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1 tbsp |
Served with:
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Sugar
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Freshly squeezed lemon juice
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Syrup, e.g., maple, blueberry, or cranberry syrup
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Optionally, whipped cream
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Instructions
Tips
Making perfect Kaiserschmarrn for guests, brunch, or an afternoon snack does not have to be time-consuming. You can easily prepare the pancake strips in advance. Either make the pancakes as instructed and place on the baking sheet, letting it sit until you are ready to put them in the oven. If you prepare the pancakes the day before or longer, store the pancakes whole in the fridge in an airtight container, taking them out about 30 minutes before you are ready to put them in the oven. Then, follow the steps for cutting and preparing the strips for the oven and fry them until golden and caramelised.
Tips
Flipping a pancake can be tricky, and this slightly thicker Kaiserschmarrn can also pose a challenge for regular-sized spatulas and the like. But there is a way to make it easier, ensuring whole and beautiful flipped pancakes. When the pancake is ready to be flipped, place a large plate over the pan. As you hold the plate against the pan, flip both over, transferring the pancake onto the plate with the cooked side up. Now slide the pancake back into the pan and cook the other side as well. You may need to run a spatula gently along the edge of the pan to loosen the pancake before doing any flipping, no matter which method you choose.
Questions about Kaiserschmarrn
Serving up an amazing new brunch dish or dessert is easy with our Kaiserschmarrn recipe. Below, you can learn more about the beloved Austrian pancakes by reading the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about Kaiserschmarrn, including how to cook and store it.
What is Kaiserschmarrn?
How do you make traditional Kaiserschmarrn pancake strips?
Can you make Kaiserschmarrn ahead?
Can Kaiserschmarrn be frozen?
Other recipes
Kaiserschmarrn – sweet and caramelised pancake strips
Pancakes, like our American pancakes or fluffy soufflé pancakes, are a staple at most brunches. But if you want to experiment with something new without compromising on the deliciousness of a sweet pancake, our Austrian Kaiserschmarrn recipe may be just the thing to try.
This Austrian pancake dessert has all the luxuries of a classic pancake but offers even more complexity in its flavour profile. Presented in the form of rustic, torn strips, fried in the oven, these pancakes are a buttery, caramelised wonder. Our Kaiserschmarrn with is exotic-sounding name and enticing, crumpled look is sure to impress and delight friends and family.
If this delicious Austrian pancake dessert has inspired you to explore more classic, Austrian recipes, we recommend giving our lovely, authentic apple strudel a try as well.
Explore the Austrian dessert and its deep flavours
Kaiserschmarrn works great as a sweet ending to a meal or as part of a larger brunch selection. But our Austrian pancakes recipe is not simply sugary-sweet. Rather, its sweetness is deep and complex due to the double caramelisation that happens during the cooking. It is first caramelised in the pan before it is then gratinated in the oven with butter and sugar to really bring out that rich, nutty flavour and beautiful golden-brown colour that only caramelisation can create.
Serving our Kaiserschmarrn with freshly squeezed lemon juice or a tart syrup like cranberry syrup brightens the pancake dish by adding an acidity and tanginess that offsets the sweet and buttery flavours of the twice-caramelised, shredded pancakes and balances the dish. You can also use a sweeter syrup for your Kaiserschmarrn pancake strips. Flavour wise, this Austrian pancake recipe truly has it all.
Classic Kaiserschmarrn with a twist
If our fluffy, shredded pancakes are on the sweet side of what you enjoy, a way to introduce more tartness into the dish itself rather than later as a garnish is to add dried cranberries into the pancake batter. This trick is used in some of the older, traditional Austrian Kaiserschmarrn recipes as well. The red berries offer a bright, tart flavour that pairs well with the sweetness of the pancakes themselves. The berries also add beautiful splashes of colour amid the golden-brown goodness of the crumpled strips.
Try adding rum-soaked raisins
While some Kaiserschmarrn recipes contain cranberries, the original recipes contain rum-soaked raisins. Adding 75-100 g of rum raisins to the pancake batter will provide a matureness to it by giving you sweet bursts of alcohol in each bite as well as introducing another texture. You can either make the rum-soaked raisins yourself or buy them; either way, they are a traditional and flavourful addition to your Kaiserschmarrn pancake strips, making them true to the original Austrian recipe.
