Pancakes

Pancake day!! (Ahem, Shrove Tuesday-) PANCAAAKES!!
:D
The trick, we discovered, to really good pancakes does not lie in the complicated methods of combining the ingredients, or leaving the batter to rest - but to have a PROPER NON-STICK PAN. We bought a new one for the occasion (not superfluous; all our pans had lost their coating years ago)

Pancakes
Prep time: 10 minutes
Serves: 8
Cooking time: 2 minutes

Ingredients
100g plain flour
2 large eggs
300ml semi-skimmed milk
1 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Sift the flour into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Crack the eggs into the well and add a little of the milk (50ml) with the oil. Whisk slowly, gradually adding the rest of the milk until smooth and thick. You don't need to leave it to stand.
2. Melt a tiny bit of butter in a 24cm nonstick pan and heat up quite strongly
3. Add just under a ladleful of batter. Tip the frying pan to coat and cook for 30 seconds undistrurbed, then use a large rubber spatula to flip it over. Cook for a further minute. 
   
4. Serve with any topping, here are some suggestions:

• Lemon and sugar
•  Banana/strawberries/raspberries  and Nutella/chocolate with golden syrup
•  Maple syrup 
•  Cinnamon sugar and apple
• Crêpe Suzette style - with oranges
• Mango and  yogurt
• Blueberries and cream or golden syrup
•  Rhubarb and cream
  

You get the idea... There are hundreds of combinations  you can try :D

In other news, here are some savoury crepes I made (honey-roast ham and Camembert with pesto and leek):

(Healthier?) Cake Pops

I made these for Valentine's Day - though of course, you can have cake pops for any occasion... their speciality lies in the decoration ;) . As American cakes, the typical coating is 'candy melts', which are basically chocolate. You can buy the moulds here or at cake craft shops (like the amazing AJ Farmers, for anyone who lives in the vicinity... :D )
The reason I refer to them as 'healthier' is as the traditional cake pop is more like cake crumbs rolled up in cream cheese and condensed into a ball (just as delicious, by the way) whereas this lighter version involved baking the cakes as mini pops already. Cute!!!

Cake Pops
Prep time: 40 minutes
Serves: 12 (though that should be more like 'makes', you're likely to eat more than 1!)
Cooking temp: Gas 4, 180C
Cooking time:  20 minutes

Ingredients
75g caster sugar
75g margarine
75g self-raising flour
2 eggs
Flavouring: such as 1 tsp vanilla extract, 20g cocoa powder (and 55g flour), ginger powder... anything you like, perhaps it could complement the coating such as raspberry cake with white chocolate or ginger with dark chocolate (though make sure you don't alter the consistency greatly)
A few drops of food colouring (optional)
For the coating:
Uhm.... this seems to be a bit choose-your-own. I would recommend melted chocolate or chocolate icing with a table spoon of golden syrup to make it shiny and stick better. Ideally you want the coating to be able to harden smoothly around the pops
To decorate: anything you want, from sparkles and sprinkles to chocolate swirls.
You will also need: 12-hole cake pop silicone mould and sticks

Method

1. Preheat your oven.
2. In a small bowl, combine the margarine and sugar. If you are using a liquid flavour like vanilla, beat it in with the egg in a separate cup before adding. If you are flavouring with a dry ingredient, mix it to the flour and sift into the mixture.
3. Add some colour, if using.
   
4. Fill the bottom half of the cake pop moulds - without the hole(!) - to the top, and carefully place the second half on top. Place on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes.
   
5. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely without lifting off the top (I stuck a stick through the little holes in the top to check that the cakes were cooked)
6. Pop the cakes out of their moulds.
   
7. Prepare your coating: I melted white chocolate over boiling water, then added the golden syrup. I also did some with cocoa powder icing + syrup! :D
8. Dip the end of each stick in the coating and stick into the cake pops, leave to set in the fridge for an hour or so.
9. Remelt the icing, dip each cake pop in and coat completely, down to the stick. Leave to solidify ideally on a cake pop stand.
10. You can then decorate freely as you wish, depending on the occasion! Here are some (perhaps ambitious) suggestions: (Sorry, this website has a terrible adding pictures function)Copyright www.bakerella.com, www.theguardian.com, cakepopsideas.com - yes, a real website!!!