Vegan chocolate-stuffed pancakes

These extra thick and soft chocolate-stuffed Japanese souffle style pancakes will have you and others go back for more. These pancakes aren’t your typical breakfast ones, they are incredibly fluffy and airy and if that wasn’t enough I stuffed them with vegan chocolate spread to take it up a notch. Pancake day is just around the corner and what better way to celebrate than these delicious vegan pancakes?!

Tips for the vegan-chocolate stuffed pancakes

• Freeze you chocolate spread: To make sure the chocolate spread stays intact we need to freeze it by piping discs 2cm smaller than the cutter you will use for cooking the pancakes.
• Let the pancake batter rest: The batter needs to rest at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. Doing this allows the baking powder to activate and the batter gets airy and puffy.
• Use 5-6 layers of parchment to cook your pancakes: When I was recipe testing these pancakes I burned a few of them before realising that the direct heat between the pan and the pancake itself was too high. I placed 5-6 layers of parchment paper(slightly larger than my cookie cutter) between the pan and cookie cutter to prevent the pancakes from browning too quickly.
• Keep your pancakes warm: Keep your pancakes warm while the rest of them are cooking by placing them in the oven in an oven-safe dish at the lowest temperature.

Ingredients for the vegan chocolate-stuffed pancakes

• Dairy-free milk: Any dairy-free milk works here but I prefer coconut milk as it has a thick and creamy consistency.
• Apple cider vinegar: When mixed with the dairy-free milk it will curdle and resemble of buttermilk.
• Ground flaxseed: Flaxseed is a wonderful vegan alternative and what people call the ”vegan egg”. Stir the flaxseed together with the water and let it sit for ten minutes until it becomes gelatinous.
• Cake flour: Cake flour is all-purpose flour mixed with cornstarch. If you don’t have any simply sieve together 160g of all-purpose flour with 2 tbsp of cornstarch.
• Chocolate spread: I used vegan chocolate spread to make this recipe completely vegan but you can use any chocolate spread you prefer.

For the vegan chocolate-stuffed pancakes (makes 6-8 large pancakes)

• 320ml dairy-free milk (I used coconut milk)
• 22ml apple cider vinegar
  
• 22g ground flax seed
  
• 45ml water
  
• 22g vegan melted butter
  
• 190g cake flour (or 160g plain flour mixed with 2tbsp of cornstarch)
  
• 3tbsp caster sugar
  
• 10g baking powder
  
• 1tsp vanilla extract
  
• 100-150g vegan chocolate spread
  
• 1/2 tsp salt

How to make the vegan chocolate-stuffed pancakes

1. Cut a piece of parchment paper that fits on a small baking tray. Draw 6 circles using a 6cm cutter(2cm smaller than the pancake cutter) and flip the parchment upside down so that the chocolate doesn’t touch the ink.
2. Place around 100-150g of chocolate spread in a piping bag, snip a small hole and pipe on top of the marked circles. You can also spoon the chocolate spread in each circle and make it flat using a small palette knife. Place the tray in the freezer until needed.
3. Make the vegan buttermilk and vegan flax egg.             
4. For the vegan buttermilk mix dairy-free milk and apple cider vinegar and let it sit for 10-15 minutes until slightly curdled.
5. For the flax egg, mix water and ground flax and let this sit for 10 minutes until it becomes thick and gelatinous.
6. When those are ready, mix flax egg, buttermilk, vanilla extract and melted vegan butter. Whisk together until combined.
7. In a separate bowl add the flour, baking powder, salt, caster sugar and whisk together.
8. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold gently until just combined. DO NOT OVERMIX.
9. Let your pancake batter sit for 10 minutes. This helps the baking powder activate and makes the batter airy and fluffy.
10. Over low heat, place 5-6 layers of parchment paper and pour pancake batter into a 1” inch high metal biscuit cutter about 1/4 way full. Add your frozen chocolate disc(only take the discs out one at a time) and add in the middle of the pancake. Pour the same amount of pancake batter on top covering 3/4 of the biscuit cutter(remember that you don’t want to fill your pancake all the way to the top as it will puff up slightly).
11. Cook for 5-6 minutes on one side depending oh how high your biscuit cutter is. If your pancakes are browning too quickly you can turn off the heat and let the pancakes cook with the lid on top. Once you see a lot of bubbles or the other side is golden brown, flip then cook for another 4-5 minutes.
12. Remove from heat and repeat until no batter remains
13. Top with syrup, fresh fruit, hazelnuts and more.
14. Enjoy 🙂

Notes

• The temperature for the pancakes needs to be as low as possible so that the outside doesn’t burn.
• You can store the pancakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Meringue kisses,
Athina xx