How to make pancakes (South African style)

A South African pancake is similar to a French crepe and is traditionally sprinkled with cinnamon sugar while it is still hot, so that the sugar melts and forms a delicious syrup inside the rolled pancake. Read on for instructions on how to make pancakes yourself.

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What is a South African pancake?

South African pancakes are called ‘pannekoek’, (pronounced ‘panna-cook’) with panne meaning pan and koek meaning cake. They are traditionally eaten as cakes, having been sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, which melts into the pancake, forming a delicious syrup. South African pancakes are similar to a French crepe, rather than the smaller, thicker version that is made in America, which we know as flapjacks or crumpets in the UK.

They have a light, slightly chewy texture with goes perfectly with the sweet cinnamon flavoured sugar.

I have to say, South Africans love their sweet desserts. You only have to take one bite of a koeksister, which is deep-fried,, braided dough, soaked in lemon-flavoured sugar syrup to see how true this is.

These pancakes are made and sold wherever people gather, and you’d be hard-pressed to attend a church bazaar or school fete without finding a pancake stall selling these delicious delicacies.

That said however, these pancakes served without sugar, form the basis for many delicious savoury dishes too. I love to stuff them with different fillings and serve as a quick and easy supper, as in this savoury mince stuffed pancake bake or these seafood stuffed pancakes.

In the winter, when it was cold and raining (yes, it does get cold and rainy in South Africa occasionally) we called it ‘soup and pancake weather’, and we’d get a huge pot of beef vegetable soup on the go, and then make a batch of pancakes for dessert. Comfort food doesn’t get much better than that!

Recipe information

You can get the exact measurement and full instruction for making these pancakes on the printable recipe card at the end of this post.

• Prep time – 5 minutes
• Standing time – 30 minutes
• Cooking time – 2 minutes per pancake (total time depends on how many pancakes you are making).
• Yield – makes about 18 pancakes. The actual number of pancakes will vary depending on the size of your frying pan. For this recipe I used an 8″ pan.
• Calories – 75 calories per pancake (without the cinnamon sugar)
• Main equipment – Fryng pan or electric pancake maker. For many years I used a frying pan for making these pancakes. Then one day I found an electric pancake maker similar to this one which works really well. It has a slight rim to stop the pancake batter from overflowing, and what I really like about it is the fact that it has a long handle which makes it easy to hold onto as you flip the pancakes.

Ingredients

You only need a few simple ingredients – flour, baking powder, milk, eggs and salt.

Flour – I use plain flour (sometimes called all-purpose or cake flour) with a teaspoon of baking powder per cup of flour, but if you prefer you can use self-raising flour and leave out the baking powder.

Milk – you will need 1 and a half cups of milk per cup of flour. I like to substitute 1/3 of the milk with water, which I think makes for a much lighter pancake. You could use all milk if you prefer. It doesn’t matter whether you use full fat or semi-skimmed milk.

Eggs – use medium-sized eggs if possible. Large or jumbo sized eggs will make the batter too runny. If you only have large eggs then use a few tablespoons less milk.

Salt – this is optional but I like to add about half a teaspoonful.

Sunflower oil – you will also need a small amount of sunflower oil for frying the pancakes. You can substitute this with any neutral flavoured vegetable oil. Don’t use olive oil – it will give a funny taste to the pancakes. If you are using an electric pancake maker you should not need to use any oil.

Note – I don’t add sugar to the pancake batter because I think the cinnamon sugar that gets sprinkled on adds more than enough sweetness.

How to make pancakes

Mix the batter

Start off by measuring all the ingredients into a mixing bowl.. If you are using large or jumbo-sized eggs, leave our 2 or 3 tablespoons of milk You can always add it in once you see consistency of the batter.

Whisk with a balloon whisk until all the ingredients are well incorporated and there are no lumps in the batter. The consistency should be that of double cream.

Set aside to stand for half an hour. If you are in a hurry you can skip this step, but the standing time does give the flour chance to absorb the liquid and improves the texture of the pancakes.

Fry the pancakes

Whether you choose to use an electic pancake maker or a frying pan on the stove top, the procedure is basically the same.

Stir the pancake batter that has been standing before using.

I like to pour the pancake batter into a jug with a lip as I find this is the easiest way to control the amount of batter that goes into the pan. You could also use a soup ladle to transfer the batter.

To make the pancakes in an electric pancake maker, allow the pancake maker to come up to temperature. The lights on the handle will indicate when the correct temperature is reached.

Pour a small amount of batter onto the pancake maker (about 50ml should be enough) and then swirl it gently around until the whole base is coated. With practice, you will find the optimal amount of batter to add. The batter should just coat the pan, with no excess.

Fry the pancake for 1 to 1 and a half minutes until you see bubbles forming in the batter, then, using a silicone spatula, gently flip the pancake and leave for another half to 1 minute to allow the other side to brown.

Slide the pancake from the pancake maker onto a large plate and repeat until all the batter has been used.

To make the pancakes in a frying pan you may find that you ned to use sunflower oil. Pour a small amount of oil into a cup and use a teaspoon to add a few drops of oil to the pan. You could also use a silicone brush to coat the pan lightly with oil, but be careful not to add too much. You only need a very small amount of oil.

Years ago, we had a saying that the first pancake made in a frying pan would always stick and have to be thrown away. This was probably due to the quality of the older (supposedly non-stick) frying pans! Another reason could be the pan wasn’t hot enough. If this happens to you, don’t worry – just throw the pancake away and start again.

Heat the pan, and then pour in a small amount of the pancake batter (for an 8″ frying pan I use about 50 ml). The pan will be hot enough when the batter sizzles as it hits the hot pan.

Gently tilt the pan so that the batter flows around and covers the whole base. If you have added too much batter, just pour the excess out back into the jug.

Fry the pancake for 1 to 1 and a half minutes until you see bubbles forming in the batter. You will also see the edges of the pancake start to lift away when it is ready to be flipped. Using a silicone spatula, gently flip the pancake and leave for another half to 1 minute to allow the other side to brown.. If you are feeling very brave you could also toss the pancake in the traditional way, but I always end up with pancakes all over the kitchen floor if I try this.

Slide the pancake from the pancake maker onto a large plate and repeat until all the batter has been used.

Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar

To make cinnamon sugar, measure one cup of granulated sugar into a large glass jar with a lid and add 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

Replace the lid on the jar and shake until the cinnamon is well distributed through the sugar.

This sugar will keep indefinitely stored in a closed jar in your pantry.

As each pancake is removed from the pan, sprinkle it lightly with about half a teaspoon of cinnamon sugar.

Stack the next pancake on top and repeat with another sprinkling of sugar.

As the stack of hot pancakes builds, the sugar will melt between the pancakes.

Once you have finished making the pancakes, roll them into cylinders and serve.

Variations

Of course, you don’t HAVE to use cinnamon sugar (although this is highly recommended 🙂 ).

Just make the pancakes and stack them without sprinkling with cinnamon topping. Then you can try some of these alternatives:

• Sprinkle with sugar and lemon juice
• Spread them with Nutella
• Drizzle on some maple syrup or golden syrup
• Spread with strawberry (or other fruity) jam
• Fill them with custard. Try my recipe for creme patissiere – it’s delicious.
• You could even let the pancakes cool and spread with icecream before rolling.

And of course, you can use them in a savoury dish too.

• savoury mince stuffed pancake bake
• seafood stuffed pancakes

What do you like to put on your pancakes? Let me know in the comments below.

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Questions

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The recipe

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I have linked this recipe to #CookBlogShare Week 7 2022, run by Sisley and Chloe and hosted this week by Rebecca at Gluterama.