• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Charlotte's Lively Kitchen logo

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Baking & Desserts
      • Biscuits & Bars
      • Cakes
      • Cheesecakes
      • Chocolates
      • Cupcakes
      • Icing
      • Ingredients
      • Jams, Curds & Spreads
      • Meringues
      • Savoury Baking
      • Scones
      • Sweet Sauces
      • Vegan Baking
    • Lunch & Dinner
    • Side Dishes & Sauces
    • Breakfast
    • Drinks
  • Conversions
    • Grams to Cups Conversions
    • Oven Temperature Conversions
    • All Baking Tools
  • The Food Calendar
  • Subscribe
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • HOME
  • RECIPE INDEX
  • – BAKING & DESSERTS
  • – LUNCH & DINNER
  • – SIDE DISHES & SAUCES
  • – BREAKFAST
  • – DRINKS
  • CONVERSIONS
  • CALENDAR
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • PRIVACY
×
Home » Breakfast » Pancake art – Five things I learnt from my first attempt

13 November 2014

Pancake art – Five things I learnt from my first attempt

2.5K shares

For a while now I’ve been wanting to have a go at pancake art, and this week I finally did it.

Here’s my first attempt – a reindeer pancake. I think that perhaps calling it “art” is a bit generous, I doubt I’ll be winning the turner prize any time soon. Although judging by some of the previous winners maybe I’ll be in with a chance 🙂

Reindeer pancake art

OK, I’ll admit it, it’s not actually my first attempt, it was my third. Here’s the first…

Reindeer pancake art

Erm…… I’m not entirely sure what happened with this one. The parts I did first ended up lighter than the parts I did at the end – not what’s supposed to happen.

The positive thing is that if I can improve so much after three attempts then just think what’ll I’ll be drawing after a bit more practice.

If anyone has any suggestions for what I should try next, please challenge me in the comments.

Five lessons I learnt from my first attempt at pancake art

I’m definitely no expert and I need a lot more practice, but I’ve learnt a lot just from my first couple of attempts.

1) Make sure the pan is hot before you start

If it’s not you’ll end up with a strange inverted picture like I had in my first attempt.

2) Don’t touch the pan with the bottle.

I used small plastic icing bottles, which have a tiny nozzles and were perfect for drawing the outline. However, if you touch the pan with the top of the bottle (as I did) it cooks the batter at the end and clogs it.

3) Fill the large areas as quickly as possible

I used the icing bottle for the entire pancake. However, you can clearly see lines across the face showing where I squirted in the batter. In future I’d use a small jug for these areas so that they fill more quickly and you get a more even colour.

4) Wear long sleeves.

I completely underestimated how hot it would be holding my arm over the pan. By the time I’d finished the first pancake my entire forearm was bright red.

5) I can’t make videos

I thought it would be a great idea to make a video of my first attempt at pancake art to share with you all, but it wasn’t great.

I set up the camera to give a great view of the pan. Unfortunately pretty much all you can see throughout the entire video is my arm, and it isn’t even in focus.

My voice also sounded funny. I know that happens when you listen to yourself back, I have made plenty of home videos in the past and I’ve got used to what I sound like. This was different, oddly fake-posh like a bad audition for Downton Abbey. Something I’ll have to work on if I want to try again.

Fortunately I did have a few moments when I moved my fuzzy arm out of the way and you can see what I’m doing (I think I was trying to stop my arm burning too much!) and I managed to get these screen shots showing my progress.

Reindeer pancake art

If you’ve ever tried pancake art or you want to give it a go I’d love to see a picture of your attempts. You can tweet them to me at @Charlotte’s Lively KitchenUK


Pancake art – Five things I learnt from my first attempt has been linked to…

Tasty Tuesdays on HonestMum.com TamingTwins#CookBlogShare

Link up
2.5K shares

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Fiver Feeds says

    December 28, 2014 at 6:09 pm

    I’ve made similar pancakes recently, it was quite a fun

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      December 28, 2014 at 8:39 pm

      Do you have a picture? I’d love to see it. If you do, you can tweet me @myrecipebookuk

  2. Stacey Guilliatt says

    November 28, 2014 at 12:41 pm

    Wow, looks great! Not sure I have the ‘talent’ for it though, hehe 🙂 #tastytuesdays

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 30, 2014 at 5:01 pm

      Thanks. You should give it a go, you might be more talented than you think!

  3. Howie says

    November 26, 2014 at 5:50 pm

    Somehow it seems to be tough to find a good pan. Rarely I meet someone who is truly happy with his/her pan, haha.

    I always use butter, but I have to admit my pancakes don’t always come out great 😉

    Thx for the tips!

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 26, 2014 at 9:36 pm

      Frying pan happiness isn’t something I tend to talk about all that much. perhaps I should bring it up more often in conversation to see if I can find a great one 🙂

      I usually use butter when I make regular pancakes, it was only for these that I switched.

  4. Howie says

    November 25, 2014 at 9:32 am

    Wow the deer looks great! What kind of pan are you using? Do you add butter?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 26, 2014 at 4:23 pm

      Thanks Howie.

      The pan is a Jamie Oliver by Tefal hard anodised frying pan. I’ve got a few different pans from that range but to be honest I’ve not been impressed with them as they haven’t worn well. If you need a large frying pan I’d suggest you get something different (I certainly wouldn’t buy another).

      I used a thin coating of vegetable oil (spread with a bit of kitchen paper) instead of butter. Butter gives the pancakes a better flavour but it can burn which would have ruined the appearance of the reindeer.

  5. Lucy Parissi says

    November 23, 2014 at 6:22 pm

    So cute! Very festive and I think your steps give clear instructions without the need for a video (still trying to figure those out too). Thanks for linking to #CookBlogShare

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 23, 2014 at 7:17 pm

      Thanks Lucy

  6. Sarah (@tamingtwins) says

    November 20, 2014 at 10:55 am

    These are awesome!! Love the tips too. I find videoing anything by the stove really hard as it always seems to be an odd angle and always looks a funny colour in my house as there’s no decent light there. There must be some trick to it?! Thanks for linking these to #festivefoodfriday 🙂

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 20, 2014 at 4:28 pm

      Thanks,

      I don’t think my light is too bad, I just had a complete lack of forethought when it came to camera position. I’m going to try and record my next attempt so fingers crossed it’ll go a bit better.

  7. Coombemill says

    November 20, 2014 at 10:20 am

    Genius! I’m not surprised it took a few goes, but such a fun result. #Tastytuesday

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 20, 2014 at 4:21 pm

      Thanks, I’m hoping to get it right first time next time I try it.

  8. Yet Another Blogging Mummy!!! says

    November 18, 2014 at 9:30 pm

    how clever, i’ve only ever done standard round(ish) pancakes #TastyTuesdays

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 18, 2014 at 10:14 pm

      Thanks, until last week that’s all I’d ever made too.

  9. Ciara (My Fussy Eater) says

    November 18, 2014 at 8:38 pm

    These look brilliant!

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 18, 2014 at 10:11 pm

      Thanks Ciara

  10. Hayley @ Snap Happy Bakes says

    November 18, 2014 at 4:04 pm

    Wow these are so clever! Well done you! Even your first attempt is better than what I could achieve! Art was never my thing! Although pancakes are 😉 #tastytuesday

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 18, 2014 at 4:28 pm

      Thank you.

      If I had the time I’d eat pancakes every day (always in a rush in the morning so it doesn’t happen). What’s you favourite pancake/topping?

  11. Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says

    November 17, 2014 at 10:50 am

    I love these! I am not so sure that mine would be as successful, but I am going to attempt them on Christmas morning.

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 17, 2014 at 11:04 am

      Thanks, make sure you send me a picture.

  12. Mel says

    November 17, 2014 at 9:52 am

    It looks brilliant! I would never have thought of doing anything like it. Great tips, there, too. I am rubbish at making videos. In fact, I have never tried filming anything other than the kids doing something cute or silly. We could go to a class together!

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 17, 2014 at 10:22 am

      Sounds fun, although I really need to sort out my still photography first before I branch out onto anything moving!!

      Do you go along to any of the blogger events? It would be lovely to say hi if we’re ever in the same place 🙂

  13. Honest mum says

    November 15, 2014 at 9:29 am

    These are amazing chick, thanks for all the tips, want to make these now x

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      November 15, 2014 at 4:32 pm

      You should give it a go, it’s fun. I’m definitely going to do it again.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Rate this recipe




Primary Sidebar

Charlotte Oates about me

Hi, I'm Charlotte Oates. Welcome to my lively kitchen where I share delicious, simple baking recipes, baking tools and calculators, and lots of tips and tricks.

Find out more
Facebook logo - when clicked this will open the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen Facebook page Pinterest logo - when clicked this will open the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen - Pinterest page Instagram logo - when clicked this will open the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen Instagram page Twitter logo - when clicked this will open the Charlotte's Lively Kitchen twitter page

Latest Post

  • The Food Calendar 2023 – International & UK Food Days, Weeks and Months

Featured Recipes

  • Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake
  • Biscoff Cake
  • Oreo Cheesecake (No-Bake)
  • Chocolate Orange Cake
  • Easy Lemon Cake (All-In-One Lemon Sponge)
  • Easy Lemon Cheesecake (No Bake)
  • Lemon Buttercream
  • Easy Coffee Cake
  • White Chocolate Buttercream
  • Coffee Buttercream

Footer

About

Contact

Privacy Policy

↑ back to top

Copyright © 2022 CLK Digital Limited