Paul and Yuri had so much fun building and decorating this cake. Most of the fun from making the Pancake Surprise Cake came from eating the decoration (candy) while preparing the cake. Luckily they only ate a bit and there was enough left over to decorate the cake. At Sinterklaas it’s common to make a surprise, to hide someone’s gift in. So you make a craft that says something about the person the surprise is for. This cake is for someone who loves pancakes. Their gift would be hidden inside the cake.
Pancake Surprise Cake
Paul and Yuri made a batch of pancakes (Dutch style, so large ones). They let them cool down and then placed the on each other with powdered sugar topped on each pancake. Then decorated the pancake with all sorts of Sinterklaas candy. Paul and Yuri didn’t hide a gift inside or wrap it up in gift paper.
The recipe they used is from Allerhande, a food magazine from the grocery store chain Albert Heijn. The pancake batter is made with flour, salt, eggs and milk. The pancakes were cooked in unsalted butter. As decoration we used homemade kruidnoten, kikkers & muizen, chocolate letters, chocolate coins and chocolate figures. All traditional Sinterklaas candy.
Kikkers & muizen (frogs and mice) is a candy made of fondant dipped in chocolate. These and the other candies are traditionally given to someone in their shoe. Kids get to place their shoe a couple of times before going to bed. The next morning a small gift or candy is in their shoe. This is in the 2 to 3 weeks leading up to December 5th.
For the gift part you would make the pancake pile on gift wrapping paper and cut out a square in the pile, except for the upper two. Place the gift inside the square and cover it up with the two remaining pancakes. Wrap the cake in the gift paper.
Another fun and delicious Sinterklaas treat are these Spiced Cupcakes or the Sint Cane Shaped Grilled Cheese Sticks. Looking for a totally different pancake recipe than try this Peach Dutch Baby.
Review
We used less of the candy to decorate the cake. We didn’t make a surprise out of the cake or wrapped it. However if we would have done it we would have used less powdered sugar or none at all. The powdered sugar melts and becomes liquid if it’s so much, so a pool of moist was on the bottom. This would have soaked the wrapping paper and present. The pancake batter was exactly according to the instructions, but I replaced cream butter with unsalted butter.
Comment below if you’re going to try it out, if you have any questions and tag #cosetteiscookin when you post pictures on your socials.
Pancake Surprise Cake
Allergies: wheat, gluten, dairy, sugar.
Ingredients
750 grams flour
20 grams chocolate figures
2 teaspoons salt
20 grams chocolate coins
5 eggs
20 grams chocolate letters
1250 ml milk
20 grams frogs & mice
5 tablespoons powdered sugar
20 grams kruidnoten
Instructions
Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Add eggs and half of the milk. Whisk it into a smooth batter. Add the rest of the milk and whisk until you have a smooth batter. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Heat a bit of butter in a frying pan. Bake the pancakes until the bowl is empty. Let the pancakes cool down.
For a surprise cake without a gift in it: Place a pancake on a plate, top with powdered sugar. Place another one on top of that and dust again with powdered sugar. Repeat until you’re out of pancakes.
Decorate the top pancake with the candy.
For a surprise cake with a gift inside: Place all the pancakes on a pile, except for two. Cut out a square in the middle. Place the pile on gift wrapping paper. Place the gift inside the square. Cover the pile with the last two pancakes.
Decorate the top pancake with candy. Wrap the cake in the gift paper.
Notes:
- Recipe source is the magazine Allerhande.
- The cake is enough for 3 to 12 persons, depending whether it’s served as breakfast, dessert or dinner. For one if used as a surprise.
