Birthday breakfast: Baby Dutch Pancake with strawberries

A birthday breakfast is a must. I really wanted to impress the birthday boy and wake him up with a steaming hot...... something. When it is for a really dear person it becomes really exciting, but quite difficult to decide.

Banana pancakes with crispy bacon? He really wanted it but I was not too keen. I still can't get my head over the bacon + maple syrup idea.
Smoked salmon cream cheese snacks? Done that last year.
Croissants and fresh fruit? He's too manly for this.
Full English? naaaaah.
Fancy muffins? hmmm no.
Pancakes? We have too much of those anyway.
Baby Dutch Pancake? Score!!


I have always dreamed about making those! Although never quite got around to it, as I tend to have breakfast with a man whose most favourite phrase is 'don't worry about it now, we'll play it by ear', therefore I have never had the opportunity to do the batter in the evening to let it set. But as my date with the kitchen was planned for the whole day I decided to give it a go.

I was a bit worried it is more of a girly meal, but I chose a recipe that was a bit healthier and had more protein in it that other ones. I was still fearful of him asking for a bacon buttie and perhaps some bangers as soon as he sees it, but I thought I'll risk it for the biscuit. 

I always knew breakfast is my favourite meal of the day, but this just took it to a new level. The look, the smell, the taste, the texture... Divine. And it's so easy to make! Try it for a lovely weekend breakfast or a weekday morning treat puffing up while you're in the shower. 

The recipe is adapted from this website.


2 tbsp butter
1 cup flour
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 handfuls of fresh strawberries (or other berries)

Preheat the oven to 220C, place the skillet in the oven to heat it up. Put the flour, salt, sugar, vanilla, milk, eggs and zest in a bowl and mix well. Rest it for 1 hour aside or overnight in the fridge. Carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven and place the butter in it. Swirl it around to cover the surface and let it melt. Pour the batter in and sprinkle half of the strawberries in the middle. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until puffy and brown. Sprinkle with the remaining strawberries and dust with sugar.

this is after we dug in :]

P.S. Really sorry about the quality of the photos - it was very early in the morning before lectures...