Welcome to my new blog! You’ll notice it’s lacking a little in the looks department. It’s still very much a work in progress. If anyone has any tips on themes to use, plugins to get, potholes not to fall into…by all means, please share away! In the meantime, please enjoy some well-deserved, much-missed pancakes…
These have been a long time coming.
What’s your favorite kind of cake? I hope 99% of you are raising your hand for the chocolate camp. Me too! But I would never reach for a chocolate pancake over, say, buttermilk or banana nut. Is that weird? I find most chocolate pancakes kind of bland, too sweet, not chocolate-y enough, or dry (one of the worst pancake sins!). Maybe this is due to my memory of the hideous chocolate pancakes from iHop.
Creating a pancake that actually tastes like chocolate cake was quite the production. Falling only behind lemon poppy seed pancakes (which I still have not perfected), these have gone through the most incarnations. The first batch was exactly what I feared: kind of bland and dry. The second, using chocolate protein powder, were thin and floppy (and not chocolatey). The third batch was awesome whenever you bit into a melty chocolate chip, but was ultimately an unremarkable pancake. There were a few unmemorable batches I’m forgetting, but this final batch made up for all those failed pancakes.
These pancakes start with a base of whole wheat flour, adding a great boost of fiber that you can’t even taste in the final product. I highly recommend not subbing other flour for whole wheat. A small amount of oat flour adds tenderness and the lovely, almost crumbly, cake-like bite that I was looking for in a pancake. Powdered sugar lends a hand in the cakey department while granulated sugar ups the sweetness. A chia “egg” gives extra body and moisture to the pancake and chocolate chips, if you choose to use them, give these a kick of ooey-gooey irresistible pockets of sheer chocolatey bliss.
Their deliciousness demands to be enhanced by maple syrup. Go.
Vegan Chocolate Cake Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond milk + 1 tablespoon vinegar white or apple cider works best
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- ¼ cup almond milk
- 2 tablespoons oil any neutral oil like vegetable, canola, or a mild olive
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- ¼ cup oat flour
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Combine 1 cup of milk and vinegar and let sit for 5-10 minutes.
- Stir together the chia seeds, additional 1/4 cup milk, oil and vanilla and let sit until mixture thickens into a gel, at least five minutes.
- Whisk together the flours, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugars and chocolate chips, if using. Set a large skillet or frying pan over medium heat.
- Pour the milk + vinegar mixture into the chia mixture and stir to combine. Gently stir into the dry ingredients until just combined. A few lumps are fine, but make sure any big floury lumps are mixed in. Lightly oil the preheated pan and pour batter in ¼ cup at a time. Cook about 2 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. Serve with lots of maple syrup, chocolate chips, shavings, ganache, buttercream…you know. Whatever floats your boat.
Greg lopez
These pancakes were great, I did run out of baking powder so they took a bit longer to cook.
Jessica
These are amazing. Doesn’t need the oil nor the powdered sugar. Didn’t add either and they turned out amazing. I did add the 2 tbsp of choc chips though.
erika
Yay!!! Thanks for the great feedback 🙂
Alessandra
Coming back from work at 8pm and day(night)dreaming about chocolate cake but too lazy to go through the hassle of baking… thought Id check out your site for some ideas and bam! ran into this recipe… changed the vegetable oil for some coconut oil I had in my pantry and used the egg vs. the chia substitute… OMG, these were EXACTLY how you described them – so fluffy, chocolatey and cake… An amazing way to get the flavour and texture of cake but in an easy, no fuss way for (near) immediate satisfaction… LOVED IT. Congrats on such fail-proof and original ideas and recipes (and healthy!)
erika
Aww YAY!!! That’s exactly how I was hoping people would use this recipe–because I often feel the same way as you did 😉 Thanks so much for reporting back, Alessandra!! 🙂
Maggie @ Sunnyside Up Smile
And check it out, I am so seriously in love with this recipe that I wrote an entire blog post on it today 🙂
Maggie @ Sunnyside Up Smile
And I almost forgot, I spread almond butter on one and it was SO GOOD! 🙂
Maggie @ Sunnyside Up Smile
HOLY HEAVEN! ERIKA YOU ARE BRILLIANT! 😉
I made these for me, my brother and my friend for breakfast this morning and they were absolutely, hands down the best pancakes I’ve ever had. They were so worth the time it took to make them! It was a perfect start to my day. They were amazing- so fluffy, so thick, so fun and so chocolatey. And props for making them healthy! WOW. I could eat them all day every day. You are a pancake goddess I swear. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes! P.S. I love the mod, fresh, clean look of your blog! So cute! Have a happy Friday!
erika
Maggie!!!! You are so awesome!! Thanks so much for letting me know. I’m SO happy you liked them!!! And so happy to have connected through our blogs. Looking forward to reading more from you! 🙂
Vickie
yum, these look so delicious 🙂
pumpkinpie
Yum! I can’t believe how light these taste with whole wheat flour. I used raspberry vinegar, and we enjoyed these so much. Thanks for the recipe!
erika
You just made my day! I’m so glad you enjoyed them–raspberry vinegar sounds delicious, I’d love to try that!