In the past you could get gel colours only from specialist cake decorating shops but it was effort and they cost way more than $2.50 per tube. Look at these pancakes – only one drop in each one gave it the bright colour I was looking for.
When I had little kids, my daughter could cheerfully go without eating. She just couldn’t be bothered. I’d make silver dollar pancakes and make each one a different colour. On the bottom of the plate I’d write the name of a surprise she’d get if she ate all of one of the colours. If she chose wrong, no surprise. It only took once before she realised that if she ate them all, the surprise was guaranteed.
She called it rainbow day and it was a highlight for her. I’d stick everything I could think of in those pancakes and she ate them every time.
When I was asked to share my experiences with this new food colour gel, those pancakes came to mind. Well, to be honest, I thought of a Rubik’s Cube first but that proved problematic in the way I wanted to make them. Needless to say, several batches of pan cookies proved me wrong. I could have just done a block of cake but Tania did fancy icing so I went to my first thought and in honour of my daughter Kathy, here are my fluffy, buttermilk rainbow pancakes.
- 1 cup plain, all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoons melted butter
- gel food colouring
- Sift dry ingredients and set aside.
- Combine wet ingredients and whisk to combine the egg.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk to combine.
- Separate into 4 bowls and place one drop of gel food colouring to each bowl. Stir with a spoon to distribute colour.
- Place skillet over medium heat and spoon enough batter in to make two small pancakes. When edges begin to dry, flip and cook the other side.
- Serve topped with butter, maple syrup or ice cream.
If you’re in Australia, try their Food Colour Gels and follow them on Facebook too.