Chocolate Pancakes

Moist, fluffy and decadent Chocolate Pancakes topped with silky chocolate ganache. Only one is sure to satisfy all your chocolate cravings! 

If you too are a chocolate lover like me, you will flip for these perfect pancakes (as I like to call them)! If you love sweet treats for Breakfast, try these Lemon Poppy Seeds Muffins.

You will love these fluffy yet Healthy Pancakes too! If healthy treats sound more like you, leave everything else and bake these Healthy Strawberry Bars.

While I like to eat healthy-ish and protein packed breakfasts most days, you can definitely have one cheat breakfast per week. No? No?? I know your brain is silently saying YES!!

Well this breakfast is made for those cheat days. Hello Weekends!! And we are topping them with berries for good fuel anyway! 😉

How to make pancakes?

• Measure the Ingredients: If you keep all your wet and dry ingredients pre-measured and collected at one place, this makes the job so much more convenient.
• Make Pancake Batter: To make the batter of this pancake, we will mix all the wet ingredients (except water/coffee) together in a mixing bowl first. Then sift in cocoa, flour and leaveners in. Give them a good mix just till everything is well combined.
  
  Then we will pour hot coffee over the batter and mix it in too. There you have it. You may add chocolate chips in the batter too, if you like hot melty pockets of chocolate in your pancakes, like I do here in these Chocolate Chip Pancakes Recipe.
• Set up the pan: I used a small pan this time that holds just one pancake at a time, about ⅓ cup of batter. I know it is a little more time consuming. But this way pancakes take shape of the circular pan and rise on its edges to create a big beautiful and round pancake with almost zero effort.
  
  You can definitely pick a regular pan here if you prefer. If you do so, I suggest instead of making regular pancakes in it, just make two large ones. It will ensure your pancakes aren't flat and get cooked faster! Then you can cut them to serve after cooking if you'd like.
• Cooking the Pancakes: You pan/griddle should be hot but not way too hot to burn the base of the pancake as soon as you pour it.
  
  Set the heat to low-medium after pouring the batter on pan. You want to cook this pancake for good 2-3 minutes before flipping it over.
• Make the ganache: As the pancakes are cooking, heat some cream up in microwave and add chocolate/chocolate chips to it. Let them sit for a while and then stir till a silky ganache is formed.
• Serve: Serve the pancakes hot, pouring warm ganache on them. Top with fruits and berries of choice.

Descriptive recipe is written in the recipe card below. Let's quickly check out what we are doing here-

• Mix all the liquid ingredients together.
• Add and fold all the dry ingredients into wet next.
• Now add in hot coffee/water and mix it in too.
• Form chocolate pancake batter and do not over mix it.
• Pour pancake batter in a small pan and cook pancakes one by one. Set heat on low and cook the pancake covered.
• Bubbles will form and settle on the top of pancake in about 2-3 minutes.
• Flip the pancake when bubbles start settling, forming holes on the top of pancake. Setting heat to medium, cook on the other side too for about a minute and serve hot.

When to flip pancakes:

As you pour pancake batter in pan, bubbles will form on top surface of the batter. Don't flip when you see these bubbles though. Flip them when these bubbles pop and holes start forming.

These holes will stay open on the surface of pancakes. Check out visual number 6 for reference above.

Recipe Ingredients:

Ingredients that you will need to make these pancakes are mostly pantry staple. Plus this is such a versatile recipe.

If you don't have buttermilk handy, you can even make your own using milk and vinegar. Let us check what you will need to make these:

• Cocoa Powder: I have used natural unsweetened Hershey's cocoa powder here. The pancakes were not that fluffy and light when I tested them with dutch processed cocoa. So I recommend not to substitute here and use naturally unsweetened cocoa.
• Oil: Oil coats the crumb of flour and cocoa so much better than butter does. This is the reason why baked goods made with oil taste so moist. This pancake recipe here is no different.
  
  And you won't even miss the flavor of butter with all that chocolate flavor. If you still desire, you may replace oil with melted butter in equal quantity.
• Buttermilk: Buttermilk is one such ingredient that will make your pancakes unbelievably moist and fluffy at the same time. It isn't even a problem if you don't have it in your pantry. Just add a tablespoon of vinegar to a liquid measuring cup. Now fill it to one cup with milk of your choice. There you have your homemade buttermilk recipe. Use it in a quantity that your recipe calls for.
• water/coffee: You can mix hot coffee in the end to bloom your cocoa and get the batter in right consistency. Or if you wish you can skip coffee and add hot water instead.
  
  Water in this recipe can also be replaced with buttermilk in equal quantity. Told you this recipe is super versatile!
• leaveners: Both baking powder and baking soda are needed here to produce light and fluffy pancakes. Make sure both these leaveners are fresh before adding them to the batter. Stale baking powder/baking soda can make your pancakes tough and dry.
• Vanilla: A teeny-tiny amount of vanilla extract goes a long way here and adds to the flavor of chocolate. So don't skip it.
• Flour: All purpose flour is the base of this recipe. If you sub it with whole wheat or any other flour, the pancakes wouldn't be as light and thick.
• Sugar: To sweeten the pancakes.

Quality of chocolate: 

Quality of chocolate matters. In fact, it matters the most in any recipe whose flavor relies solely on chocolate.

So make sure to use good quality chocolate ingredients. Be it cocoa powder, chocolate or chocolate chips. It really makes a difference.

Chocolate Ganache:

This is a super easy ganache made with chocolate and heavy cream. Feel free to make it as thick or thin as you like.

You may also call it chocolate sauce. It is such a versatile recipe, since you can use the kind of chocolate/chocolate chips that you prefer here.

Just make sure to use quality chocolate. It definitely makes a huge difference!

QUICK TIP: If you only have dark chocolate on hands and you don't want to end up making a bitter or less sweet ganache, you may add up to two tablespoons of sugar to the cream when you heat it up. Add your dark chocolate then and stir.

To make chocolate ganache, heat up some heavy cream in microwave. No need to bring the cream to a boil. Add chocolate chips to it and let them sit for 1-2 minutes.

Now continue to stir till the cream and the chocolate gets all mixed together and you get a smooth ganache.

Pour on warm pancakes and enjoy!

If you notice your ganache has thicken too much for your liking, you can microwave it again in small increments. Add just a little more heavy cream while stirring if needed.

Pour on pancakes while it is warm and in pourable consistency.

Expert Tips:

1. Measuring ingredients: As trivial as it sounds, measuring your ingredients correctly means more than half job done right! Make use of kitchen scale to measure dry ingredients. And use a liquid measuring cup to measure wet ingredients.
2. Egg and Buttermilk at room temperature: Ingredients at room temperature mix better and help creating a homogeneous batter. If you forget to take your egg out before hand, just place the egg in warm water for 4-5 minutes. Your egg is now ready to go in the batter.
3. Mixing Batter: Never be tempted to go on mixing the pancake batter. Mix only till everything is just combined. Overmixing results in tough and dry pancakes.
4. Heat Setting: Pan should be pre-heated but cook this pancake on low-medium heat. Since this chocolate batter is a little runny, we will cook the pancakes on low heat. This will make sure the pancakes don't scorch at the bottom.
5. I recommend covering the pan, keeping pancake on low heat for a minute or two with a lid. Remove lid then and flip the pancake to allow it to cook on the other side for another minute. This will make the fluffiest and the softest pancake ever. It tastes just like a cupcake, take my word for it!
6. Flipping the pancakes: Flip you pancakes when bubbles settle on the top of batter. This way your pancakes will never remain undercooked.

Storing, freezing and reheating ideas:

These pancakes taste best fresh. However if you need to store them, they will stay good at room temperature for a day. You can store them in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Place pancakes individually onto a baking tray and chill in the freezer till they get very firm. Now freeze them in a ziploc. You can freeze them for up to 2 months.

To reheat, preheat your oven to 300 dec C and place pancakes in the oven for 5-7 minutes. Or until they are heated through.

Alternatively, you can microwave pancakes in small increments till they are heated well.

More Chocolate Recipes you must try:

Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe

Zucchini Chocolate Muffins (Don't confuse the addition of zucchini, you cannot taste it!)

Whole wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Healthy Breakfast Cookies

If you liked this recipe, please give it a star review! Also, tell me in the comments below, how did it turn out for you! How did your family or guests like it? How did you personalize it?

And don’t forget to share your wonderful creations with me on Instagram at #greedyeatsblog Let's be friends on Pinterest and Facebook too!

Recipe

Chocolate Pancakes

Moist, fluffy and decadent Chocolate Pancakes topped with silky chocolate ganache. Only one is sure to satisfy all your chocolate cravings! 

5 from 19 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes minutes

Servings 10 Pancakes

1x2x3x

Calories: 198kcal

Author: Neha

Equipment

• 1 Mini Non-Stick Frying Pan

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 Cup All purpose flour
• ▢ ¾ Cup Granulated sugar
• ▢ 6 Tablespoons Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon Salt
• ▢ ½ Cup Buttermilk
• ▢ ½ Cup Hot water or Coffee
• ▢ 4 Tablespoons Oil
• ▢ 2 large Eggs
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Ganache

• ▢ 1 Cup Heavy Cream
• ▢ 1 Cup Milk Chocolate/Milk Chocolate Chips

Instructions

• Whisk egg, oil, buttermilk, sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl until well combined. Sift all the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt) over wet. Now whisk the batter until smooth and all the flour disappears into the batter. Now add hot coffee in th batter and whisk it in too.
• Preheat a mini non-stick frying pan to medium heat. Coat the pan with butter before cooking every pancake to prevent sticking. Add around ⅓ cup batter to hot pan and turn the heat to medium-low. Cover the pan with a lid and allow to cook for about 2 minutes. Bubbles will start settling and holes will form on the surface of pancake at this point.
• Now flip the pancake using a spatula and cook on the other side too for about a minute. Repeat this process to cook pancakes in the same manner, till all the batter is used up. I could make 10 pancakes with this batter.

  Alternatively, you can cook pancakes in a regular sized pan and make two large pancakes from this batter.

For Chocolate Ganache:

• In a heatproof bowl add chocolate and heavy cream. Microwave it in 20-30 second increments and keep stirring until chocolate is melted and ganache gets smooth.

  Alternatively, You can heat heavy cream in a sauce pan. Don't bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat and add in the chocolate. Let the chocolate rest in the cream for about 2 minutes and then stir till a smooth ganache is formed.
• Serve warm pancakes with hot/warm chocolate ganache and fresh berries. Reheat the ganache in microwave (in small increments) if it sets before serving.

Notes

water/coffee: You can mix hot coffee in the end to bloom your cocoa and get the batter in right consistency. Or if you wish you can skip coffee and add hot water instead. Water in this recipe can also be replaced with buttermilk in equal quantity. Told you this recipe is super versatile!

Which pan to use: I used a small pan this time that holds just one pancake at a time, about ⅓ cup of batter. I know it is a little more time consuming. But this way pancakes take shape of the circular pan and rise on its edges to create a big beautiful and round pancake with almost zero effort. Use two pans to quicken things up if you wish.

You can definitely pick a regular pan here if you prefer. If you do so, I suggest instead of making regular pancakes in it, just make two large ones. It will ensure your pancakes aren't flat and get cooked faster! Then you can cut them to serve after cooking if you'd like.

Heat Setting: Pan should be pre-heated but cook this pancake on low-medium heat. Since this chocolate batter is a little runny, we will cook the pancakes on low heat. This will make sure the pancakes don't scorch at the bottom.

I recommend covering the pan (keeping pancake on low heat for a minute or two) with a lid. Then remove lid and flip the pancake to allow it to cook on the other side for another minute. This will make the fluffiest and the softest pancake ever!! It tastes just like a cupcake, take my word for it!

I don't want to use a small pan OR cook large pancakes. What should I do?

You can try replacing coffee/water in the recipe with buttermilk. The batter will be slightly thicker this way. But I strongly suggest to cook it like I suggest in this recipe for best texture!

Flipping the pancakes: Flip your pancakes when bubbles start settling on the top surface of batter. This way your pancakes will never remain undercooked.

Nutrition

Serving: 5Servings | Calories: 198kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 14g | Sodium: 98mg | Sugar: 15g

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