Recipe: Nordic Pancake Cake with Berries & Cream {Happy National Pancake Day!}

I made this recipe on Tuesday night.

Last night, a friend, who had seen the picture that I had posted of it on Instagram, texted me to ask if I knew that today was National Pancake Day.

I did not! {I am not quite that organized}

And this is how timely posts get written.

Purely by accident.

Dinner in our home is an ongoing challenge. Just like your home, I’m sure. Some days, the kids will eat everything I put in front of them. Some days, Madeline takes one look at it and opts out with a request for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Some days, something they have eaten countless times before, they suddenly despise. Some days, they beg me to make things I didn’t think they liked. And SOME days, everyone eats everything and we chat about our days and dinner is a dream.

I am a fan of breakfast for dinner. It’s easy, unexpected, and the crowd of little people go wild. The Ex was never a fan, unless it included steak. Steak made everything better.

So when I saw this recipe for a Nordic Pancake Cake with Berries and Cream, I thought it would be a fun way to turn dinner upside down a bit and ensure clean plates.

I was half right.

As soon as they saw what I was up to, the kids fell over themselves to help me, with one flipping the pancakes, and another stacking the pancakes and smoothing the berry sauce in between.

And, of course, there were pictures.

Because if this isn’t a beautifully fun dinner worthy of a photo or two, I don’t know what is.

It took all of thirty minutes to make, start to finish, if that, and I actually had all the ingredients already on hand.

You may look at the picture and see pure indulgence.

But it’s totally not.

Whole wheat flour, a scant (and I do mean, scant) amount of sugar, fresh fruit …

And because of this, the finished product wasn’t overly sweet. But, the kids didn’t inhale it. Go figure. They took the obligatory bites to check off the dinner portion of their day, but really were not huge fans.

I snuck one bite of a pancake and it was really good. And I carefully portioned out the leftovers, and two friends happily ate them up and gave it two very enthusiastic thumbs up. So it’s good, swear.

When it comes to pancakes, my kids are pretty much purists.

Banana pancakes for Nick.

Chocolate chip for Madeline.

And pretty much, only infrequent deviations at best.

Which is, I think, the biggest reason why they panned this recipe.

But.

Don’t listen to them. Make this.

And now that I’ve written about a delicious chocolate cake and a pancake cake in the very same week, I don’t need to worry about having an abundance of healthy recipes for you.

All things in moderation. Balance, people, balance.

Nordic Pancake Cake with Berries and Cream
(I got the recipe from My Cakies here, and she originally found it here made by A Tasty Love Story, and made some changes, as did I, all noted below)

For the pancakes:
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
3 large eggs
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
Zest from 1 lemon (I skipped)
Cooking spray

For the berry sauce:
2 1/2 cups mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries) (I used blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries)
2 tbsp sugar

For the toppings:
1 cup whipping cream (I used heavy cream)
1 cup greek yogurt (I skipped)
2 tbsp sugar (I used 1 tablespoon)
I added a half teaspoon of vanilla
2 cup mixed fresh berries (this is for topping the cake) (I skipped)

Directions:
In a bowl, whisk all the pancake ingredients together. Make sure the batter is smooth. Heat a nonstick pan, spray some cooking spray and pour 1/3 cup of batter onto the pan. Fry the pancake for about 1-2 minutes on each side. When you see one side start to bubble, it’s time to flip it. Repeat for the rest of the batter. Allow pancakes to cool completely before stacking together with the cream and berries.

To make the sauce, place the berries in a small pot over medium heat. Add the sugar and with a potato masher continue to mash the berries together. Once all the berries have been mashed (it’s okay to have some chunks), allow the sauce to simmer for 3-5 minutes. Allow it to cool completely before you use it.

Whisk the cream with wide strokes (or using a mixer) and once the cream starts to thicken up, add the sugar. Continue to whip the cream until it is light and airy. Once it is done, gently fold in the greek yogurt (instead of yogurt, I added in the vanilla here).

To assemble the cake (make sure all the components have cooled), place a pancake on the plate. Next add a layer of berry sauce or whipped cream (or both), then layer another pancake on top (I didn’t layer whipped cream in between). Continue until you have used all your pancakes. Top the cake with the rest of the whipped cream and the fresh berries… voila!

Our pancakes were about 8″ circles and we had about 16 pancakes layers in our cake. Your cake might differ slightly based on the size of your pancakes.