from our cocoa kitchen · SURFSTR
Fluffy cocoa pancakes with cocoa sauce
A soft stack of cocoa pancakes and a spoonful of warm, silky sauce make an easy weekend breakfast or a simple dessert. SURFSTR cocoa powder gives both the pancakes and the sauce their chocolate flavour. The pancakes contain no chocolate chips, so the cocoa stays at the centre of the recipe. Make twelve small pancakes and serve three per person with a quarter of the sauce. Allow 40 minutes in total, about 30 active. The 10-minute batter rest partly overlaps sauce-making and pan heating.
- Active preparation
- 10 min
- Cooking / baking
- 20 min
- Resting / chilling
- 10 min
- Total time
- 40 min
4 servings: 12 pancakes, about 9 cm each; 3 pancakes plus sauce per serving (about 175 g, estimated)
Editorial recipe adaptation. Not yet kitchen-tested. Check ingredient labels for allergens.
02 / bring it together
let’s make it.
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Weigh and prepare
Weigh every ingredient and keep the sauce quantities separate. Beat the eggs and weigh 100 g without shell. Bring milk and eggs towards room temperature while you prepare. Set out two non-stick pans to cook the batch promptly; with one pan, allow another 10–15 minutes.
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Sift the flour and cocoa
Sift 180 g plain flour and 30 g SURFSTR cocoa powder into the large bowl. Break up cocoa lumps against the sieve. This distributes the dark cocoa without needing to beat the finished batter.
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Distribute the raising agent
Add 50 g sugar, 8 g double-acting baking powder and 1 g fine salt. Whisk the dry mixture until its colour is even. Use baking powder, not bicarbonate of soda: this formula is designed for Dutch-process cocoa and ordinary milk.
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Whisk the liquids
In the second bowl, whisk 100 g beaten egg, 260 g whole milk, 30 g rapeseed oil and 5 g vanilla extract until uniform. The liquid should have no separate oil layer. Neutral oil avoids the hard butter flecks that can form when melted butter meets cold milk.
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Fold gently
Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients. Fold with a spatula just until no dry flour remains. Stop while a few small soft lumps remain; do not whisk the batter smooth or beat air into it. It should be thick enough to fall in a broad ribbon, not run like milk.
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Rest for hydration
Leave the batter undisturbed for 10 minutes. It will thicken as the flour and cocoa absorb liquid. After resting, lift one spoonful to check that it falls slowly in a ribbon. Do not repeatedly stir it. Make the sauce during this rest and start heating the pans near the end.
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Cook the cocoa sauce
In the small saucepan, whisk 15 g SURFSTR cocoa powder with 30 g sugar. Whisk in 70 g water gradually, first making a smooth paste. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring, and cook for 2 minutes until glossy and lightly coating a spoon. Remove from the heat and stir in 2 g vanilla. Keep warm; it thickens slightly as it cools.
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Portion into warm pans
Heat the pans over medium-low heat for 2–3 minutes; an optional surface reading is about 170–180°C. Spread the 5 g pan oil thinly across the batches. Spoon about 55 g batter per pancake into 9 cm rounds, leaving space between them. Cook 2–3 pancakes per pan without spreading or pressing them.
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Read the bubbles and flip
Cook the first side for 2–3 minutes until small bubbles remain open and the outer edge looks matte and set. Slide the turner fully underneath and flip once. Cook for 1–2 minutes more. Lower the heat if the underside darkens before the top begins to set; cocoa makes burning harder to see.
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Check the centre and serve
Split the first pancake: the centre should be soft and evenly aerated with no shiny raw batter. Cook a little longer over lower heat if wet inside. Repeat with the remaining batter, briefly stacking cooked pancakes on a warm plate. Serve three per person with one quarter of the sauce. The full allowance is 40 minutes, including 10 minutes resting; about 30 minutes involve active work.
The recipe in pictures
Commercial scaling
Quantities are for 4, 25 and 50 servings, with 3 pancakes per serving: 12, 75 and 150 pancakes. Mix batches for 4–8 servings rather than one deep bowl. Weigh beaten egg and leavener precisely. Pan capacity, mixing, holding and cooking time do not scale linearly; plan additional equipment and service time.
| Ingredients | 4 | 25 | 50 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain wheat flour, not self-raising | 180 g | 1125 g | 2250 g |
| SURFSTR cocoa powder, Dutch-process, 20–22% cocoa butter | 30 g | 187.5 g | 375 g |
| Granulated sugar | 50 g | 312.5 g | 625 g |
| Double-acting baking powder | 8 g | 50 g | 100 g |
| Fine salt | 1 g | 6.25 g | 12.5 g |
| Egg without shell, about 2 medium eggs; beat and weigh | 100 g | 625 g | 1250 g |
| Whole milk | 260 g | 1625 g | 3250 g |
| Neutral rapeseed oil | 30 g | 187.5 g | 375 g |
| Vanilla extract | 5 g | 31.25 g | 62.5 g |
| Rapeseed oil for lightly greasing the pan | 5 g | 31.25 g | 62.5 g |
| SURFSTR cocoa powder, Dutch-process, 20–22% cocoa butter | 15 g | 93.75 g | 187.5 g |
| Granulated sugar | 30 g | 187.5 g | 375 g |
| Water | 70 g | 437.5 g | 875 g |
| Vanilla extract | 2 g | 12.5 g | 25 g |
03 / the numbers
nutrition, clearly.
Calculated estimates, not laboratory measurements. Any per-100-g values use the stated estimated finished weight.
| Estimated nutrition | 1 serving | 100 g |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 1864 kJ / 447 kcal | 1065 kJ / 256 kcal |
| Fat | 16.3 g | 9.3 g |
| of which saturates | 4.5 g | 2.6 g |
| Carbohydrate | 58.4 g | 33.4 g |
| of which sugars | 23.6 g | 13.5 g |
| Fibre | 4.4 g | 2.5 g |
| Protein | 12.3 g | 7 g |
| Salt | 0.95 g | 0.54 g |
Estimated per serving: 3 pancakes plus one quarter of the cocoa sauce, about 175 g. Per-100-g values use an assumed finished weight of 700 g (600 g pancakes and 100 g sauce), not a measured yield. All 5 g pan oil is included. Ingredient labels and evaporation change the result; baking-powder sodium is a particular uncertainty. Additional toppings are excluded. This is a calculation, not a laboratory analysis.
Tips, storage & substitutions
For tender pancakes
A few small batter lumps are fine. Repeated whisking develops gluten and can make pancakes tough. A broad ribbon is the useful consistency cue; a stiff mound will not spread enough, while a watery batter makes thin pancakes.
If the first pancake is too dark
Reduce the heat and let the pan cool briefly before the next batch. A non-stick pan needs only a thin film of oil. Do not press pancakes after turning; that squeezes out the airy structure.
If the sauce is too thick
Stir in hot water 5 g at a time until it pours from a spoon. Extra water changes the finished weight, but adds no energy. If too thin, simmer briefly while stirring. Do not leave the small pan unattended.
Storage and reheating
Cool pancakes and sauce promptly and refrigerate in separate closed containers at 5°C or colder within 2 hours. Use within 2 days. Reheat pancakes in a covered pan over low heat or at 160°C conventional / 140°C fan for 8–10 minutes, until steaming throughout. Warm sauce gently, stirring. Freeze pancakes with paper between them for up to 2 months; thaw in the fridge before reheating.
Substitutions and serving
An unsweetened oat drink can replace the milk by weight, but flavour, nutrition and allergy status change. Keep the eggs. A gluten-free flour blend or egg replacement needs a separate test; do not assume a direct swap. Serve as written, or add fruit separately; fruit, cream and other extras are not included in the nutrition estimate.
Make-ahead and batch cooking
Cook the batter after its short rest rather than storing it overnight; the raising agent loses some activity. Refrigerate cooked pancakes instead. The stated cooking allowance uses two pans; a single pan needs more time. Make large quantities in fresh small batches so the last pancakes are as light as the first.
SURFSTR · DUTCH PROCESS
it starts with cocoa.
SURFSTR Dutch-process cocoa contains 20–22% cocoa butter. Use the cocoa specified in the recipe: natural cocoa is not always a direct substitute.
Meet the cocoa