13 ways with pancakes to liven up Shrove Tuesday

You can, of course, fire up Pancake Day by setting your crepe alight. Either flambe at home, or take a trip to authentic creperie Mamie’s for The La Gaugin – banana, chocolate, Chantilly cream and flambé rum. [Photo: Samphire]

Get your appetite ready and head to one of the branches of The Breakfast Club for its annual Pancake Challenge. The rules are simple: Eat a stack of 12 pancakes in 12 minutes or less. If you win, it’s on The Breakfast Club. If you lose, you’ll pay full price and they’ll donate all profits to charities local to their cafes. There’s all sorts on the menu, from savoury Bourbon Pulled-Pork Cubanos to Triple Chocolate, Fudge & Mallow; Salted Caramel Banoffee. [Photo: Samphire]

If one pancake isn’t enough for you, how about ‘all you can eat’? Visit Cosmo, where you can watch your mix go into one of its high-tech machines and wait for a perfectly-formed pancake to come out the other end! You can help yourself to toppings from sweets, syrups and even melted chocolate from Cosmo’s very own chocolate fountain. Just keep going until you’re done! [Photo: Samphire]

Who says pumpkins are just for Halloween? PImp up your Pancake Day dish with these sweet treats from the ShellyMade blog. [Photo: Instagram/shellymadeblog]

If it’s a challenge you’re after, day or night, try 24-hour Polo Bar. Their stacks include indulgent options like The New Yorker – cheesecake cream, strawberries, digestive crumbles and fruit coulis – or the Royal Panckes – a huge tower mixed with forest berries, vanilla cream and fruit coulis. Eat 10 of the award-winning pancakes in 10 minutes or less and you’ll get your stack for fee plus a free bottle of prosecco for the table. Worth a try hey? [Photo: Samphire]

They may look indulgent, but the Leaning Tower of Pancakes at healthy eatery MOTHER is plant-based , gluten-free and refined sugar-free but still tasty, flavoured with lemon and cardamom and served with lemon, maple syrup, berries and coconut yoghurt. Something to add that touch of virtue to Shrove Tuesday. [Photo: Samphire]

Of course you’ve heard of protein pancakes. And if you can whip them up all year round, why not on Pancake Day? Feel free to add pretty much any topping, but you might want to keep it fairly healthy to match your batter. [Photo: Instagram/iamevadixon]

You might be used to thinking of quinoa as something you eat for your lunch – not a superfood that you chuck in your pancake mix. But restaurant Gotto has created a Quinoa Pancake with Deep Fried Quail, Pomegranate, Maple Syrup & Horseradish especially for Pancake Day – certainly something a bit different! [Photo: Samphire]

For something a bit different, how about Pandan Pancakes – made from the tropical fruit Pandanus. If you can’t work out how to make you’re own, you can try award-winning dim sum and Sichuan restaurant Chinese Cricket Club‘s version with sweet mangos. [Photo: Samphire]

Quirky combos are always going to jazz up the traditional. Get inspired by London restaurant Shane’s on Canalside, which is offering choices like Buttermilk & Bacon Pancake with Kale, Poached Egg & Hollandaise or a Rosemary Pancake with Butternut Squash, Goats Cheese & Sage butter. Oh, and if you just want LOADS, they’re also doing bottomless pancakes – but you’ll be sticking with lemon and sugar. [Photo: Samphire]

Who said pancakes were just a snack or a pudding? Transform them into your whole meal with this pancake cannelloni recipe from BBC Good Food. [Photo: Instagram/bbcgoodfood]

Add a Turkish touch to this year’s pancakes with some baklava. Take inspiration from Turkey and channel the flavours from this traditional pastry into your pancakes. Chopped pistachios, rosewater, cinnamon and honey will remind you of the syrupy treat and give you two gorgeous puds in one go. [Photo: Instagram/redpoppypinkpeony]

Forget cupcakes, it’s all about the Red Velvet Pancakes. I mean, just LOOK at them? It doesn’t get more fun than that. [Photo: Instagram/huggablekevz]