This Spelt and Orange Pancake cake is just as good for breakfast as it is for dinner.
Orange and spelt pancakes
These fluffy spelt pancakes look just like a cake don’t they?. Imagine you didn’t have an oven and you wanted to make a cake for afternoon tea. Ha! yep here it is. Don’t laugh I have done it before.
For one very long summer I lived in a tent near Staveley in The Lake District of northern England. Living in a tent is bad enough but I also had to cook in that tent as well. During my time surviving wind and rain and getting to the shops by bus, I was a tour chef for a travel company. Some nights the passengers camped and on others they stayed in more salubrious accommodation like small boutique hotels or even cabins. This was the camping stop and I was stationed here for 4 months
Fortunately I only had one bus arrival a night so that was a mere 52 passengers to accommodate. I had camping tables outdoors where my dinners sat each meal time. Inside the cooks tent there were two or three trestle tables some store cupboards and a large triple gas burner. Yes, really that is all. I had an ambitious menu because I love a challenge, even though most camping stops kept it extremely simple I always liked to do a bit more. Part of the service included desserts and always birthday cakes if there was a passenger lucky enough to be increasing in age on tour.
I steam baked sponges in large A10 tins and layered them with berries and cream but I also made this kind of cake too. Fluffy Spelt, Walnut and Orange Pancake Cake. It is served warm, layered with mascarpone or sour cream or sweetened yoghurt and smothered with orange syrup. It doesn’t taste too sweet which may surprise you. It is the best cake you can make without an oven. Use what ever fruit or flavourings you like. Just keep the cakes warm while you make the layers then spread and serve.
Spelt and Orange Pancake Cake with walnuts
Ingredients
Method
- Put the orange juice, zest and sugar into a pot and simmer on low till nice and syrupy or reduced by 1/2. Pour into a jug and set aside.
- Put the yolks, buttermilk, zest and sugar into a bowl and whisk till combined. Mix the cinnamon, baking powder and flour together and whisk gently into the egg yolk mixture. The mixture should be stirable. If it is too thick and a little more buttermilk.
- In a clean bowl, with a clean whisk beat the whites to soft peak and nice and fluffy then fold through the batter along with the chopped walnuts till just incorporated without mixing too much.
- Heat a fry pan greasing with a little butter testing with a small drop of the batter. Once hot reduce the heat a little and add the first quarter of the batter. The pancakes with be very fluffy. Turn when they start to bubble on the top. Cook slowly so the outside doesn't burn. keep warm wrapped in a clean teatowel till all are finished
- Once all four are done layer with the mascarpone. and decorate with fruit and more mascarpone and nuts. Serve with lashings of the syrup and extra cream. Cut just like a cake.
I loved the Lake District but it did drizzle with rain the whole time. It sounds like you were a creative cook and they must have thought yours was the best stop of all. What a great idea for a cake to cook without an oven.
I bet it was the best stop on the tour! The sounds like the best of both worlds and I agree with Maureen – definitely appropriate for breakfast.
What a beautiful cake. I never thought you could make a cake without an oven – I thought the two went hand in hand. You must have nerves of steel, Tania – if I’d been in your situation I would have been so nervous I’d have had a coronary xx
What a delicious looking stack of pancakes! I really must play with spelt sometime too!
Excellent idea for those “oven-less” days! This can also be a good cooking bonding with kids. I’ll try this one and another with strawberry, kiwi or mango. Thanks for sharing!
Julie
Gourmet Getaways
Awesome job Tania, these look amazing! I bet you had the most popular tour spot around. I’m just waiting for you to write a book about your touring and traveling days- I bet it would be a real page turner xox
Ha aren’t you sweet. You sure…cause these kind of tours were definitely page turners
You know that I am a huge fan of spelt flour, don’t you? This looks divine!
What kind of spelt flour did you use? Wholegrain or white?
Wow! What a challenging setup to navigate for four long months. You must’ve learned so many fantastic tricks and tips. 🙂
Your tent-based desserts must win as the most creative cooking I have ever heard of! This looks gorgeous, even if you have an oven to utilise.
I can’t imagine what cooking for a bus load of tourists would be like with that basic set up. I hope you didn’t have to do the washing and clearing up too. Clever thinking with the pancake cake – it looks gorgeous.
If the word pancake is in there, I can eat this for breakfast. Nothing better than dessert for breakfast. I love your tent cooking experiences.