Pancake Day is the perfect excuse to get kids into the kitchen. Perfect for letting their imaginations run wild, making pancakes is an easy skill that helps kids of all ages become more confident in the kitchen.
This Pancake Day, try our rainbow pancake recipe which puts a creative twist on fluffy American pancakes.
What is Pancake Day?
Pancake Day is also known as Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Just like the name suggests, it’s a day to make – and eat – pancakes. Typically people make crepes (thin, wide pancakes) and top them with things like lemon and sugar or chocolate spread. But you can also make fluffy American style pancakes if you prefer, which are great for stacking.
Pancake Day is celebrated the day before Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of the Christian festival of Lent. During Lent, people ‘fast’ or give up things for 40 days as a way of connecting with God and their spirituality before Easter.
But what do pancakes have to do with Lent? Well, in the past, making pancakes was a good way of using up ingredients that typically couldn’t be eaten during Lent, like eggs and milk.
Where is Pancake Day celebrated?
Pancake Day is celebrated in the Christian religion and in lots of countries where Christianity is present. That’s lots of countries in Europe but also in Australia, the US and Canada.
Every country has different traditions around Pancake Day. For example, in Lithuania, Pancake Day is part of a celebration called Užgavėnės (pronounced uz-gav-ines). During this festival, people burn a figure representing winter, there are dances and children dress up in costumes.
In the UK, some towns have a pancake race where people compete by being the fastest to cross the finish line while also flipping their pancake a certain amount of times.
What Pancake Day traditions does your family have?
Banana bread Rainbow Pancake Recipe
These fluffy American style pancakes are a fun way to celebrate Pancake Day. Eat them on their own or topped with fruit, cream and a drizzle of syrup.
Difficulty: easy
Age rating: all ages
Time: 15 minutes
You will need:
- 150g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 35g sugar
- 150ml milk
- 1 egg
- Coloured food dye
Rainbow pancake recipe
- In a big bowl, mix your self-raising flour, baking powder and sugar together with a spoon
- Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the milk and egg
- Whisk everything together until well-combined
- Then add in as many drop of your food colouring as you want to get the right colour
- In a flat pan or pancake pan, add a small knob of butter
- Turn on the heat and wait for it to melt
- Spoon one ladle of the pancake batter into the centre of pan
- Fry for around a minute until the bottom of the pancake is cooked and lightly golden
- Flip your pancake and cook the other side
- Then transfer onto a plate and repeat the process until you have used all of your batter
- Top with fruits and cream, ice cream or golden syrup
As always, we’d love to see your photos. Share your Pancake Day snaps with us on the Not Bored Box instagram @notboredbox