Who's counting the calories....?

Look away now if you have an aversion to calories or sugar. This recipe is NOT for you! It might be slightly healthy with the addition of bananas but the rest of the ingredients don't appear on any healthy eating guide I've ever seen.

I love cooking this recipe for Sunday brunch, or in fact brunch any day of the week. It has all the ingredients I love.....

• Caramel sauce - check. 
• Bananas - check. 
• Whipped cream - check.  
• Chocolate - check, check, check. 

And all put together in one scrummy dish - who could want for more? But be aware you may need a lie down after to deal with the sugar comma that will follow! Enjoy.

CHOCOLATE PANCAKES WITH BANANAS & CARAMEL SAUCE

Recipe by Charlotte Binns-McDonald

Caramel Sauce

1 cup caster sugar

100g salted butter, chopped

½ cup cream

Chocolate Pancakes

1½ cups self-raising flour, sifted

½ tsp baking powder

¼ cup good-quality cocoa powder, sifted

¼ cup caster sugar

4 eggs, separated, plus 1 extra egg white

1½ cups buttermilk

50g unsalted butter, softened

To Serve

300ml cream

1 tspn vanilla essence

½ tbspn caster sugar

3 bananas, thickly sliced

shaved dark (70%) chocolate

cocoa powder, sifted

­Caramel Sauce

Place sugar and 2 tbspn water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Swirl to dissolve sugar, then cook for 6-7 minutes or until golden. Remove from heat and carefully stir in butter and cream. Cool to room temperature.

Chocolate Pancakes

Combine the flour, baking powder, cocoa, sugar, egg yolks and buttermilk in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Fold one-third into the batter to loosen, then fold through remainder.

Heat a little butter in a non-stick frypan over medium-low heat. In batches, add ½ cup batter to the pan for each pancake. Cook for 1 - 2 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface, then flip and cook for a further 2 minutes or until cooked through. Cover and keep warm while you repeat with remaining batter, adding more butter as needed.

To Serve

Whip cream to soft peaks with vanilla essence and caster sugar. Layer the pancakes in stacks with the whipped cream and banana. Drizzle with the caramel sauce, scatter with shaved dark chocolate and dust with cocoa. Serve immediately.

Serves 4 - 6.

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                          All Images © Deborah Aspray - Motif Lifestyle Images Ltd 2017