An Easter meal needs a splendid, splashy ending to make your 2025 celebrations memorable.
Stahl Chef Neha Deepak Shah shows you how to create a pancake stack cake drenched in rich, creamy layers of chocolate mousse.
"With its soft brown and creamy layers," Chef Shah says, "the cake reflects the cosy look of Mocha Mousse, Pantone's Colour of the Year."
Not very difficult to put together, her Chocolate Mousse Pancake Stack is a scene-stealer.
One of the top three contestants on MasterChef India Season 4, Chef Shah is the co-founder of Meraaki Kitchen and Cafe White Sage in Jaipur. She believes cooking is a life skill. She said a few years ago: 'Cooking is a translation of emotions. What you put on a plate is actually your true form of emotions.'
Photograph: Kind courtesy Jack and Jason's Pancakes/Wikimedia Commons
Chocolate Mousse Pancake Stack
Serves: 4-5
Ingredients
For the pancakes:
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- ½ tbsp corn flour
- ½ tbsp jaggery powder
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ cup room temperature milk
- 1 tbsp butter, melted
- ¼ tsp vanilla essence
For the mousse:
- 100 gm dark chocolate, melted or at room temperature
- 100 gm milk chocolate, melted or at room temperature
- 100 gm whipped cream, at room temperature
Method
For the pancakes:
- Mix all the dry ingredients and then add in the milk.
Mix thoroughly to prepare a smooth-flowing batter and then add in the butter.
- Heat a small non-stick frying pan over low heat and spread a ladleful of batter to get a 6-inch diameter but thin pancake.
Raise the heat to medium while cooking the pancake and flip halfway.
To get a perfect golden pancake, never add any butter or oil while cooking it.
Take the pancake out of pan and repeat the process for the rest of the batter till you get a stack of pancakes, maybe 5 to 6.
Keep aside.
For the mousse:
- Fold the dark chocolate into the whipped cream.
Once well combined, fold in the milk chocolate too.
Assembly:
- Place a pancake in the middle of a flat serving dish.
Top with a generous but even layer of the prepared mousse.
Place another pancake on top of the mousse layer and then add another pancake and repeat the layering to form a cake.
- Cover the top of the cake evenly with the mousse and if you prefer, garnish with fresh fruit or a dab of whipped cream.
- Serve chilled.