#frankencake

by Eric J.

Recipe:

Ingredients

⅔ cup of milk

3 large eggs

½ cup all purpose flour (packed)

¼ tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp salt

3 tbsp clarified butter (can be substituted with vegetable oil)

1 tbsp cinnamon (approximately)

¼ tsp nutmeg (approximately)

  (Out of the Oven)

Instructions

Clarified butter

If you cannot buy this from a store, you will need to clarify your own butter.

First, cut about 5 tablespoons of butter up into a thick bottomed saucepan.

Melt the butter on low heat. This should take a little while.

Separate milk solids (white foam) on top of the clarified butter.

Let the butter cool to allow about 5 minutes. Then skim off any more solids and pour the clarified butter into a separate dish.

  NOTE: The milk solids can be kept and served on the Dutch Baby, but also go good on other food, especially popcorn.

  Dutch Baby

It is a good idea to stage your utensils before starting. You’ll need 1

8-10 inch cast iron skillet, either a blender or a simple protein

shaker, oven mitts, and measuring utensils.

First, preheat the oven to 425ºF

Blend milk, flour, eggs, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg until batter is smooth. If using the protein shaker, be sure to add milk before flour and that all of the flour has been incorporated.

Melt clarified butter into cast iron skillet on high heat until just bubbling.

Pour batter into center of skillet. Be careful for splattering butter.

Let cook on stove top for 20-30 seconds, then quickly transfer to oven.

Bake at 425ºF for 20- 25 minutes on the middle rack. Check after 20 minutes as cook time may vary

Once sufficiently risen (3-4 inches depending on skillet) and golden brown, remove and serve.

Eat quickly as the dish cools easily. Often served with some fresh lemon juice, powdered sugar, butter, or maple syrup

  NOTE: Be sure that pictures are taken immediately after removing from oven. Also, season to taste. Amounts of spices are suggestions and experimenting with berries is encouraged. Basically, treat this as a glorified pancake both in altering and serving.

(Serving Images left to right: Cut and Served)

     There are a lot of reasons for people to bake. Some people only will if they have to, others bake because they love it. I bake to eat. That means I’m not really concerned with presentation will absolutely avoid unnecessary messes. When I look for recipe I’m checking the time it takes to make before anything else. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy baking and I love when something turns out looking professional, but that’s not what I’m doing it for. I like to eat, and if I want something, nine out of ten times, I have to make it myself.

     Being as inexperienced as I am, most of my recipes come from YouTube videos where I can see step-by-step what to do. I found out about Dutch Babies from a channel called FoodWishes. I decided to go ahead and try to make one after a little research into clarified butter (which I had never even heard of previously). After getting right and having to share with my family, making Dutch Babies became a regular thing for weekend breakfasts.

     This recipe is one of the simplest, yet impressive looking dishes I’ve ever made. It take a few common ingredients, and about 10 minutes to prepare before you bake it. To make the cleanup easy on myself, I just use a protein shaker instead of a blender to mix the batter. The simplicity is my favorite part about Dutch Babies, well aside from the name. The look on people’s face when you tell them you ate a Dutch Baby for breakfast really is priceless.

     Speaking of the name, you may be wondering as to why an overly fluffy pancake is called a Dutch Baby. Although it’s perfectly reasonable to think there is some connection to the German penchant for creating gruesome fables for children, this is actually an American dish. Based on a German dish, the Dutch Baby was actually created by a restaurant owner in Washington that claimed a trademark in 1942. The owner’s daughter is actually credited with naming the dish.

     As I said, this is just a dish. When you’re eating with four people, Dutch Babies go fast. It’s always a good idea to have a few thing you can pair it with. The great thing about being a breakfast food, is that there are so many sides to serve with this dish. There’s always thick cut, hickory smoked bacon, or breakfast sausages (I prefer links), but it never hurts to experiment a little. Personally, I find a small assortment of fruits and berries does the trick. Whatever you may have on the side, I suggest staying away from eggs. The Dutch Baby already has three eggs in it and in the center you can really tell from how dense it is.

(Collage Image, left to right clockwise: melted butter, gentle boil, separated butter, clarified butter.)

     So let’s talk a little about actually making this Franken-cake. First; the clarified butter. This is kind of extra to be honest, and just vegetable oil will do the trick, but clarified butter is the best thing to use. I clarified my own the night before, but you can buy this stuff at a much higher quality than what I made. Basically what happens is boiling separates the oils, salts, and fat solids in the butter. Then you just strain off the liquid oil to use. It takes time, can be messy, but definitely makes the process feel more authentic.

(Collage Image 2: left to right going down the columns: ready to mix, finished, cinnamon in, flour and salt, side view)

Second thing; mixing the batter. Like I said earlier, I just use a protein shaker. It’s fast, easy to clean, and perfect when you’re trying to be quiet cooking in the morning. If you try this recipe, please don’t make it harder than it has to be.

Now my favorite part every time is pouring the batter and watching this thing rise. You may want to make sure you use the middle rack, I’ve had it hit the top of the oven before! Something to keep in mind when heating the clarified butter is to coat the sides of the skillet and not to pour until it begins to bubble a little bit. Once you pour, wait thirty seconds to a minute and stick it in the oven to bake

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