Chocolate hotcakes with fudge sauce

Dutch-process cocoa and chocolate chips take these light and fluffy hotcakes firmly into the dessert zone. Serve a stack of them topped with vanilla ice-cream and drizzled with rich fudge sauce. If you wanted to add fruit to the mix, sliced banana would be excellent, as would roasted pears or even a handful of raspberries when they’re in season.

Prep time 20 mins, cook 30 mins

Serves 4-6 (pictured p86)

150 gm (1 cup) plain flour

1½ tbsp brown sugar

40 gm Dutch-process cocoa, sieved

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

125 ml (½ cup) milk

100 ml buttermilk

2 eggs, separated

160 gm firm ricotta, drained in a sieve for 20 minutes

60 gm dark chocolate (56%-60% cocoa solids), finely chopped

Vegetable oil and butter, for frying

Vanilla ice-cream or whipped cream, to serve

Fudge sauce

160 gm dark chocolate (56% cocoa solids), finely chopped

150 gm caster sugar

140 gm liquid glucose

20 gm Dutch-process cocoa, sieved 20 gm butter

1 For fudge sauce, stir chocolate, sugar, glucose, cocoa, butter, 1 tsp sea salt and 150ml water in a saucepan over medium-high heat until combined and smooth, bring to a simmer and cook until sauce has a light syrup consistency (3-4 minutes). 2 Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt in a bowl, and make a well in the centre. Whisk milk, buttermilk and egg yolks in a separate bowl to combine, add to well and stir until smooth. Crumble in ricotta, add chocolate and fold to just combine (you want the batter to be studded with little chunks of ricotta). Whisk eggwhites and a pinch of salt in a bowl to firm peaks, then fold into batter.

3 Preheat oven to 160C and line a large baking tray with baking paper. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat, add a splash of oil and 1 tsp butter and when melted, brush it evenly over base of pan. Add ¼-cupfuls of batter to pan, being careful not to overcrowd it, and cook until bubbles start to appear on the surface, and the base of the pancake is browned (2-3 minutes).

Flip pancakes and cook other side until browned (2-3 minutes). Place on tray in a single layer and keep warm in the oven while you cook the rest of the pancakes, wiping out pan between batches with paper towels and adding more oil and butter. 4 Serve warm pancakes with ice-cream or cream and fudge sauce.