Here's one for those of you who want to make some super-special pancakes for Pancake Tuesday.
I originally wrote this post in 2012 and I remember thinking at the time that this photograph was SPECTACULAR. Oh how my standards have changed. And my camera. That changed too.
This extra special pancake post is in honour of Shrove/Pancake/Fat Tuesday. Whatever you want to call it the meaning is the same ... YOU DON'T HAVE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU'RE HAVING FOR DINNER TONIGHT! Because you're having pancakes.
You can throw in some bacon or mini-sizzlers too, or some fruit if you're feeling fruity.
For these rainbow pancakes I used genuine old fashioned food colouring because there was NO way I was going to start boiling beets and turmeric to come up with natural food colouring for a stack of pancakes.
I also used my favourite pancake recipe, which comes in a box, and it ain't a recipe box.
Just kidding. Boxed pancakes are actually fine, but I used a classic Buttermilk Pancakes recipe.

Table of Contents
Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 2 cups buttermilk if you don't have buttermilk just add 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice to 2 cups milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla optional
- 1 to 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
Instructions
- Sift together dry ingredients.
- In separate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients (not including vegetable oil)
- Make well in centre of dry ingredients and gently whisk in wet mixture until just barely incorporated. You want lumps to remain. Lumps are good!
- Heat pan to on medium. Brush with vegetable oil once hot.
- Drop ¼ - ½ cup onto griddle or non stick pan. Cook over medium heat until bubbles form on top. Flip, cook another 1 ½ - 2 minutes.
Notes
That right there is just a delicious pancake recipe for you for Shrove Tuesday. If you want to really make an impression here's how to turn those classic, fluffy pancakes into Rainbow Pancakes.
I personally think that Rainbow Pancakes are the most Mardi Gras-ish of all the pancake variations for the day.
Rainbow Pancake Instructions
- Measure out a half cup or so of your prepared pancake batter into a smaller bowl. (whatever amount you would use for 2 pancakes)
- Add 2-3 drops of food colouring. GENTLY mix so you don't knock all the air out of the pancakes.
- No matter how hard you try, they're going to end up being flatter than an "non rainbow" pancake. That's the price you pay to have a stack of pancakes that look like something Katy Perry would wear to an awards show.



Ingredients
- 4 slices bread
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup milk
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Whisk egg, milk, cinnamon (if using) and vanilla together.
- Dip each slice of bread into mixture and let it soak until the mixture is absorbed. The heartier the bread, the longer this takes. 30 seconds or so on each side.
- Heat non stick pan over medium/low heat then add 1 Tablespoon of butter.
- Fry soaked bread until golden on both sides. Place in 200 degree oven to keep warm.
- Repeat until all your bread is fried.
Nutrition
Either way you're having breakfast for dinner tonight and that right there is reason to be excited.

Thank you for the fun pancake recipe. My husband and I are in our 60's and to really spice things up this Pancake Tuesday, we'll be having rainbow pancakes for the first time, tonight! lol
The thought of having bacon or sausage with pancakes makes me wanna throw up. Literally.
I don't celebrate Easter so I will pass. I do like Buttermilk Pancakes and I am happy with the boxed variety (I think mine are President's Choice). But I like them thin, like crepes.
And I am having gulash for dinner tonight. I has a piece of beef that had been sitting in the fridge almost a bit longer than it should have and I was really lazy to get off my behind last night to do anything about it. But I did. I didn't start until 8 pm but I made, completely accidentally, one of the best gulashes I have ever made. So that's for dinner tonight.
I barely cook for myself anymore, and pancakes (and eggs) for Sunday morning out with my pals has become a great tradition. I’ll have to get to iHop tonight after work at 8 or so. That will work, they have decent enough pancakes for me. People tell me to “Just use Bisquick.” Icky tasting to me, having grown up to homemade buttermilk pancakes for breakfast on Sunday mornings. Bacon also, but only if we had company, but always with eggs - pancake sandwich for the win!! Double rainbow indeed! LOL
ahh...that explains all the pancake recipes popping up today. As one who never pays attention to such things, and with an impeccable sense of timing, I had pancakes all last week as part of an attempt to use up a half gallon of milk that had gone off. I also had the largest pot of bechamel sauce you have ever seen outside a restaurant kitchen! This actually lead to some decent dinners, sort of Eastern European in flavor: 100% whole wheat pancakes (that's the only flour I had) which had a slight bitterness to them, covered in sautéed cremini mushrooms and kale and the bechamel sauce. Tons of pepper in the sauce. Most delish! But...no more pancakes today, nope.