Training & Nutrition

Your Guide to: Bicycle Themed Pancakes

Pancake Day wouldn't be the same without bicycles

Pancake Day is upon us. Whether you enjoy yours in the morning, for lunch, or as a yummy post-workout snack, these recipes and ideas will help you find a delicious combo for you.

By taking some classic English and American pancake recipes, a bicycle-shaped cutter, a sharp knife, a tube of icing and our ability to make anything look like a bike, we’ve whipped up some cyclist-friendly treats for this much anticipated occasion.

Fancy having a go yourself? These bicycle pancakes will be great fun to make with the kids, or to surprise your cycle-mad other half.

English Style Pancakes

To make traditional Shrove Tuesday pancakes, either as dessert or with savoury accompaniments for your main meal, all you will need to give them that cycle-mad twist is a bicycle-shaped biscuit cutter which you could easily find online, or in your local cookware store.

Then, simply make your batter, fry your pancakes and cut them into bicycle shapes, using your new cutter.

Ingredients

100g plain flour
2 eggs
300ml semi-skimmed milk
1 spoonful of butter
A pinch of salt

Blend the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl, make a well in the centre and crack the eggs in along with 50ml of the milk. Mix to form a thick batter.
As you whisk, add more and more milk until your batter is nice and smooth and to the correct pancake consistency.
Melt the butter in a pan, or in the microwave and use it to grease the bottom of a hot frying pan before ladling in a spoonful of batter.
Once the batter mixture has started to bubble and it has become loose from the pan, it’s ready to flip over to cook the other side. If you’re not very sure of your flipping abilities, a spatula works just as well (although it’s not as fun…).
Repeat until all the batter is used up.

Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food

American Style Pancakes

This is where you can really get creative at the breakfast table by chopping up the thicker, American-style pancakes to piece together into any shape you want. We went for a bicycle, of course.

Traditionally served with maple syrup and bacon as a breakfast or brunch food, we decided to bring American pancakes to the dessert table by using black icing to really bring our bicycle pancake design to life. If you fancy doing this too, grab yourself some mini tubes of pre-made icing, or fashion your own out of a piping bag and a tub of Nutella. Yum.

Ingredients

135g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp caster sugar
130ml milk
1 large egg
2 tbsp melted butter

Start your batter off by sifting the flour, baking powder, salt and caster sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Then in a jug combine the milk, egg and melted butter and whisk together.
Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture and whisk together with a fork to create a smooth batter.
Add a knob of butter to a large frying pan. Once the butter has melted and the pan has reached a medium heat, add one ladle of batter mixture per pancake.
Wait until the pancake begins to bubble on top before flipping over and cooking the other side.
Repeat until all the batter is used up.
To create your bicycle, get yourself a sharp knife (or try using a plastic alternative if the kids are helping) and cut out all of the rectangular and square pieces pictured above. Use an entire pancake for each of the wheels, or cut out two smaller circles if you’d prefer to make a smaller bicycle instead.

If you fancy getting really creative, you could even make an entire cycling scene on the plate. Chop up a mango to form a sun, fashion some grass out of green icing and pop a gingerbread man on the saddle as your cyclist.

Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food

Protein Powder Pancakes

The great thing about pancakes is their versatility. They can be cooked in a variety of healthy ways, and topped with anything you want – healthy or otherwise. We’ve tried and tested ready mix protein pancakes, sweet potato pancakes and even bicycle shaped pancakes. Now we bring you a top-notch recipe for protein powder pancakes.

Ingredients

140g of raw oats
1 scoop protein powder (any flavour)
3 egg whites
56ml of water
1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder
1 tsp of caster sugar
1/2 tsp of baking powder

Now for the east bit. Whack all the ingredients in a bowl, or blender and thoroughly mix until you have a smooth consistency.
At this point, you can choose to add some frozen fruit to the mix like blueberries, or choose to add fresh ones for topping.
With a heated pan, a little butter or oil, pour discs of mixture into the pan of whatever size you prefer.
Flip the pancakes until golden on both sides, then serve up on a plate.

Now for the fun part… toppings!

Whatever takes your fancy, banana, berries, lemon juice or cinnamon powder, decorate your delightful discs and get tucked in. Take a leaf out of Joanna Rowsell Shand’s book, she’s a protein pancake pro!

With so many pancake making options, and enough toppings to fill your boots with, you’ll be pedal make this Pancake Day. Be sure to share your Bicycle Pancake creations with Total Women’s Cycling either tagging us on Twitter, or Instagram. Happy eating!