Update 12/8/09 I’m thrilled to share that I’m a featured blogger for Oprah’s Holiday 2009!
Looking at this photo, you can only come to two conclusions. Either I had way too much to drink the night before, and this was my hangover cure… or I must be pregnant. Sadly, neither are true. I was just hungry. They say never to go grocery shopping with an empty stomach, and I’d like to add to that rule. Never go blog surfing with an empty stomach.
I was looking around for some inspiration, a dish to cook for live television segment shot at my home. I asked my Twitter friends for some ideas and promised to make one of their dishes. The moment I saw Alice’s Breakfast Pancake, I knew instantly that I had to make it. How can you not resist layers upon layers of fluffy pancake, stuffed with ALL of my favorite breakfast foods?
If you can’t decide what to make for breakfast, why not just make all? I say it solves many problems, as I’m sure each of your family members like different things. Plus, this is a show-stoppin’ breakfast for realz.
The Fox 13 television crew arrived at my home at 6:00am. That early in the morning, I’m not pretty nor am I completely functional. But one thing I knew for sure – I’d be the gossip topic of the block. I love stumping my neighbors.
We were broadcasting live, so they brought out the big news van with a 60 foot tall satellite thingy. So my neighbors either thought something scandalous happened at the Steamy household or I finally got arrested for posing as Rachel Ray.
The Ultimate Breakfast Pancake Segment
How to make the Ultimate Breakfast Pancake
It’s best to make all the layers fillings ahead of time. In fact, you can make EVERYTHING ahead of time, use the microwave or oven to warm up and assemble all at once.
The first layer is the roasted potatoes – it’s a nice solid base.
Because I’m a dork and I paid attention during underwater basket weaving class in high school, I weaved my bacon when I made the cake for the photoshoot. Totally unnecessary, because only YOU will know that the a bacon has a beautiful basket weave. To make straight bacon, lay the bacon slices on a rack, then on a baking sheet. You’ll cook them 10-15 minutes in the oven and they stay pretty flat. Plus much of the grease drips down into the pan (the rest just blot off) which makes it easier to pour the grease out into a little bowl.
Not for health reasons.
I save my bacon grease.
To dip pretzels in.
You know you’re totally going to try it.
Then use a pair of kitchen shears to cut the bacon nice and neat if you’re anal like me. But watch out for little hands who come swooping by and stealing the little bacon pieces. Andrew likes bacon too.
Then after the bacon, is the egg layer:
Then whipped cream, and an assortment of fresh fruits:
The Photography
This was a hard one. I wanted to take the photo outside to get the beautiful natural light hitting the fruit. But I was using fresh whipped cream, so I only had 5 minutes to quickly shoot. Here are more photos of the final product, with some photo commentary…which is your favorite?
[imagebrowser id=21]
The Ultimate Breakfast Pancake Recipe
recipe adapted from Savory Sweet Life
4 – 8? pancakes
1.5 cups of roasted potatoes
3 eggs, scrambled
1 lb. of cooked bacon
1 cup of whipped cream
1 cup of sliced strawberries
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
2 kiwi fruit, sliced
1 bunch fresh mint leaves
maple syrup, for serving
Instructions:
Lay the first pancake down on a plate or serving platter. Add a layer of roasted potatoes all the way to the edge. Add another pancake and add the scrambled eggs. Add the third pancake and add your bacon. Add the final pancake. At this point if everything is cold, you will want to microwave everything for 3 minutes right before serving. Spread a layer of whipped cream, arrange strawberries, kiwi, blueberries and mint. Serve with maple syrup on the side.
To make the pancakes:
recipe from Mark Bittman, NY Times
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar, optional
2 eggs
1 1/2 to 2 cups milk
2 tablespoons melted and cooled butter (optional), plus unmelted butter for cooking, or use neutral oil
Preparation
1. Heat an 8-inch frying pan over medium-low heat. In a bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Beat eggs into 1 1/2 cups milk, then stir in 2 tablespoons melted cooled butter, if using it. Gently stir this mixture into dry ingredients, mixing only enough to moisten flour; don’t worry about a few lumps. If batter seems thick, add a little more milk.
2. Place a teaspoon of butter or oil on griddle or skillet. When butter foam subsides or oil shimmers, ladle batter onto griddle or skillet, making 8-inch pancakes. For this Breakfast Pan”cake” recipe, we’ll be making 4 pancakes) Adjust heat as necessary; usually, first batch will require higher heat than subsequent batches. Flip pancakes after bubbles rise to surface and bottoms brown, after 2 to 4 minutes.
3. Cook until second side is lightly browned. Serve, or hold on an ovenproof plate in a 200-degree oven for up to 15 minutes.
To make the roasted potatoes:
1 pound of small red potatoes, cut in 1/2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 teaspoons freshly minced parsley
generous pinch of salt
freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 425F. Scatter the potatoes onto a baking sheet. With your hands, toss with the olive oil, garlic and parsley. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Spread out the potatoes so that they are in a single, even layer. Roast for 35-40 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through and browned.
To make the scrambled eggs:
3 extra-large eggs
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon butter
Beat the eggs in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat with the butter. When the butter is bubbling, swirl to coat the pan. Add the eggs and using a spatula, gently stir to scramble. Once the eggs are set, immediately remove from the heat.
To make the bacon:
1 pound uncooked bacon
Preheat your oven to 400F. Lay a baking rack on top of a baking sheet. Lay the bacon slices on top of the rack and cook for 10-15 minutes until crispy.
***
A big thanks to Miss Attitude for making this whole thing happen and to Alice of Savory Sweet Life for the inspiration!
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
Stay in touch with me in our 
now that was a funny story.
I don’t remember how long I haven’t laughed.
Thanks Jaden
I was looking for a Vietnamese Pancake recipe, as I used to stay with a Vietnamese lady who passed and miss those. I don’t know if maybe it was something she had just made up herself, though. Maybe you can show us an easier way to make it
btw: I don’t suppose the camara man is single? He’s cute, ha ha ha
I’m going to have to find time to make this first time will be slow after that will be a pro
I’ve been browsing on-line greater than 3 hours nowadays, but I by no means discovered any interesting article like yours. It’s beautiful price enough for me. Personally, if all website owners and bloggers made good content as you probably did, the net will be much more helpful than ever before.
Amazing!
btw: Nathan is so cute helping mama 🙂
I am having a blast tooling around on your blog tonight & just stumbled on this breakfast pancake stack. OMG – love it. Nice job with the bacon weave too!
I just posted this to my facebook page, it looks sooo good! Thanks for sharing this.
http://shelflifeadvice.com
wow that was very nice food photography..I feel hungry now 🙁 …thanks for sharing this kind of photo…i’m very impressive on it..clap! clap!
omgad…. *drool
breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, and I MUST try this.
as soon as I get my next paycheck x)
what a wonderful construction and so colorful. I would have loved to try it.
Wow, my mouth literally dropped when I saw this picture. I’m not a huge fan of those particular fruits, but I’m pretty sure if that was put in front of me that I would be able to turn it down.
Welp, you managed to impress my husband with this one– who called you, with a big smile on his face, one sick lady!
This site is great.
Thanks.
J.Kane
well thank you so much!!!
For sharing? if you make it a little bigger, i’m sure it’ll split nicely between two persons.
serve with coffee and prezels (with bacon drippings for dipping ;p)
Looks really yummy, but isn’t it a big huge breakfast and a lot of eggs?
Wow, this is really an ultimate pancake breakfast. I’ve been reading your tips on photography so I can also improve mine. Thank you for sharing your tips to your readers. Actually, there might be slight difference in the photos you have shown but for an amateur like me I might have to stare at it a little bit longer to notice it but you provided some description about what’s wrong with the photo. I really like the EGO lights you have as well as the setup right beside the window with natural light. Thank you Jaden.
I loved “floating pancake” that was my favorite. I could imagine it floating right to me, and into my mouth! I do not like pancakes but you have inspired me to try again thank you!
OMFG is that a bacon weave? I’m so sad you’re already married and that it’s illegal for me to marry you anyway.
this reminds me of an episode of friends, where rachel mixed up a combo of classic english trifle and shepherd pie, and joe’s reaction was…
custard? good!
bananas? good!
jam? good!
meat? GOOOOOD!
I am officially speechless. I thought pancakes with bacon in them were genius, but this? I am going to have to get ambitious one of these days and try it out!
I am so glad that I am not the only one who thought of the Friends custard episode when I saw this. Definitely not for me – but there are Joeys in the world who would love it.
Too much decadence…. But I suppose if you are hungover… it’s the ultimate cure with loads sugar and fat 🙂
You’re killing me! That is the most decadent breakfast dish that I have ever seen. All my favorites in one place.
Wow that should be called the “Everything but the kitchen sink pancake”. How do you even start eating that? As a kid I was always sneaking syrup onto my bacon, eggs and potatoes though so I kind of see the appeal.
This looks amazing! How is it with maple syrup? I love maple syrup with bacon (don’t laugh, I’m Canadian) but I think that might be a little much with the sugars of the fruit?
Looks so delicious!
And the third conclusion might be: you are a 200-pound-woman. But we know: you are not. So you have to be very, very, very, very hungry. And now I am very, very, very, very hungry, too…
…still don’t get the american ‘mix sweet and savoury at breakfast’ thing. Just. Don’t. All of those things look FANTASTIC separate. But together? On the ONE PLATE? Guys…
Holy kitchen sink Batman!!! Wow! My eyes glazed over when I saw this. Want this NOW. Nicely done girl, nicely done.
So… much… bacon…
::falls over::
After showing this to my boyfriend, he replied
“If I go to heaven, angel chefs will make this for every meal”
This looks very cool!
AMAZING!!! And such a stellar and no brainer combination. Why didn’t I think of this? Years ago at a buffet which I went to for our hotel stay, I always thought of making a pancake with multiple layers of cream. This breakfast pancake certainly beats that.
Great photos like always! I like how you carefully laid out each layer for the photoshoot. The weave of the bacon and the layout of the fruit are great details that I appreciate!
How fun! Nice weave, too. 🙂
Nice touch on the bacon weave! Looks like something Martha would do. Stunning photos.
OMG! Where do you start eating first?
Wow… this is like, having sex for breakfast without having to give out your phone number 😉
this is the trashiest thing I have ever seen… I love it
LOL you just made my evening. ~jaden
Oh my! That has ultimate written all over it!
I love Alice and i love you Jaden. Can we just all move in together? The three of us + the pancake. I won’t bite you ladies but the pancake better watch out. Loved the video. Can’t wait to see you take over the Food TV world. 🙂
I am on board with almost everything you crate but the idea of whipped cream and eggs is just not doing it for me this time. the rest looks great however
I want to see how you served it! I don’t think I could get a knife through it all and then it landing pretty on the plate. 🙂
LOL yeah it was MESSY! ~jaden
simply amazing…the pictures are so mouth-watering! did you get to enjoy the pancakes while warm or did they grow cold on you? i figured it might have taken a lot of work taking that awesome pic.thanks for sharing!
I warmed everything up before assembly! It was a lot of work…def something for special occassion.~jaden
Beautiful! I just happen to be on vacation this week, and my family is expecting me to cook. A lot. You just solved my breakfast problem…Thank you!! 🙂
Whoa! Pancake takes on a new meaning. This looks incredible!
Awesome goodness. Can breakfast get better than this? Quite the ultimate pancake tower indeed Jaden!! I bet the crew enjoyed being in the Steamy household!!
Wow. It’s a little intimidating, but a lot of good eats. Is it even possible to open the mouth that wide for a bite???
PURE
UNADULTERATED
DELICIOUS
MADNESS!
Good lord, what have you done?!? I can’t say that I’m going to run and go make one of these for myself anytime soon, but it sure is pretty and I am totally impressed with your bacon weaving skills. If this is what it takes to get you going in the morning, rock on darlin’!
This pancake is the craziest pancake I have ever seen. You have packed everything possible in them. Yummy!
On the upside? Beautiful photos, amazing presentation, and (of course) basket-weave bacon. On the downside? Waaay too many flavors going on here for my taste. Maybe it was the whipped cream that put me over the top. It reminds me of that Friends episode where Rachel was trying to make trifle and accidentally mixed up the recipe with some kind of pot pie. Joey’s reaction is classic: “What’s not to like? Custard, good. Jam, good. Meat, good!”
I might have watched a little too much TV in my younger days…
That is one dreamy breakfast :)!
If you decide to, uhm, make RR disappear, I’ll gladly contribute to your legal defense fund.
Hell, I’ll make you breakfast in cell if need be.
p.s. Love the pancakes.
Pure decadence! I love the picture of pancake on cloud 9! Cuz that’s where I’m at right now! ~DROOL~!
WOAH! That is one heck of a breakfast. Dipping pretzels in bacon drippings? You’re wicked!
Pure genius!
So happy I could help! The only regret I have is I didn’t get to taste the Ultimate Pan”cake” and now after looking at all those photos I really want one now!
I usually skip breakfast, but this I would LOVE.
Now that is a fun way to enjoy breakfast!