Move over red velvet cake! It’s breakfast time with red velvet pancakes with cream cheese glaze that kids will love. These pancakes take breakfast to a whole new level of deliciousness!
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Red Velvet Pancakes from Scratch
Red velvet pancakes are tender fluffy pancakes finished off with a cream cheese drizzle to mimic red velvet cake. These red velvet pancakes just might be your new favorite excuse to eat cake for breakfast! That’s if you need one!
These vibrant and beautiful red pancakes are festive for the holidays – they have Christmas written all over them. And, why not make them for a special Valentine’s Day breakfast or your kid’s birthday?
Red velvet pancakes from scratch are so good because they look like fancy pancakes you might get at a restaurant, but they’re very easy to make at home. If you can make traditional pancakes, you can make this recipe for red velvet pancakes.
The marriage of flavors is delightful. This red velvet pancakes recipe makes for a show-stopper breakfast. These red velvet pancakes from scratch are definitely kid-friendly, but the grown-ups will love them, too!
What are red velvet pancakes?
They’re a breakfast twist on the classic red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. They’re wonderfully sweet and decadent with a cream cheese pancake topping.
Oh, and you have to take a look at these Red Velvet Brownies with cream cheese frosting.
What Are Velvet Cakes?
Velvet cakes first came into being in the Victorian era when recipes frequently called for using cocoa for luxury cakes. These cakes were called velvet cakes because of their smooth and soft texture – just like velvet!
Legend has it that the red velvet cake came about when a chocolate cake once turned accidentally red due to its ingredients. Nowadays, red food coloring is used to give these pancakes (and their cake cousin) that brilliant red coloring.
Recipe Ingredients
Here is what you will need:
- Cake flour
- Sugar
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Cocoa powder
- Buttermilk
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- Red food coloring gel
- Vegetable oil
- Butter
- Cream cheese
- Powdered sugar
- Milk
Ingredient Notes
Cocoa Powder: Don’t use anything too dark, or your pancakes won’t have that bright red coloring that you’re aiming for. Hershey’s is perfect.
Food Coloring: This red velvet pancakes recipe takes about 1 ounce of red gel that you can buy at the grocery store.
Some of you might want to try natural food coloring, but you will not get the same brilliant color. Natural food dye gets its color from beets and other veggies and will give you a lighter-colored and purplish pancake instead.
How to Make Red Velvet Pancakes with Cream Cheese Glaze
- Make the cream cheese glaze by placing all the glaze ingredients in a small bowl and beat with an electric mixer until well combined.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, and cocoa).
- In a separate bowl, use a fork to combine the wet ingredients (buttermilk, water, oil, red food coloring, egg, and vanilla).
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold them together until just combined. The batter doesn’t need to be smooth, and be careful not to overmix – lumps are ok. If your batter seems to be too thick, add a little more buttermilk.
- Heat a skillet or a griddle to medium-low heat. Brush with a little oil or use a nonstick cooking spray.
- Pour in the batter until it spreads to the desired size.
- Let the batter start to show small bubbles on top before turning the pancake over to finish cooking. Be careful not to get the heat too high because the pancakes will brown.
- To serve, drizzle cream cheese topping over a stack of 2 or 3 pancakes.
Pro Tip: When you flip your pancake, don’t press down on it! If you do, your pancake will lose the air that helps make it fluffy.
Tips for Making Pancake Batter
Mix the dry and wet ingredients separately. It’s important to have your egg incorporated into the other wet ingredients.
You want to make sure the egg yolk and white are mixed well to avoid stray pieces of egg white in your pancakes. Also, this will help you not overmix the batter once combined and ensure that the red color is consistent throughout your pancakes.
Don’t Overmix Pancake Batter – Lumps are OK
The best pancakes are fluffy! The key is not to overmix the batter. When you combine the dry and wet ingredients, you only need to mix until the flour is absorbed.
Tips for Cooking Pancakes
These pancakes are such a breeze to whip up. The secret to cooking these red velvet pancakes is using low heat and taking your time. If your heat is too high, they will brown.
A griddle is worth investing in if you’re a pancake family. You can make more than one pancake at a time!
Colorful Pancake Variations
Make these pancakes your own. Here are some ideas.
- Shower your red velvet pancake stacks with colorful sprinkles.
- Make them even more colorful by adding fresh fruit (e.g., strawberries) and a sprig of mint.
- Use a different food coloring depending on the occasion. Green velvet pancakes for St. Patrick’s Day or red, white, and blue velvet pancakes for July 4th.
How to Store Leftover Pancakes
Leftover pancakes can be stored in your fridge for up to 5 days.
Stack the pancakes in the storage container, placing a piece of wax paper between each one. The wax paper should be as big as the pancake – for a 5-inch round pancake, use a 6 x 6-inch piece of wax paper.
Can You Freeze Pancakes?
Pancakes are a wonderful make-ahead food. Next time you’re in a pancake-making mood, make gigantic amounts then freeze them for reheating whenever you want. Or, if you end up making too many pancakes in one batch, just toss the leftovers in the freezer for another day.
You can easily keep pancakes in your freezer for up to three months. Pancakes reheat beautifully and taste great reheated.
You want the pancakes to be fully cooked through on both sides before freezing. Place your pancakes on a wire rack so that they’re close together but not touching. Put them in the freezer for 30 minutes or until frozen.
Once frozen, put as many as will fit into a resealable freezer bag.
If you can’t fit the wire rack in your freezer, stack the pancakes between wax or parchment paper and place the stack in a resealable freezer bag to freeze.
How to Reheat Pancakes
Here are 3 methods for reheating pancakes:
Microwave: Place 1 to 5 frozen pancakes on a microwave-safe plate, and microwave – approximately 20 seconds for 1 pancake and about 60 seconds for 5 pancakes. No need to cover the plate in plastic wrap. This method yields soft, fluffy pancakes.
Oven: More suitable for larger numbers of pancakes. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Place your frozen pancakes in a foil packet, or in a flat layer on a sheet pan and cover tightly with foil. (If you don’t encase them in foil, they will be dry.) Bake for about 10 minutes until the pancakes are warm and soft.
Toaster: You are limited to one pancake per slot, and you have to watch the toaster carefully to avoid your pancake becoming crispy.
Love Pancakes? Try these recipes!
- Alton Brown Pancakes
- Chocolate Pancakes
- Deep Fried Pancakes
- Funfetti Pancakes
- IHOP Cannoli Pancakes
- IHOP Cinnastack
- Pumpkin Spice Pancakes
Popular Breakfast Recipes
Check out more of my easy breakfast recipes and the best Christmas recipes on here on CopyKat!
Red Velvet Pancakes
Ingredients
Cream Cheese Glaze
- 4 ounces softened butter
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup milk
Pancakes
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 teaspoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder don’t use dark cocoa powder, Hershey’s works well
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon red food coloring gel
- 1 egg well beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Cream Cheese Glaze
- Place the softened butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and milk in a small bowl.
- Beat with an electric mixer until well combined.
Pancakes
- Place the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cocoa powder, and baking soda in a bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Add the buttermilk, water, oil, red food coloring, egg, and vanilla. Stir with a spoon until smooth. (If the batter seems too thick while you’re cooking the pancakes, add a little more buttermilk and mix well.)
- Heat a skillet or griddle over medium-low heat. Brush with a little oil.
- Pour in the batter until it spreads to the desired size. Wait until you see small bubbles form on top of the batter before you turn the pancake over to finish cooking. Be careful not to let the heat get too high because the pancakes will brown.
- To serve, drizzle the cream cheese glaze over a stack of 2 or 3 pancakes.
Karen
I loved these. I hated when IHOP Red Velvet pancakes were removed from their menu. Now I have these!