Whole Wheat Orange Pancakes with Chocolate Sauce

June 09, 2013

Whole Wheat Orange Pancakes

Light ~ Fluffy ~ Spongy ~ Flavourful ~ Indulgent

Whole wheat orange pancakes, or how to make perfect vegan pancakes the easy way. They could well be the simplified version of my Orange Cake with Chocolate Cream.

Drenched in chocolate sauce, these pancakes are absolutely delicious...and addictive. It's up to you whether this recipe serves four...or just one;)

Whole Wheat Orange Pancakes with Chocolate Sauce

Whole Wheat Orange Pancakes
Makes 10-13
Print Recipe

  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/8 tsp baking soda
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 tsp demerara sugar
  • grated zest of one medium orange

  • 1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (from one medium orange)
  • 1/2 cup almond or soy milk (you can use Homemade Almond Milk or Hazelnut)
  • 2 tsp sunflower oil

  • a little oil for cooking the pancakes

Notes: 1 cup = 250 ml, 1/2 cup = 125 ml, 1/3 cup = 80 ml, 1/4 cup = 60 ml; I used a regular teaspoon, not the measuring one. If using a manual juicer like I did, don't strain out the orange pulp, it adds more flavour. I used a type of whole wheat flour that's not very finely milled and has bits of bran in it (picture in the Orange Cake post, link above). I love the texture it creates.

Whole Wheat Orange Pancakes Dry Mix

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the orange zest and the wet ingredients and mix until combined. The batter shouldn't be runny, nor too thick.

Whole Wheat Orange Pancakes Batter

Baking soda will react straight away with the orange juice, creating bubbles, so don't overmix the batter.

Whole Wheat Orange Pancakes Cooking

Heat a non-stick pan on medium heat over a medium-sized burner. Add a couple of drops of oil and tilt and rotate the pan to spread it all around. Using a tablespoon or a 1/4 cup pour the batter to make pancakes, leaving some space between them, as they will spread. The first thing you notice is the many air bubbles the baking soda creates, giving the batter a quick rise. When they stop popping the top is whole again and the baking powder starts working, puffing up the pancakes. The air bubbles underneath the surface will start to burst. When the sides of the pancakes look dry and the top is bubbly, carefully flip the pancakes with a spatula and let them cook for 30 seconds or so. In the picture above, the top and right pancakes were just ready to be flipped.

Whole Wheat Orange Pancakes

It is important that the pancakes remain golden, not brown. For that you may need to reduce the heat to medium-low. Slightly lift the edge of the first pancake to check whether it's changing colour too fast and adjust the heat if that happens.

When done, remove the pancakes from the pan and place them on a clean, dry kitchen towel (cloth, not paper). When just a little warm, place them on a serving plate and pour chocolate sauce over them. Be generous!:)

Whole Wheat Orange Pancakes with Chocolate Sauce

Easy Chocolate Sauce
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
  • 1/3 cup + 2 Tb almond milk
  • 1/2 cup demerara sugar

In a small pan mix the cocoa powder with a little bit of milk until it forms a paste, using a whisk. Keep adding milk until you use all the amount. This prevents the formation of lumps. Add the sugar and mix.

Put the pan over the smallest burner turned to medium and stir now and then until the sugar is completely dissolved and the sauce is hot. Do not let it come to a simmer or boil, or else the taste will change.

The best time to make the sauce is just before the pancakes, after mixing the dry ingredients. Keep them aside, make the sauce, then continue with making the batter.

When serving, the sauce will be warm and the pancakes almost at room temperature, so they will absorb it immediately. Before adding another layer of pancakes on top of the first one, let them absorb the sauce, then add a little more and only then put more pancakes over them. Get messy!:)

Whole Wheat Orange Pancakes with Chocolate Sauce

Enjoy and spread the magic!:)


If you've tried these pancakes I would greatly appreciate your feedback. Thank you!

26 comments:

Sandy

I regularly make orange pancakes - they're so good! Love choc-orange flavour - very clever of you to add the choc sauce :-)

Vegan Magic

Sandy, I'm glad you like them:) I love the choc-orange combination much more than choc-vanilla, and use it in sweets a lot. I thought the sauce would be a nice change, since maple syrup is usually my first choice when it comes to pancakes. Loved it:) Thanks so much for writing.

dassana

these are looking lovely. pinned to make these.

Vegan Magic

Thank you so much, Dassana:) I hope you enjoy them.

Shweta Agrawal

This looks so nice and yummy. Totally tempting :)

Vegan Magic

Shweta, thank you:) I hope you try them sometime, they're so good:)

Vaishali

Orange and chocolate sounds like the perfect combination. The pancakes look perfect!

Vegan Magic

Vaishali, I couldn't agree more about orange and chocolate. I'm very happy you like the pancakes, thank you so much for stopping by:)

Cheryl in NC

Hi! I came here from another blog, looking for your gluten-free peach upside-down cake recipe - sadly not posted yet :( -- and now can't tear myself away. I really love your choice of recipes; the way you take such care in describing, referencing & instructing about them; & all your charming narratives. A really lovely blog; thank you so much for sharing. I'm sort of a recipe addict (moreso than a baker, lol), & a good day for me is when I stumble on a blog I really love. Thank you for making my day today (& yesterday!)

Vegan Magic

Cheryl, thank you so much for this heart-warming, motivating comment:) I deeply appreciate your taking the time to let me know what you think about my blog/recipes. The GF peach cake is loooong overdue. The recipe is done, but I still have to take some pictures to share, so I hope to do that soon.

I'm a recipe addict too (collector rather) - thousands of favourites and pins just waiting their turn:) There are some blogs I'm totally in love with. If you like GF baking/cooking, check out myinspiration.tv, I've already tried some of the recipes and they are fantastic!:) It is lovely getting in touch with you. Have a wonderful weekend.

Cheryl in NC

Oh, wow! You understand, lol! Thank YOU for the referral -- so thoughtful! -- and I can't wait to check it out once I've finished exploring your wonderful blog. I'm moving towards GF & vegan(already low fat, dairy-free for self & granddaughter) & so those recipes are my focus right now, but I still love looking at (& collecting!) everything else. I've discovered I get almost as much pleasure from reading a recipe as from eating it! So many recipes, so little time, sigh...but then, so much to look forward to, right?! :D

And so, thank you again SO much, & whenever I make one of your recipes, (beginning with the GF cornmeal &/or plum cakes first:), I promise to let you know how much I enjoyed them! Hope you have a wonderful weekend too! :)

Vegan Magic

I couldn't agree more, some recipes sound so good and the posts are so nicely written that I don't really need to make them to imagine how good those dishes are - add to that some good pictures and I don't need anything else:) However, with so many amazing recipes around, my own imagination/creativity is reduced - not a good thing for a food blogger!:))

I look forward to your feedback when you try the cake, I hope it all goes well. Bon apetit!

Unknown

Thanks for your awesome recipes, I read you are Romanian, and I'm from Moldova. so I know limba română well. I can't believe it, I'm surprised in a good way, I wish you luck and more recipes please.Mulțumesc.

Vegan Magic

Multumesc mult, Daniela! Ma bucur ca iti plac retetele. Mai am multe de postat...si inca multe de testat:) Da-mi de stire daca incerci vreo reteta, sper sa-ti placa. O zi frumoasa!

Anonymous

Why dont you publish anything anymore? And you don't publish comments as well. Are you coming back with recipes?

Vegan Magic

Hi:) It's been a very busy time for me lately, but no worries, more exciting recipes coming up soon:) I check the blog daily, and post and reply to comments. Thanks so much for your support!

Alice

I discovered these while looking for new recipes. They are so good, my husband, who normally doesn't care too much for whole grain pancakes, requested them for the third time this week! I do leave out the chocolate sauce and serve them with maple syrup and berries instead, but they are yummy!

Vegan Magic

Alice, I'm so happy to know you gave this recipe a try and both you and your husband enjoyed the pancakes:) The combination with maple syrup is one of my favourite too. Thanks very much for the comment.

Anonymous

I love orange. More even than I love chocolate. Unless it's orange and chocolate together. I will definitely have to try these. :D

I have a couple questions:

"It is important that the pancakes remain golden, not brown." Why is it important? What happens if they're brown?

"Do not let it come to a simmer or boil, or else the taste will change." How will the taste change? What will it taste like, and why is that a problem?

After recently figuring out the trick to vegan pancakes being fluffy (basically more baking powder), I love pancakes again. I'm so glad I found these! Your recipe looks awesome!

Vegan Magic

Hi! Thank you so much for your interest in this recipe. First, the pancakes. If they're cooked just until they're golden, they remain fluffy, moist and the orange flavour comes through. If they're cooked till brown, or worse till burnt, they become dry, somewhat dense and that burnt flour taste will dominate. As for the sauce, if it boils, the taste becomes bitter and you don't want that:)

I hope you give the recipe a try and please let me know how everything goes:)

Unknown

These are delish but I have to add at least 1/2 cup extra milk and they're still really thick. What could I be doing wrong?

Vegan Magic

Shelley, thank you for the comment. Maybe the flour you used is different or the measuring went wrong somewhere. Did you add the juice as well?

Unknown

I don't know much about flour; I've used 100% white whole wheat flour. Today I doubled the juice & milk & the consistency was just right. My nonvegan family loved them, thanks so much for this recipe!

Vegan Magic

Shelley, thanks so much for the feedback, so happy everyone enjoyed the pancakes:)

Vegan Athlete Gazza

wow, these look great :P

Vegan Magic

Many thanks:)