The Lion Cake

I can't really take credit for this pancake, but here is the story behind the picture.

Over the holidays I worked at Williams Sonoma at La Cumbre. I thought it would be a good opportunity to find out what people are cooking at home. However I soon realized it was a good opportunity to spend a lot of money buying cooking stuff with my discount. Yes, I spent more than I made, but I did buy some fine Christmas gifts.

This is one of them. Williams Sonoma sells these pancake forms in sets of three. The designs change during the year. I knew my granddaughter Saraphina would like this set because it includes a monkey.

Shaun perfected the method of making these pancakes, as you can see. You put the form onto a flat skillet or griddle then use a squeeze bottle to fill the mold with pancake batter (a buttermilk pancake recipe comes with the molds). When the pancake firms, you remove the mold and turn it over to cook briefly on the other side.

But a plain pancake wasn't enough for Shaun. Once on the plate, he filled the eyes and nose spaces with raspberry jam, sliced some bananas on top and gave it a sprinkling of powdered sugar. Delightful!

Now doesn't that make you want to run right out to Williams Sonoma to get a set of molds for tomorrow's breakfast? Last time I was there they had a set which included a sun, a moon, and the planet Saturn. Hmm, what time do they open?