Birthday Blueberry Pancake Cake

Here’s a fresh take on the traditional cake (and a lovely way to start someone’s birthday): a blueberry pancake cake for breakfast that’s frosted with whipped cream. I dreamed this confection up in honor of my son’s third birthday, which is today.

We’ll be having a party with friends, family, and assorted preschoolers on Saturday, so I’ll be making a cake (race car-shaped) for that. I couldn’t see making a separate cake just for today. But we certainly needed something. So I bought a 4-inch ring mold at my local kitchen supply store (it cost all of 59 cents). I improvised the recipe using about a 2-cup mix of cornmeal, whole wheat, and all-purpose flour, 2 eggs, some melted butter, a little sugar, about 2 teaspoons of baking powder, some salt, and enough milk to make a thick batter. I don’t like to measure early in the morning, but if you’re more exacting, you can try this buttermilk pancake recipe.

I put about a half-tablespoon of butter in a skillet and let that melt over medium heat. I laid the ring in the butter, ladled in some batter, and let that cook until the sides began to firm up and appear dry. Once they were set, I removed the ring with tongs (the butter keeps it from sticking) and flipped the pancake over. A quick cook on the other side and I had my first layer. I repeated this two more times.

In a separate bowl, I whipped up some heavy cream with sugar and spread that between the layers along with some thinly sliced strawberries.

Now, the big downside to this cake is that the pancakes really should be close to room temperature before you start layering them with whipped cream. Otherwise, the frosting tends to melt. But I was able to pull the cake off with tepid pancakes, and Max didn’t seem to mind a bit.