Guest chef Bill Granger’s ricotta hotcake recipe

This is the original fluffy ricotta hotcake that was on the menu when the late Bill Granger launched the first Bills cafe in Sydney back in 1993. You can still order it today.

Fuwa fuwa: Bill Granger’s ricotta hotcakes. Picture: Mikkel Vang

This is the original fluffy ricotta hotcake that was on the menu when we launched the first Bills cafe in Sydney back in 1993. Since then we’ve opened restaurants in London, Hawaii, Seoul and Tokyo; in Japan these were credited as the start of the trend for the cloud-like soufflé pancakes described as fuwa fuwa.

Ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter and banana

Bill Granger. Picture: Con Poulos

Honeycomb
■ Light-flavoured oil, for greasing
■ 150g caster sugar
■ 75g golden syrup
■ 1½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

Honeycomb butter
■ 250g unsalted butter, softened
■ 2 tablespoons runny honey
■ 90g honeycomb (see above, or shop-bought), crushed

Ricotta hotcakes
■ 300g ricotta
■ 175ml milk
■ 4 eggs, separated
■ 125g plain flour
■ 1 teaspoon baking powder
■ 50g butter

To serve
■ Icing sugar
■ 1 banana, halved, sliced lengthways

To make honeycomb, lightly oil a 20cm cake tin. Put the sugar and syrup in a heavy-based pan over medium-low heat. Swirl the pan to dissolve the sugar, then stir with a spatula until all dissolved – this might take 10-15 minutes, so be patient; don’t let the mixture bubble at this stage. Turn up the heat, use a sugar thermometer if you have one and heat the mixture to 155C or until a dark amber caramel. Remove from the heat and quickly stir in the bicarbonate of soda until golden and foaming. Be careful not to overstir: you want to retain as much air in the mixture as possible.

Carefully pour into the tin. Leave to harden and cool for about 90 minutes. Break into chunks and crush with a rolling pin. If you are making honeycomb butter, you will need half the amount, so store the rest in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks. You can dip it in melted chocolate and sprinkle over ice cream. Or make double the amount of butter and freeze.

Bill Granger’s book

To make the honeycomb butter, blend the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Roll into a log in greaseproof paper and chill in the fridge for 2 hours.

To make the hotcakes, mix ricotta, milk and egg yolks. Sift the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt into another bowl. Add the ricotta mixture and stir to combine. Beat the egg whites in a clean dry bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold into the batter in two batches with a large metal spoon. Melt a little butter in a large non-stick frying pan. Add 2 tablespoons of batter per hotcake, cooking in batches. Cook over low-medium heat for 2 minutes, or until golden underneath. Turn and cook the other side until golden and cooked through. Serve dusted with icing sugar, with sliced banana and honeycomb butter. Serves 6-8

From Australian Food by Bill Granger (Murdoch Books, $50). Photography: Mikkel Vang