Ricotta Hotcakes

Asked by Glynis Smalley. Answered on 26th January 2016

Full question

Is it possible to bake Nigella's hotcakes in the oven? I would be using a cast iron frypan. If it can, what oven temperature would you recommend?

Our answer

Nigella's Ricotta Hotcakes (from Nigella Summer and on the Nigella website) are leavened pancakes (American style/Scotch pancakes) made with ricotta cheese. The ricotta helps to give the pancakes a soft, light interior.

We would not recommend baking the hotcakes. This is partly as the hotcakes need to be cooked quickly on both sides to give colour, but also as they would dry out too much in a hot oven and you would have hotcakes that are heavy and hard. If you need to cook a large number of the hotcakes then you could transfer the hotcakes, as they are cooked, from your frying pan to a clean tea towel. Gently fold the edges of the tea towel over to enclose. The hotcakes will keep warm in the tea towel for 15-20 minutes providing they are left in a warm place.