Pancake tower with meringue

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday - the first day of Lent, during which we are all supposed to give up all self-indulgent treats.

I don't really need an excuse to eat pancakes, but I thought I'd share this recipe with you, in case you'd like to do something a bit different with yours today.

Oven temperature

220C

Ingredients

Pancakes:
120g flour
5ml backing powder
2ml salt
2 egg yolks (keep the whites, you'll need them!)
185ml milk
a little oil for frying

Filling:
200g apricot jam (or jam of your choice, I once used home-made kumquat marmalade and the result was the best I've ever had with this recipe)
7ml Cointreau (or liqueur of your choice, I'm going to use sherry today, because it's what I have and I was  blowed if I was going to stump up £20+ for the sake of 7ml!)
425g can crushed pineapple in juice, drained and...
7ml pineapple juice reserved
15ml ground almonds

Topping:

2 egg whites
100g caster sugar

Method

• Beat together flour, baking powder, salt and egg yolks.
• Add milk and beat until smooth. Leave to stand for 30 minutes.
• Heat oil in frying pan, pour in enough batter to coat base and fry on both sides until golden brown. Keep warm and repeat until all the batter has been used up.
• In small saucepan, gently heat all the filling ingredients.
• Spread over each pancake, except one, stacking the pancakes (jam side up)  in a pile on an ovenproof plate as you go.
• Top off with the plain pancake and set aside for now.
• In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until they are so stiff you could almost turn the bowl upside down without making a mess.
• Carefully fold in the sugar.
• Cover the top and sides of the pancake tower with meringue.
• Bake for 10 minutes or until the meringue turns golden brown.
• Decorate with mint leaves and/or fruit pieces.
• Cut into wedges to serve.
• Works very well with vanilla ice cream!