Keto Japanese Vanilla Soufflé Pancakes. 1.3g net carbs and 61 calories each.
Extraordinary. Pillowy soft. Impossibly tall. A heavenly texture. These pancakes are simply amazing.
Creating them was a real challenge. It took me 8 batches to perfect. And after the 5th attempt, I was starting to despair and almost gave up. But the stubborn old goat in me carried on. And yes, I’m super-chuffed with the result. And so will you be, once you’ve tasted them.
Like all soufflés, they do deflate a bit as they cool and the trapped steam escapes. Ideally, you should enjoy them still warm, just out of the pan. But they certainly don’t become flat. Far from it. The images below are of pancakes cooled and left on the counter for hours, before I found the time to take photos. Check them out: still 2.5cm tall. That’s a whole INCH of pancake height. Crazy, huh?
How to Make Keto Japanese Vanilla Soufflé Pancakes
The reason that it took me aaaaages to get the right result is the absence of gluten. It’s by far the most omnipresent obstacle in keto / low carb baking.
Gluten is a retched, evil ingredient that causes gut issues and systemic inflammation. Yet crucial for the magic to happen – it stretches fibres and creates the lightest, most voluminous bakes – when you know how to ‘work it’. Gluten – or rather, the lack of – is the one thing that frustrates me the most. Without it, I have to re-create the magic some other way. And it doesn’t always work.
Moral of the story? If you want to replicate my skyscraper Keto Japanese Vanilla Soufflé Pancakes, you must follow the recipe exactly as it is. No substitutions, no messing around with “can I omit this”, or “can I swap that”. If anyone wants to try to make them differently, it’s entirely up to them. But I’m pretty sure that they will fail, either being too dry or too wet, not rising enough, staying raw in the centre, deflating, becoming hard once cooled, or just tasting rubbish. I experienced all of those and more.
The method is also important. These pancakes are basically slow-cooked, allowing steam to make them rise. Don’t rush. Read my instructions more than once, prepare all you need, then start.
Enjoy!
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Keto Japanese Vanilla Soufflé Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 large egg separated
- 20 g Arla lactose-free whole milk
- ½ tsp vanilla extract (U.S. option HERE)
- 15 g erythritol (U.S. option HERE)
- 1/16 tsp pure stevia powder (U.S. option HERE)
- 15 g lupin flour (U.S. option HERE)
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp xanthan gum (U.S. option HERE)
- 1 smidgen unsalted butter
Instructions
- mix sweeteners with xanthan gum in a small bowl; sift and mix lupin flour (see Notes about lupin flour) and baking powder in a separate small bowl; set both aside.
- using a stick blender whisk attachment (U.S. option HERE) whip egg white on LOW SPEED until frothy, then add the sweetener mix gradually, to form a sticky meringue with stiff peaks - this will take seconds.
- whip yolk, milk and vanilla together, then incorporate the combined lupin flour and baking powder.
- manually whisk ½ meringue into the yolk mixture to loosen it, pour the egg yolk mixture over the remaining meringue and combine thoroughly but gently with a spatula to avoid deflating the mixture.
- turn hob heat down to minimum (induction 3-4).
- using ⅓ (adjust if you changed servings) of the batter, create a tall heap about 7-8cm (3") wide in the heated pan, then repeat with another ⅓ (adjust if you changed servings) batter for the second pancake, allowing some space between them - using two spoons will help, as the batter will be very gluey.
- drop 2 tsp water in each of the empty spaces around the pancakes.
- cover with lid and cook for 3 minutes, then add the remaining batter equally on top of each pancake, add a little more water, put the lid back on and continue to cook.
- after 7-8 minutes, carefully flip the pancakes (see notes below), add water again, and cook the other side for 6-7 mins.
- serve dusted with Sukrin icing 'sugar' or Swerve confectioner (U.S. options HERE and HERE) and any topping of your choice.
Notes
Nutrition
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These are absolutely amazing and so easy to whip up. I love them as a pre workout meal. Thank you!
Thank YOU Mari! I’m always grateful to receive feedback. x
Can u use whipping cream instead of this milk ? I am in Canada
Not unless you dilute it to make it closer to ‘milk’. You can also use any dairy milk – the lactose-free types (not just Arla) generally contain fewer carbs because the sugar (lactose) has been removed.
Hi Antya, this looks fantastic I’ll have to try it out. I love your recipes but get frustrated when I want to do double or triple batches and have to scale manually. Will you eventually add an automatic scale to your ingredient table?
Thank you, Nga. I will look into it, although scaling and conversions don’t translate correctly every time.