Ainsley's Yogurt hotcakes with bananas and honeycomb butter

Following the visit of Ainsley Harriott to LASI, he kindly donated this recipe to us!

This batter can be happily stored for up to 24 hours, covered with clingfilm in the fridge.

Serves 4

Ainsley's honey hugYogurt hotcakes

150g (5oz) Onken natural set yogurt

4 tbsp milk

2 eggs, separated

75g (3oz) plain flour

pinch salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

25g (1oz) unsalted butter

4 bananas

icing sugar, to dust

Honeycomb butter

100g (4oz) butter, softened

50g (2oz) honeycomb

1 tbsp clear honey

Methods

To make the honeycomb butter, place the butter, honeycomb and honey in a bowl and mash until just combined with a fork. Using a white spatula, transfer on to a sheet of non-stick baking parchment, shape into a roll about 4 cm (1 1/2 inch) thick and wrap up tightly. Chill for a least 1 hour until firm.

Place the yogurt in a large bowl and beat in the milk and egg yolks until smooth. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a separate bowl and then fold into the yogurt mixture until just combined. Place the egg whites in a clean dry bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Using a large metal spoon, fold half into the yogurt mixture to loosen the mix and then fold in the remaining half until just combined.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan. Add a knob of the butter and drop large spoonfuls of the batter into the pan - don't try to cook more than three in one batch. Cook over a low to medium heat for 2 minutes or until golden and bubbles have started to come up through the batter, then turn over and cook for another minute or so until puffed up and golden. Loosely wrap in a clean tea towel while you finish cooking the remainder.

Peel and slice the bananas. Stack three hotcakes interwoven with banana slices on each warmed plate, then top with a couple of slices of honeycomb butter. Duste with icing sugar and serve at once.