One might say that if you have had one Pancake Day, you have had them all. Well, this year it is different. It is 2021. Impressing your kids with a measly pancake flip just won’t cut it.


What better way for your family to flex their artistic muscles than with some pancake art! And, since we specialise in analogue technology, what better way to celebrate Shrove Tuesday than with a guide to making your pancake look like a VHS tape. Converting your VHS to digital is so 2020. Get ready to make breakfast time exciting again.


You Will Need:


  • A frying pan or griddle
  • Pancake batter (2 large eggs, 300ml milk and 100g flour)
  • Cocoa powder
  • Squeeze bottles

Recipe


The Batter


1. Most culinary quests require only top-shelf ingredients. Thankfully, nothing fancy is required here. Just mix up your bog-standard pancake mix – there’s a great recipe for pancake batter over on BBC Good Food.


Tip: Keep the batter slightly thinner so that the mixture can travel smoothly out of your squeeze bottle and create the flowing lines of an artist’s brush.


2. Split the mixture into 3 parts. You will need to add cocoa powder to two parts to create various colour shades for your art.


Tip: If you want to really wow your audience with your pancake art, you can add some food dye and bring a splash of colour to your drawing of choice.


3. Add 1 tablespoon to one part of your mixture to create a dark brown shade for drawing the main outline and details of your tape.


4. Add 1 teaspoon to another part of your mixture to create a lighter brown shade for darker shading.


5. Leave the third part of your mixture as a plain batter. This will be used to fill in the rest of your design.


6. Once your batter is prepared, whack each shade into its own squeezy bottle.


The Drawing


Personally, I recommend using a griddle as the canvas for creating your magnum opus. Yet, a non-stick frying pan works just as well.


7. Put your hob on low heat. It is important to keep the heat low to start with because you will need the time to shape your ideas into reality.


8. Start with your darkest shade of batter and draw the VHS’s main outline and details first.


9. Next, it is time for your darker shading. Use the lighter brown batter to shade in the plastic case and tape reel.


10. Fill in the rest of your design with the regular batter.


11. All being successful, it is time to turn up the heat! The pancake should start bubbling and slightly change in colour.


The Magic Flip


Arguably, the best part of Shrove Tuesday is that all those years of perfecting your pan-flipping prowess is about to pay dividends. As I mentioned earlier, the simple flip of a pancake will not impress your kids like it used to. But! Combining the flip with the sweet reveal of your VHS masterpiece is sure to leave your kids’ jaws on the floor.


12. When you start to see the bubbles pop on top of your pancake, it is time for action. Employ your method of choice and watch as your finished masterpiece is revealed with great fanfare!


Have you got tapes which you would like to have converted into pancakes? Then, it is probably better to ask your local cake shop! But, if you are looking for a video to DVD service, then Digital Converters have got you covered.


Learn about our video digitalisation process here.