Duke's Hotcakes

Serve when

Serve them fast and stacked — Tiana's out the door with a plate the second she calls 'order up!'

Before you start

Mix the batter just before serving so the cakes hit the griddle fresh; keep a stack warming in a low oven while the rest cook, the way a diner line does it.

Cook-along start: before the movie

In the movie

Theatrical

00:09:49 During the morning rush at Duke's Café, Tiana works the floor pouring coffee and delivering plates — 'Here are your hotcakes' — one more double shift toward the restaurant she's saving for.

Duke's Café is where Tiana's whole work ethic lives — pouring coffee, slinging hotcakes, and banking every tip toward a restaurant of her own. The hotcakes are a small, ordinary dish next to the gumbo and beignets, but they're the ones she's actually serving, shift after shift, on the way to the dream.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
3 tablespoons melted butter, plus more for the griddle
Syrup and butter, to serve

Method

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.
In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients with a few quick strokes — a lumpy batter makes a fluffier cake than a smooth one.
Ladle onto a hot, buttered griddle and cook until bubbles form and pop across the surface and the edges look set, about 2 minutes, then flip and cook until golden underneath, 1 to 2 minutes more.
Stack tall and serve hot, with butter and syrup, diner-style.