Hotcake Art Never Tasted this Good!
Summer is a time for the kids to unwind and forget all about the pressures of school. As a parent, I take this opportunity to introduce them to activities that are not only fun but practical too. For three years now, M (now 14) and R (7), have been attending The Maya Kitchen’s summer cooking camp. At Maya, they learn the basics of cooking and baking. They get their hands dirty, their minds focus on the recipes at hand and their mouths ready to taste the hearty meals after the daily sessions are done.
Last April 20, my daughter R and I were invited to take part in a one day cooking session which featured Cotabato city’s fastest rising YouTube sensation, Pancake Warrior Elle Jay Orbase. An ECE graduate, he did not fund much fulfillment in the many odd jobs he landed after college. He had always been artistic in his youth but knew he had to earn steady income. But short stints as a call center agent, demi cook, and internet café manager failed to fuel his career or passion. Three years ago, he tried his hand at creating pancake art after acquiring his first gridle. Excited about his projects, Elle Jay uploaded his work on YouTube and within a few short months, garnered tens of thousands of followers. To date, his uploads have amassed 16 million views and his channel has more than 100,000 subscribers.
The Pancake Warrior’s designs range from the super simple to the intricate. He is most known, however, for his renditions of Anime characters and superheroes. “My most difficult design to date is Spiderman,” he laughingly shared. “The best part about doing this is making people happy. Kids and adults are both fascinated about my type of art and as long people are watching, I’ll keep on creating. Hopefully, I reach a million subscribers. That would be a dream come true!”
“ The best part about doing this is making people happy.”
Outline, Fill In and Flip
With just three easy steps and using Maya’s Original Tasty and Fluffy Pancake Mix (just add water and a few drops of food coloring to make all the colors you need), and anybody can be a pancake artist. Warrior level takes years of practice!
Elle Jay showed the participants how to make an emoji Smiley. And my little girl was the lucky recipient! Soon enough we had our aprons on, ready to take on the day’s pancake challenges. Four designs were provided as guides but we were all free to make our own pancake art. Plastic bottle in hand, I steadied my hands to make an outline of a butterfly. The trick is to make the design big enough so you can still add details and have an easier time filling in the spaces. The trickiest part is flipping it over. Even with the help of the pancake warrior himself, our beautiful butterfly was slight “over brown” on one side by the time we were able to turn it. Still, the chefs commended our solid effort and mom and daughter teamwork! (R had a fun time filling up the wings with plenty of color.) We made a flower with petal hearts next.
All around us, we could hear happy laughter as people squeezed, filled-in and flipped to their hearts’ content. Congratulations to the newest batch of pancake artists! Thank you to the Pancake Warrior for sharing your art with us. See you all at The Maya Kitchen for more delicious fun!
With a pocketful of glitter,
