A pancake, also known as a hotcake, griddlecake, or flapjack, is a flat cake, often thin and round, prepared from a starch-based batter that may contain eggs, milk, and butter, and then cooked on a hot surface such as a griddle or frying pan.

A crêpe is a thin pancake of Breton origin cooked on one or both sides in a special pan or crepe maker to achieve a lacelike network of fine bubbles.

A well-known variation originating from southeast Europe is palatschinke, a thin moist pancake fried on both sides and filled with jam, cream cheese, chocolate, or ground walnuts, but many other fillings—sweet or savoury—can also be used.

In Britain and the Commonwealth, they are associated with Shrove Tuesday, commonly known as "Pancake Day", when, historically, perishable ingredients had to be used up before the fasting period of Lent.

The Ancient Greeks made pancakes called τηγανίτης (tēganitēs), ταγηνίτης (tagēnitēs)[3] or ταγηνίας (tagēnias),[4] all words deriving from τάγηνον (tagēnon), "frying pan".

[18] Pancakes in the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia) are known as injera (sometimes transliterated as enjera, budenaa (Oromo), or canjeero (Somali)).

Pannekoeke are usually served with cinnamon-flavoured sugar (and, sometimes, lemon juice) that is either allowed to dissolve into and soften them or, if their crispy texture is to be retained, eaten immediately.

In Uganda, pancakes are locally made with bananas (one of the staple foods of the country) and usually served as a breakfast or as a snack option.

The Japanese have also created a soufflé-style cooked-in rings-pancake, which is taller and fluffier than the American pancakes it is inspired by,[24] and found in Singapore,[25] Toronto,[26] Australia, and the United Kingdom.

In some regions of Middle India, thin green Cheelas are made with ginger or garlic leaves' paste, and rice flour batter.

In Pakistani cuisine, rishiki is a pancake, slightly thicker than a crepe, which is made from whole wheat flour, water and eggs and usually served with honey.

The batter is placed in a clay pot or pan lined with banana leaves or greased with oil (traditionally lard), and is baked over hot coals.

These pancakes are thin and filled with apricot, plum, lingonberry, apple or strawberry jam, chocolate sauce, or hazelnut spread.

Blini (Russian: блины) or mlynci (Ukrainian: млинцi) are thin pancakes, somewhat thicker than crêpes, made from wheat or buckwheat flour, butter, eggs, and milk, with yeast added to the batter.

The preparation of blini/mlynci dates back to pagan traditions and feasts, which are reflected in today's "pancake week" celebrated in the winter before the Great Lent.

Batter is poured into the oiled indentations and as the æbleskiver begin to cook, they are turned with a knitting needle, skewer or fork to give the cakes their characteristic spherical shape.

[40] In Finnish, lettu and pannukakku (literally "pancake") have different meanings, the latter having a structurally closer resemblance to a hotcake, and is baked in an oven instead of using a frying pan.

They are thin pancakes and are served with a sweet (fruit, ice cream, jam, chocolate spread, powdered sugar) or savoury filling (cheese, ham, seafood, spinach).

In this country are also popular some traditional waffle cookies called pizzelle and in some part of Tuscany there are typical thin crispy pancakes named brigidini, made with aniseed.

[43][44][45] Smaller than American or English pancakes at about 9 cm (3.5 inches) in diameter, they are made by the traditional method of dropping batter onto a griddle (a girdle in Northumberland or in Scots).

In Hungary, pancakes known as palacsinta (derived from the Latin placenta) are made from flour, milk or soda water, sugar, and eggs.

Gundel palacsinta is a Hungarian pancake stuffed with walnuts, zest, raisins and rum that is served in chocolate sauce and is often flambéed.

Hotcakes are popular breakfast items at restaurants throughout the country and are often sold by street vendors in cities and during the local celebrations of towns throughout the day.

Tapioca (Portuguese pronunciation: [tɐpiˈɔkɐ]), beiju ([bejˈʒu]) or biju ([biˈʒu]) are cassava (manioc) starch flour unleavened pancakes.

The heat of an ungreased hot griddle or pan makes the starchy grains fuse into a flatbread which resembles a grainy pancake.

Savoury panqueca is generally eaten for lunch or dinner, accompanied of white rice and salad, and less often pulses (prominently the beans Brazilian cuisine is famous for).

The exotic Brazilian pancake blinis ([bliˈnis]) is made from a mixture of coconut milk (leite de coco, [ˈlejtʃi dʒi ˈkoku]) and puba ([ˈpuβɐ]), a paste extracted from fermented cassava, most prominent in the cuisines of the Northern and Northeastern regions and relatively unknown elsewhere.

The resulting product is significantly more watery, filling and strongly flavored than the unfermented tapioca, and care should be taken in rolling the pancakes if desired because it breaks very easily.

In Argentina and Uruguay pancakes are called panqueques and are usually sweet preparations filled with dulce de leche or whipped cream and strawberries.

Eager to get to church, she ran out of her house still holding the frying pan complete with pancake, tossing it to prevent it from burning, and still wearing her apron and headscarf.