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There’s no dish in the British cook’s repertoire more thrilling than pancakes. Even a flaming Christmas pudding pales into dull insignificance beside the spectacle of pancake-flipping.

It’s not something that can be done privately. The cook emerging triumphant into the dining room with a plate of warm pancakes and a coy smile would ruin the evening. The whole company has to be in there from the start, watching and applauding as the cook eschews palette knives and spatulas in favour of a flick of the wrist that sends pancakes spinning into the air.

A basic batter mix of 100g plain flour, 2 medium eggs and 300ml milk (or half milk, half water) will produce sturdy, piebald pancakes – the kind that can be nonchalantly flipped and rolled up with lemon and sugar. But if you like a challenge – or want an excuse to get the pancake flipping done before anyone can see you picking them up off the floor and putting them back in the pan – then a batter larded with cream and sherry is for you.

The recipe below is based on one from Hannah Glasse’s Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (published in 1747). The batter has barely a sneeze of flour in it – just enough to hold the butter, sugar, sherry and cream together. The aim is to make whisper-thin pancakes that can be stacked on top of each other and served in slices with whipped cream.

That’s the aim, but the batter is so rich and the resulting pancakes so fragile that getting a single pancake out of the pan in one piece counts as a miracle. You can’t go near them with a spatula. Instead, loosen the edges with a palette knife and then boldly flick the pan. With luck, the pancake will flip – although it will probably bunch up a little. Smooth it out with your fingertips (trying not to burn yourself) and cook until dappled brown.

The good thing about serving the pancakes in a stack is that if one develops a hole or two during cooking, it can be hidden in the middle of the quire. The buttered stack will also sit in a warm oven for an hour without suffering too much, so you can avoid the spectacle of pancake flipping if the prospect gives you stage fright.

A quire of paper
Serves 4–6

100g butter, melted and cooled
3 medium eggs, beaten
300ml single cream
3 tbsp pale cream sherry
50g caster sugar
50g plain flour
Freshly grated nutmeg
Sunflower oil or clarified butter, for frying
Butter, icing sugar and whipped cream flavoured with orange or lemon zest, to serve

1. Beat the melted butter, eggs, single cream and sherry together. Whisk in the sugar, then sift in the flour and whisk to make a smooth batter. Grate in a large pinch of nutmeg and stir in. Put the oven on to a low temperature and put 2 plates in there.

2. Lightly grease a frying pan with sunflower oil or clarified butter and place over a medium heat. When the pan is hot, add a small ladleful of batter and swirl to make a thin pancake. Cook for 3 minutes or until browned. Loosen the edges with a palette knife and then flick to flip the pancake, shaking it back into shape if it bunches up. Cook for a further 1–2 minutes.

3. Slide the pancake onto one of the warm plates and keep warm in the oven. Regrease the pan and continue making pancakes until you have around 12–14.

4. Working quickly, stack the pancakes on the other warm plate, dotting the top of each pancake with butter and sifting over some icing sugar so you have a sweet, buttery layer between each pancake. Dot the top with butter and sift over some icing sugar.

Serve in slices with whipped cream.