A light fluffy pancake, nice for a summer weekend breakfast. I got this recipe at Ballymaloe via Bill Granger.

You could use bought honeycomb for the butter or do a different topping altogether but I really like to make it. The cakes themselves are soft and delicate so they can handle, and need,  the sweet sweet sweetness.

Do the honeycomb first. Butter a 20cm baking tray. Put the sugar and golden syrup into a large heavy bottomed saucepan. Heat over a low heat and once the grains of sugar have dissolved crank it up. Let it bubble for a few minutes until it’s dark amber, then stir in the bicarb with a wooden spoon. It will bubble up ferociously! Tip out onto the tray and leave to cool for at least an hour.

Bash it up using a rolling pin. I like texture so I leave some solid chunks for crunch, but make them small enough so there are no aggressive shards. Stir into the butter.

For the hotcakes, whisk the egg yolks with the milk and ricotta until smooth. Sift in the dry ingredients, then whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and fold this into the batter.

Fry over a medium heat in sunflower oil, put a healthy dollop of honeycomb butter on while they’re still hot and top with fruit and icing sugar.