A year ago, I had a piece of flourless chocolate cake for dessert at Zuni Café in San Francisco. When I took my first bite, I temporarily blacked out. I started silently weeping. The waiter came to my table to see how I liked the cake and I stared at him, unable to speak.

“How is it?” he asked.

“I’m crying,” I replied.

He started laughing. “This is the kind of cake that you eat alone in a dark room, weeping,” he said.

That’s sort of how I feel about this dutch baby, except I ate it alone in a sun-filled room on a Sunday morning.

I’ve wanted to make a dutch baby for as long as I can remember but I waited until I had a good cast-iron skillet. Yesterday, I decided to use my new skillet to make one for breakfast.

I melted some butter in a cast iron skillet and poured in batter. Then, I heated the skillet in a very hot oven until the pancake puffed up and turned golden brown. I reduced the heat to let the pancake set and then took it out of the oven and topped it with powdered sugar, peaches, and blueberries, and maple syrup. You could also serve it with jam or Nutella.

My favorite thing about dutch babies is the texture. The pancake is light and fluffy and has buttery layers, kind of like a biscuit. It’s amazing because I didn’t do anything to make the layers and I’m still rewarded with them.

The edges are also crispy so it gives the pancake more texture. The perfect bite involves some crispy crust, buttery, flaky center, a big patch of powdered sugar, and maple syrup. O.m.g.

The only thing I’d caution about this recipe is that it serves one. Maybe it serves two if you’re nice and like to share, or if you don’t have an appetite. I made the pancake in a 12 inch cast iron skillet and I ate the whole thing. I felt a little weird doing it, because in my head I was eating an entire cake/pastry/pie by myself. But I guess stranger things have happened.

ANYWAY. Make this dutch baby as soon as possible. It’s an easy recipe that’s good for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, a snack, or pretty much whenever you need it, which, at least in my case, is all the time.

Here’s a song that I’ve been jamming out to recently. It also describes my feelings for this dutch baby.

Dutch Baby (from me, to you)

Ingredients

1/2 cup flour
3 eggs
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 Tbsp sugar
4 Tbsp butter
peaches and blueberries, powdered sugar, and maple syrup for serving

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Whisk together the flour, eggs, almond milk, and sugar in a bowl until the batter is uniform and smooth.

Place the butter on a 12-inch cast-iron skillet and put the skillet into the oven. Let the butter melt completely, keeping an eye on the skillet to make sure that the butter doesn’t burn.

Once the butter melts, remove the skillet from the oven and pour in the batter. Return the skillet to the oven and bake about 20 minutes, or until the pancake is golden brown and puffed.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F and bake the pancake for a few more minutes, or until the center is set. Remove the skillet from the oven and place on a cooling rack.

Sprinkle the pancake with powdered sugar. Cut the pancake out of the skillet in slices and serve with peaches and blueberries and maple syrup. Enjoy!