Head chef reveals secret to a flipping-good pancake this Shrove Tuesday

Karl Taylor, from The Seven Stars in Oldswinford, is offering customers a range of specials this pancake day.

And these include blueberry pancakes with maple cured bacon and salted butter, a Kinder Bueno-inspired pancake with chocolate and walnut praline and pancakes topped with strawberries and mascarpone.

But Karl – who previously worked for Jamie Oliver before joining the Brook Road pub in October of last year – has revealed the secret to the best pancakes is putting icing sugar in the batter.

The 42 year-old said: "The secret to a good pancake is the batter, my mom was a head chef and she would do thin pancakes and roll them up, but I prefer the American pancakes – I use more eggs, and I add some icing sugar to the mix.

"My mind is constantly racing with recipes and ideas, I love blueberry pancakes and the salt and sugar in that recipe just works, and I wanted a fruity one – no one really uses mascarpone on pancakes but it works lovely.

"And the chocolate one, which everyone loves – I was trying to tackle everybody's preferences."