12 of Toronto’s wackiest flapjack stacks just in time for Pancake Tuesday

The pancake—practically tasteless in its plainest form—is the perfect blank canvas for a plethora of sweet and savoury toppings. And while there’s nothing wrong with the classic butter-and-syrup combo, there are plenty of other ways to get creative with hotcakes. Here, 14 stacks of wacky flapjacks to flip over.

Emma’s Country Kitchen’s Banana chocolate chip pancakes

12 Humewood’s breakfast (and doughnut) experts make a mean stack of pancakes, chock full of banana and chocolate. They’re topped with a baseball-sized scoop of whipped brown butter and served with a side of maple syrup. 810 St. Clair Ave. W., 416-652-3662, emmascountrykitchen.com    

Mildred’s Temple Kitchen’s Mrs. Biederhof’s pancakes

11 Liberty Village’s longtime brunch favourite dresses fluffy buttermilk pancakes with Lanark County maple syrup and whipped cream, then buries them in blueberries. $16. 85 Hanna Ave., 416-588-5695, templekitchen.com    

Old School’s Blueberry Hill

10 Old School’s blueberry pancakes comes to the table in a still-hot cast-iron pan, loaded with (more) blueberries, “butcher’s crack” (sugar-cured bacon) and a scoop of brown-sugar butter the size of a ping pong ball. $13. 800 Dundas St. W., 416-815-8790, oldschoolyyz.com    

White Lily Diner’s griddle cakes

9 Riverside’s newest diner serves up a stack of buttermilk griddle cakes ($9) that you can customize with strips of bacon ($3.50), thick-cut bacon ($4.50), cottage cheese and sour cherries ($2.50, pictured above), or a couple of eggs ($3.50). 678 Queen St. E., 416-901-7800, whitelilydiner.ca    

School’s pecan-and-mascarpone pancakes

8 At School, brunch is in session seven days a week. Their pecan-and-basil pancakes come topped with a big dollop of cinnamony mascarpone, sided with a wee beaker of maple syrup and a scoop of brown-sugar butter. $16.50. 70 Fraser Ave., 416-588-0005, schooltoronto.com    

Buca Yorkville’s crespelle

7 These crispy semolina pancakes, pan-fried in olive oil and topped with maple grappa, are pretty much the closest you’ll get to having cannoli for breakfast. $16. 53 Scollard St., 416-962-2822, buca.ca/yorkville    

Baddie’s hotcake

6 This vanilla-bean pancake was made for Instagram, topped with London Fog leche, chocolatey Milo butter and a bunch of fruity, leafy and seedy garnishes “to make sure you take a picture” (according to the Baddie’s website). $10. 679 Lansdowne Ave., no phone, baddiestoronto.com    

Cocoalatte’s cheesy pancakes

5 This St. Clair West café tries to prove everything’s better with cheddar by melting a layer of it over each pancake in a stack of five, then topping it all with crispy strips of bacon and a bucket of maple syrup. $12. 671 St. Clair Ave. W., 416-792-8696, cocoalatte.ca    

The Good Fork’s red velvet flapjacks

4 These red velvet rounds—complete with vanilla cream-cheese frosting—cross the line from “pancakes” to just straight-up “cake”. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) $14. 2432 Bloor St. W., 647-352-5955, goodfork.ca    

Barque’s smoked duck pancakes

3 Anyone can do bacon-topped pancakes, but only this Roncesvalles smokehouse does duck. A stack of flapjacks here comes loaded with smoked duck, blueberry compote, maple syrup and whipped chèvre. $16. 299 Roncesvalles Ave., 416-532-7700, barque.ca    

Farmhouse Tavern’s foie gras flapjacks

2 And leave it to Farmhouse Tavern to take it one step further. For an extra-fancy protein addition, you can upgrade a classic fruit-adorned stack to include a lobe of foie gras. $22. 1627 Dupont St., farmhousehospitality.tumblr.com    

Lisa Marie’s s’mores stack

1 Coming in at number one—unsurprisingly—are the same folks that brought Toronto the Double Pancake Pork Burger. This brunch creation/abomination involves Nutella-smeared chocolate-chip pancakes wearing a bunch of toasted marshmallows as a hat. $15. 638 Queen St. W., 647-748-6822, fidelgastros.com