Pancakes seem straightforward, but we all have our preferences: You may like them fluffy and lightly buttered, or you prefer lots of melty chocolate chips and smothered in warm maple syrup. Whatever you gravitate toward, you always expect them to be served up in a round shape of sweet, tasty goodness. However, TikTok has a different idea—scrambled pancakes. 

Like the spaghetti pancake craze of 2023, when ribbons of pancake dough were piled high in bowls for a pasta-like presentation, scrambled pancakes have caused a bit of an uproar on social media. Even @archivedchef, whose scrambled pancakes tutorial has 21.2 million views and has been liked 891,000 times (and rising), confessed that she wasn’t crazy about the result—though she waited to let her fans know until the very end of her video (in her words, ”sike”). But, not surprisingly, pancake lovers who watched her make her creation had varying opinions. 

“This triggered me, but wait, I cut them up anyway, so why not try this?” one person wrote in the comments. And for the fans of well-done flapjacks, another said: “Omg, every bite is crispy. Are you kidding me….genius."

A few people mentioned that this recipe is easier to make than the pandemic-era pancake cereal trend, which requires dozens of tiny pancakes. However, the most informative comments referred to how these scrambled pancakes are a classic Austrian dish called Kaiserschmarrn, which translates to “imperial mess.” It’s a sweet-shop delicacy that's most often served sprinkled with powdered sugar and topped with rum-soaked raisins. On Reddit, one person said, “We in Slovenia call it Schmörn (ŠMORN).” 

Follow this recipe to make scrambled pancakes like Austrian chefs do.

Kaiserschmarrn

Rum-Soaked Raisins

Use white raisins for white rum and dark raisins for dark rum.

• Place raisins in a clean jar, and pour in rum until just covered. 
• Let them soak for a few hours (the longer, the better), turning the jar over every so often to make sure all of the raisins are covered.

Pancakes

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, separated, divided
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup white sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Directions

• Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. 
• Beat egg yolks in a separate bowl until smooth. 
• Mix in flour, milk, sugar, and salt until just moistened. Fold in egg whites.
• Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. 
• Pour your batter into the skillet and cook until golden brown. Flip and cook about 1 minute more until set. 
• Tear the kaiserschmarren into pieces using two forks and continue cooking for about two more minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
• Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and top with rum-soaked raisins.