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SYFY WIRE Original Video

Fancakes! Super Mario pancake art in motion

By SYFY WIRE Staff

Ever had a Super Mario Bros. pancake? Like, a real Mario pancake?

By "real," we mean the next best thing to grabbing the pixelated character from your screen and actually devouring him. The extraordinary pancake artists behind YouTube channel Dancakes have made this (almost) a reality for anyone with a Yoshi-like appetite. Dr. Dan and Hank don't just pour batter into molds and throw a few sprinkles on top. Watch.

It might look like an art station with squeeze bottles of paint, but that's pancake batter! The Dancakes duo have done everything from Monsters Inc. to Pokemon to The Incredibles and just about any other fandom you can imagine. Their YouTube profile says that they "create portraits and designs out of 100% edible pancake batter for events around the world." Please, please let us know if you've ever seen them in action at a con!

So how do they do it? They start by outlining the character with all the darkest outlines needed. For Mario, think eyes, mouth, hair, face outline — you get it.

The process is kind of like drawing backwards. You have to outline before you color and always have to start with the layer that's going to show up first, or else you risk covering it up. Next come colored details like the "M" on Mario's cap. Since that has a white background, the letter needs to be drawn before the space around it can be filled in with white.

When Mario gets flipped over, you won't believe it. He certainly doesn't look like a pancake. He doesn't even look like anything edible, which is kind of the point with food art. Goomba gets drawn the same way, with his eyes and teeth and signature grimace (those eyebrows!) done in black along with his entire body outline before he gets colored and flipped over to glare at you before you bite into him.

Dancakes also did two special pancakes for us, but you have to keep watching to the end to find out what they are!