Clafoutis is a flan-type cake from France, usually stuffed with cherries. I’ve stayed very close to the recipe of Stéphane’s great grandmother, which he posted on his wonderful blog My French Heaven. It is quite easy to make and it was delicious.
According to the traditional recipe, you are not supposed to pit the cherries because that will stain the flan. But it will also mean that you will have to deal with the pits when you eat the clafoutis! And so I opted to pit the cherries anyway. The clafoutis still looked very acceptable (nothing a bit of icing sugar can’t fix…).
The only problem with clafoutis is that when cherries are ripe, it usually is too hot to use the oven. But I’ve baked one anyway and I’m glad that I did.
Ingredients
For a 27 cm (11″) pie, 6-8 servings
750 grams (1.7 lbs) cherries
2 egg yolks
1 egg
100 grams (1/2 cup) sugar
100 grams (1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp) flour
250 ml (1 cup) milk
100 grams (7 Tbsp) butter, softened
2 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp orange extract (Stéphane’s recipe uses 2 Tbsp orange blossom extract)
2 Tbsp Kirsch
1/2 tsp salt
Preparation
Wash and dry the cherries. Remove the stems. Remove the pits or keep them in. Butter a 27 cm (11″) pie shape and arrange the cherries in a single layer. The cherries should cover the whole pie shape.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF (not fan forced).
Put the egg yolks and the sugar in a bowl.
Stir with a wooden spoon until pale, about 2 minutes.
Add the egg and whisk to incorporate.
Add the flour and butter.
Stir until there are no more lumps.
Add the milk bit by bit, stirring.
Add the vanilla extract, Kirsch, orange extract, and salt.
Whisk to mix. It will look like the mixture curdles, that is normal and nothing to worry about.
Pour the mixture over the cherries.
Smooth out the top.
Bake for 35 minutes at 180ºC/350ºF (not fan forced) until the flan has set and the top is nicely golden.
Allow to cool. It is easier to cut the clafoutis when it’s refrigerated.
Flashback
One of the tastiest and most prized types of game is venison from roe deer. A roe deer (Dutch: ree, French: chevreuil, German: Reh, Italian: capriolo) is a small species of deer that is very picky about its food. To make this roe deer venison sous-vide, I bought a whole back so I also had bones to make a great jus. By cooking the venison sous-vide, it was cooked perfectly medium rare throughout.
The kirsch is a great way to echo the cherry notes in the clafoutis! Your cake looks moist and the cake just the right amount of sweet and savory for a dessert.🙂
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It is quite sweet, so good for dessert🙂
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I love clafoutis and make them quite often, especially this season. Your clafoutis looks gorgeous/perfect. I don’t use as many cherries, which I will change that (and I don’t use Kirsch). I am curious… why 2 Tbsp of vanilla when you have other essences? The oven-safe glass tart dish is beautiful. I like to find one like it. 🙂
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Thanks, Fae. Do you leave in the pits, or take them out? As for the vanilla, who am I to argue with Stéphane’s great grandmother’s recipe? Vanilla works well with cherries, but I’d like to try almond extract next time (which is also great with cherries).
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This really does look good, Stefan. I have seen recipes that use cherries with the pits but, like you, I’d go ahead and pit them. In fact, just yesterday I purchased 12 pounds of pitted tart cherries for myself and another 8 pounds for a neighbor. Could there be a clafoutis in my future? You sure do make it look tempting.
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As your cherries are already pitted, it will take you like 5 minutes to get this in the oven🙂
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Reblogged this on Recipes For You 2013 and commented:
Looks absolutely delicious…Love cherry Flans…
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