Clafoutis is a famous French pie with cherries. You can find my rendition of the classical version here. Since cherries work well with chocolate, I thought there must also be a variation with chocolate. Some googling did indeed confirm that such a thing as clafoutis chocolaté does indeed exist. It turned out great and was much appreciated by everyone who was treated to a slice. If you use 85% chocolate like I did, the pie is not extremely sweet.

Ingredients

For a 28 cm (11″) pie, serves 8-12

600 grams (1.3 lbs) pitted cherries, about 750 grams (1.6 lbs) with pits and stems

100 grams (3.5 oz) dark chocolate (I used 85% strength)

100 grams (2/3 cup) pastry flour

80 grams (6 1/2 Tbsp) brown sugar

40 grams (3 Tbsp) unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pie shape

200 ml (5/6 cup) milk

4 eggs

pinch of salt

icing sugar (for garnish)

Instructions

Melt 100 grams chocolate plus 40 grams unsalted butter over low heat. If you don’t have induction, you may have to do this au bain marie.

Stir the butter and chocolate…

…until smooth. Turn off the heat and allow to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.

Pit the cherries. A cherry pitter is a very handy tool to do this.

Combine 4 eggs with 80 grams of brown sugar in the bowl of a food processor.

Process until the sugar has dissolved, then add 100 grams of flour and a pinch of salt.

Process until the flour has been incorporated, then add 200 ml of milk.

Process until incorporated, then add the chocolate mixture, which by add now should be cool enough (to avoid cooking the eggs prematurely).

Process until incorporated.

Butter a 28 cm (11″) pie shape and arrange the cherries in a single layer.

Add the batter.

Make sure all cherries are submerged. If there are any floating cherries, push them under.

Bake the pie at 180C/350F until set, about 35 minutes. (My oven was still a bit too hot from using it previously, so the top did came out slightly too dark.)

Allow to cool to room temperature before serving. Cakes usually look better with icing sugar (which you sprinkle on it evenly using a sieve).

Wine pairing

This is great with a red dessert wine such as Banyuls or Recioto della Valpolicella.

Flashback

Sauerbraten is beef that is first marinated for a long time in vinegar and then stewed in the same marinade. Rheinischer Sauerbraten includes cloves, onions, and Kräuterprinten.