Cherry clafoutis

This weekend I was in Hobart. With two of my oldest, dearest friends. We walked, we talked... we ate. And returned to our respective mainland capitals with our bags stuffed with cherries. The markets were overflowing with them - fat and juicy, sweet, dark and freshly picked. When I got home I tumbled them into an ovenproof dish, poured over a quickly whisked batter and thirty minutes later a creamy, pillowy flan formed around the fruit. Clafoutis (clah-fou-tee) is a traditional French dessert. It's simple (you don't even have to pit the cherries), sweet (in both senses of the word) and every spoonful back in Sydney reminds me of my friends, how we met (studying French at university) and a wonderful Tasmanian weekend.

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Side note: to any readers who are reading this via Bloglovin' - for some reason, last week's post did not show up there, so if you don't want to miss out on the seriously delicious Persian love cake, click here to read all about it.



Cherry clafoutis
Adapted from a recipe by the marvellous Maggie Beer

Don't pit the cherries - that way you retain their juiciness - but don't forget to tell those you serve this to that they're in there! If you don't have cherries to hand, try thick slices of stone fruit or even apples or pears. This recipe is easily halved.




20g unsalted butter
300g caster (superfine) sugar
1 1/2 cups (200g) flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
300ml milk
300ml pouring (thin) cream 
6 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
400g cherries, washed, stalks removed


Preheat oven to 220 deg C.

Melt butter, then brush a shallow 1.2 litre capacity ceramic or glass baking dish with this and sprinkle over 1 tablespoon of the sugar to coat evenly.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into an electric mixer, then add remaining sugar. Whisk milk, cream, eggs and vanilla in another bowl, then, with mixer running at medium speed, slowly pour milk mixture into flour to make a smooth batter.

Arrange cherries over base of prepared dish and pour over batter. Bake for 20-30 minutes til golden and set.