Black Forest Clafoutis: Swirls of Delight
A traditional clafoutis pudding full of cherries, cream and cognac, but with chocolate swirled through it. This Black Forest clafoutis is summer comfort food at its best. It’s easy to make and tastes delicious, but is light on carbs and not overly sweet.
As soon as I heard that Janice of Farmersgirl Kitchen had picked cherries as the special ingredient for this month’s We Should Cocoa, I had clafoutis in mind. For Christmas I received a beautiful red clafoutis dish from my mother and although much admired, I hadn’t actually used it yet. This was the spur I needed.
Cherry Clafoutis
Clafoutis is a simple dish which hails originally from the Limousin region of France where black cherries grow in abundance. The cherries should be cooked in the batter unpitted as the stones are meant to impart an almond flavour to the batter if left in. This is certainly how I remember it being served when I was living in Switzerland.
In fact the very mention of clafoutis takes me straight back to my au pair days there many years ago. It was my first taste of the dish and also my first and only experience of an abundance of cherries. They seemed to grow everywhere.
It should be served warm, rather than hot as this allows the batter to firm up a bit and the flavours to be more prominent. If any fruit other than black cherries are used, it is no longer a clafoutis, apparently, but a flaugnarde. But please don’t let that put you off my grape clafoutis. Shhh, don’t tell.
Black Forest Clafoutis
When I checked through my books, using the wonderful Eat Your Books, I only had one recipe for a classic clafoutis (Clafoutis Limousin) and that was in The Cranks Bible by Nadine Abensur.
Just want to mention at this point, that I have one of my own recipes in the paperback version of this fabulous book. It’s these cashew nut butter brownies. Whilst still decadent, as any good brownie should be, they’re a healthier version.
The clafoutis needed a little extra something of course – chocolate. Cherries and dark chocolate are a classic combination. You only have to think Black Forest Gateau to get the idea. So I thought I’d try swirling some chocolate through the mix to add a nice contrast which would hopefully look good too. And chocolate swirled clafoutis does sound rather nice.
I made half of the quantity given in the original recipe, substituted homemade redcurrant liqueur for cognac and left out the additional egg yolks. I also stuck to tradition and didn’t pit the cherries as Nadine directed. Apart from anything else, they are a pain to remove and easy enough to spit out, or did I mean delicately extract, when eating.
The chocolate effect was more of a drizzle than a swirl, but I was nonetheless pleased with the result and I’m raring to do it again. Because it looked so good, I didn’t dust icing sugar over the top as tradition demands.
Simple though it may be, this chocolate swirled clafoutis tastes absolutely delicious. The batter transforms into a creamy custard which reminds me of crème caramel. CT thought the chocolate gave it a caramel quality which supported my finding.
The cherries are of course delicious and the stones really do give an extra hit of almond. We both liked the chocolate element swirled through the batter rather than mixed into it. Not only is it visually pleasing, but it gives a nice contrast of flavours. In one of CTs mad moments, he reckoned that the chocolate taste punctuated his consciousness intermittently as it swirled around his mouth.
Clafoutis is not overly sweet, but it is very very tasty. We both agreed that it’s comfort food at its most satisfying, but without the stodge factor. Which really, is just what you want in summer, even though summer has failed to materialise this year.
Other Summer Desserts You Might Like
- Blackcurrant fool with fresh mint and rose
- Easy strawberries & cream dessert
- Peach melba ice cream
- Poached peaches & apricots in spiced lemon & thyme syrup
- Roasted plum parfait with lemon curd
- Summer berry trifle
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this chocolate swirled black forest gateau, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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If you’d like more cherry recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious, of course.
Choclette x
Black Forest Clafoutis. PIN IT.
Black Forest Clafoutis – The Recipe
Black Forest Clafoutis
Ingredients
- 250 g fresh cherries rinsed (I used black cherries)
- 30 g golden caster sugar + 2 tsp for sprinkling (I used homemade rose sugar)
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ pt double cream (heavy cream)
- ¼ pt milk
- 1 tbsp wholemeal flour (whole wheat)
- 1 tbsp plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 1 pinch salt (I used Pink Himalayan salt)
- 50 g milk chocolate (I used Green & Blacks)
- 20 g unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp cognac or kirsch (I used redcurrant liqueur)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190℃ (170℃ fan, 375℉, Gas 5).
- Butter a clafoutis dish or other suitably sized baking dish.
- Sprinkle the 2 tsp of sugar over the base.
- Scatter the cherries around the dish.250 g fresh cherries
- Whisk the sugar and eggs together until well incorporated.30 g golden caster sugar, 2 large eggs
- Whisk in the cream and milk.¼ pt double cream (heavy cream), ¼ pt milk
- Sift in the flours and salt and fold into the egg mixture until just about smooth.1 tbsp wholemeal flour (whole wheat), 1 tbsp plain flour (all purpose flour), 1 pinch salt
- Pour the batter over the cherries.
- Melt the chocolate and butter in a pan over a gentle heat and stir.50 g milk chocolate, 20 g unsalted butter
- Drizzle this over the batter in a swirly pattern.
- Spoon the cognac or kirsch over the top.2 tbsp cognac or kirsch
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes.
- Dust with icing sugar, if wished and serve warm rather than hot.
This was SO good!! I couldn’t wait to make it again! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
So pleased you like it Toni and thanks for letting me know.
Yummy! What a delicious and very tasty combination! My husband loves cherries and chocolate, so this was a hit here for us! Such a sweet and yummy treat! We can’t wait to make this lovely treat again!
Thanks Beth. It’s hard to go wrong with cherries and chocolate.
Love Black Forest flavours – it goes perfectly in this clafoutis form! Great fusion recipe
Thanks Lauren. I expect French traditionalists might not be so keen, but we love it.
Love anything with cherries and this classic is a winner!
Cherries are a delicious, if fleeting, summer delight.
I am drooling over this – can’t wait to make it this weekend! Sounds just delicious.
Cherry clafoutis is delicious at the best of times, but add chocolate and wow!
Looks great. Your chocolate recipes are one of the best I found 🙂
Thank you, that is certainly my aim 🙂
The cake looks amazing. A bit too complicated for me to attempt though.
This looks stunning! Never even tried clafoutis but now I’m very tempted…
This looks lovely. I recently made a peach clafoutis but having read this I should change it to flaugnarde!
What a ingenious idea!!! for now on my favorite clafoutis
Gorgeous Choc, and how lovely to see your clafoutis dish in action! We can finally get them here, but I’m yet to add one to my collection – not sure where I’d store it! Another friend put me onto Eat My Books yesterday – good to know you find it useful as well!
I like this kind of clafoutis, Chocolette. I agree with you that there is no need to dust it with icing sugar: the chocolate swirls are very pretty and appealing.
oh choclette it looks like heaven!… absolutely stunning!… I love the bowl too, how perfect is that? I made clafouti about 2 years ago and I wasn’t really a fan, it was a bit to custardy for me but I can imagine with the added chocolate it would lift it beyond anything I could argue with… really fabulous looking pudding!
Chocolate and cherries are a match made in heaven, and what a pretty pan to make this in!
I.love these look fantastic and delicious!
Looks and sounds delicious Choclette! I’ve never tried clafouti before but it’s definitely something I’d like to try. What’s not to love about comforting chocolate, cherry and subtle almond flavours!
Looks scrummy! I love the dish, I don’t suppose you know where it’s from?
It’s a beautiful dish isn’t it. A present from my mother for Christmas. It’s an Emile Henry dish, widely available, including via Amazon.
Looks stunning – like an abstract painting!
Amazing…a clafoutis with chocolate…you really can get chocolate into anything!! This looks delicious! 🙂
I never knew that clafoutis had to have cherries in it! I think I’d take the stones out, personally, it’s hard to spit out a cherry stone with any decorum – or am I doing it wrong? Either way, this sounds gorgeous. Leftovers good for breakfast, I presume?
P.S that dish is a stunner!
This is another fantastic idea by adding some chocolate into a cherry clafoutis! Lovely! 🙂
This looks delicious – love the chocolate swirls! I’ve never actually tried a clafoutis and now I want one!
Great minds think alike. I did a chocolate-cherry clafoutis last month, but not as a pretty drizzle but more in the manner of a marble cake with half the batter chocolate added. Not as photogenic though! Very pretty.
Oh your clafoutis sounds very interesting Kellie, I’m off to have a look now.
I love cherry clafoutis but I’ve never added chocolate – nice idea. Apparently, the Académie Française some years ago officially defined clafoutis as simply being made with fruit and not necessarily cherries. There were howls of protest from the Limousin and they were forced to change the definition – it officially must be cherries.
Ah Phil, should have known you were the one to ask about this. It’s fairly unusual for the Academie Francaise to be overturned. Those Limousins, must have put up a racket.
It is stunning Choclette! Love your dish too, it makes such a difference when you have exactly the right equipment.
Thanks Janice. I’m usually the last person to have just the right thing, so it’s quite good to be Up There for once 😉
This looks gorgeous! I have never made clafoutis but I do love to eat it! I love anything chocolate and cherry too!
Thanks Lottie, cherry and chocolate is a fab combination but I think this clafoutis would be nearly as good without it 😉
that sounds delicious!
and luckily it was delicious 😉
your clafoutis reflections are interesting – I had never heard it had to have cherries to be called clafoutis! It has never been something that has interested me that much but I quite fancy it with chocolate – everything taste better with chocolate, right? And it does make it look pretty too.
Oh Johanna, it’s a classic pudding which just has to be tried – the chocolate gives it an added edge of sophistication.
Wow that looks stunning. The chocolate streaks make it look so appetising. Love the thought of digging into this
Thanks Katie, I can feel another one coming on 😉
Ohhhh gorgeous!!! I love baking clafoutis…
Would be interested to know how you do it – will have to come over and find out!
This clafoutis is delicious and looks great too! I know this French cake. It is very popular in Italy too. Yum!
Thank you Alida. I hadn’t thoguht of this being something that would be eaten in Italy. Have you made it?
OOh yes please, that sounds lovely, (spitting aside). I keep meaning to make clafoutis but haven’t yet. Now I definitely will. Our friend who supplies us with cherries, found that they were all split this year – it was a very sad day.
Not into spitting Kath? What a shame about the split cherries. Does that mean they are in no fit state for eating?
That looks wonderful and I didn’t know it had to be cherry to earn the name. Love the dish too 🙂
Thanks Jac, I’m very fond of the dish, even if this was the first time I’ve used it! I suspect there is quite a bit of controversy about the name.
Whoops can’t spell! Meant to say-that looks so pretty with the chocolate swirls!
Thanks GD, I was rather pleased with the effect.
That looks great! I love the idea of drizzling with chocolate, it makes it look so pretty. I can just imagine how delicious this must taste! Cherries always remind me of my childhood holidays in France where we had huge, glossy black cherries for dessert – yum!
Childhood holidays in France and feasting on cherries sounds like an excellent memory to hold.
Great recipe and bang on season too. I’ve never tried a clafoutis before but I’m eager to now I’ve seen your post.
So worth having a go Chele. I’ve had good and not so good – this one was the best 🙂