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Cherry and chocolate clafoutis

by Paul Phillips June-25-2014

I've taken this French classic in a slightly different direction with the flavours of black forest gateaux, one of my childhood favourites. There's very little that can go wrong and you can do all of the preparation ahead of time leaving you just to pop it in the oven when the guests arrive.

Ingredients

FOR THE BATTER
60g plain flour
120g caster sugar
30g cocoa powder
20g ground almonds
1 pinch sea salt
50ml full fat milk
250ml double cream
3 free-range eggs
75g dark chocolate, at least 70% cocoa solids
FOR THE MACERATED CHERRIES
300g ripe cherries, pitted
50g caster sugar
3 tbsp kirsch (optional but worth it)
TO SERVE
1 tbsp unsalted butter
4 tbsp caster sugar
2 tsp icing sugar

Instructions

1. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl then add the remaining dry batter ingredients.2. Mix together the eggs, milk and cream and add to the chocolate flour. Whisk until well incorporated and no lumps remain.3. Slowly melt the chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water. Whisk into the batter and leave to rest in the fridge, covered, whilst you prepare the cherries.4. Stir together the fruit, sugar and kirsch then leave for 2 hrs. This will really intensify the flavour of the cherries.5. Preheat the oven to 200˚C. 6. Brush 4 shallow serving dishes (sur-le-plats) with melted butter and dust the insides with caster sugar. Sprinkle in the cherries and fill each dish 2/3 full with the chocolate batter (it will rise during cooking).7. Bake for 18 minutes, then remove from the oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Details

Prep time: 2 hour 20 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 2 hour 50 mins Yield: Serves 4