Berry Clafoutis

Jul 31, 2024

In France they know a thing or two about sexy delicious desserts. And this lovely clafoutis is a prime example.

I love this pud because it’s full to bursting with fruit and the batter is so light and creamy. Served chilled it’s an ideal dessert for a Summer meal. In the cooler months served straight from the oven, it’s a great comforter. In any season, I recommend adding a little crème fraiche alongside.

It works well with fat morello cherries or sweet garden grown blackberries. And it’s so easy to make you could train the cat to do it.

400g pitted morello cherries or blackberries*
100g almond flour
4 eggs
3 tbps sweetener**
250ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla paste
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt.

*big garden grown or supermarket blackberries work much better in this recipe than blackberries picked from the hedgerow.  (Save them for making crumble!). The hedgerow berries are too hard and dense and have a sharper flavour that wouldn't work that well here.

**Natural sweetener options could include xylitol, erythritol, allulose. See Alternative Sweeteners page for more info. Each will have slightly different levels of sweetness. Adjust to taste.

Defrost the fruit if you are using and strain off any juice.
Pre-heat the oven to 190C/Gas Mark 5
Grease an 8 inch oven proof dish with a little melted butter.
Keep 10 cherries back for decoration and scatter the rest over the base of the oven proof bowl.
Whisk the eggs, cream, sweetener and vanilla paste together.
Measure the almond flour in a bowl and take care to smooth out any lumps.
Add salt and baking powder and blend well.
Add the flour to the batter slowly and mix in with a hand whisk until smooth.
Pour the batter over the cherries.
Decorate the top with the extra fruit.
Cook for 45 minutes to an hour until the middle of the dessert starts to set. (Cover the top once it starts to brown, with silver foil).