So you know in my last blog post I was saying how ridiculously hot London was at the end of last week? I mean so hot that you had to shower after a walk in the park? Well, that lasted all of two days and the weather turned to autumn over the weekend. I almost pulled out a woolly hat and gloves one day and all of a sudden the trees are shedding their leaves. The nights have drawn in and it might almost be time to turn on the central heating...although I'm trying to resist as long as possible!
To be fair, the days are generally still mild and sunny, but I'm clearly clinging to our hot holiday memories just a few short weeks ago and wanted to make some mini cherry clafoutis. As well as peaches, cherries became another one of my firm favourite summer fruits this year - particularly cherry pie - and I couldn't wait to use them in these little cakes. Very easy to make, delicious and I love the rich colour dotted throughout.
Traditionally, most clafoutis recipes don't use almonds but I love them and wanted to use them in this bake. They're one of my favourite flavours and I adore adding them to cakes. I don't use them quite as much as I once did as one of my boys shouldn't really eat them so we indulge irregularly now but sneak them in from time to time as they're one of his favourites too!
These clafoutis are quite fragile so it's best to let them cool a little in their baking tin before trying to remove them. I had a slight mishap and lost two on the way to the cooling tray in my impatience to start eating them (which is why my photos look oddly misbalanced!)
cherry clafoutis
makes 6 mini cakes
Ingredients
- 9 CHERRIES
- KNOB OF BUTTER
- 1 TSP CASTER SUGAR
- 85G BUTTER, SOFTENED
- 85G ICING SUGAR
- 85G GROUND ALMONDS
- 1 TSP CINNAMON
- 5G CORNFLOUR
- 1 EGG
I used a mini sandwich tin but if you don't have this, you could also use a baking dish instead and cut the clafoutis into slices
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees (fan)
- Wash the cherries and remove the stalks and stones - if you have a cherry de-stoner it will make this job much easier; I didn't so used a small pairing knife
- Heat a small frying pan over a high heat with the knob of butter and then sauté the cherries for a minute
- Add the caster sugar and heat for another minute, then remove from the heat
- Drain the juice of the cherries and discard
- Next put the rest of the ingredients (butter, icing sugar, almonds, cinnamon and cornflour) into a mixing bowl and beat until pale and fluffy
- Add the egg and mix well to incorporate
- Grease the sandwich tin (I use a bake release spray but you could also butter if you prefer)
- I use a small ice-cream scoop to transfer the batter into the baking tray
- Then pop the cherries into the surface of the batter
- Bake for around 20 minutes - you are looking for a golden brown colour on the top but also cooked throughout
- Allow to cool a little in their tins before transferring them to a cooling rack as they're very fragile - at least 10 minutes - or allow them cool fully in their tins if you can - better in their tins than on the kitchen floor!