Clafoutis Magique

Hi!

This is a mashup of two of my favourite French “breakfast for dessert/dessert for breakfast” style cakes - the clafoutis and the gateau magique. I have a recipe for an oolong tea scented gateau magique in my book More Than Sweet, a wonderfully weird cake that at it’s core is very similar to a clafoutis if you just look at the ingredients. Flour, sugar, eggs, milk, butter (the gateau magique has more sugar and butter than the clafoutis) mixed together and poured in a baking dish. The difference is in the method. The magic for the GM occurs in the combining of the ingredients that causes the batter to split into three distinct textures. A chewy and dense bottom like a traditional clafoutis, a creamy and custardy middle and an almost soufflé like, pillowy soft sponge on top. Texturally it is just incredible.

For the book I served the cake with roasted fruit on the side, but for a while I have been wanting to make it with the fruit baked into the batter like a clafoutis.

I am so pleased with the result! It has the best of both worlds - the density of the clafoutis with the juicy cherries with the creamy and pillowy layers on top from the GM. It is a cake that works just as well as a cozy brunch dish as it is an effortlessly chic dessert.

Clafoutis Magique

Serves 6

275ml whole milk
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
50g flour
15g almond flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
100g sugar + 1 tablespoon
3 large eggs at room temperature
50g butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
400g cherries, pitted

Heat the milk until steaming, remove from heat and add bay leaf and cinnamon stick. Cover with a lid and leave to infuse for 30 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick and bay leaves and refrigerate the milk until cooled to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 160C (no fan, if using fan reduce heat to 150C) and grease a 20cm baking dish with butter and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Place the pitted cherries in an even layer on the bottom of the dish and set aside.

Separate the egg whites and yolks in two different mixing bowls. Whisk the yolks with 100g of sugar until very light and airy, then slowly drizzle in the melted butter until fully incorporated. Fold in the flour, almond flour and salt until just combined followed by the infused milk.

Beat the egg whites to firm peaks, then gently fold about 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter until most of the egg whites are incorporated but a few lumps remain. Continue with another 1/3 of the egg whites and continue until most of the egg whites are folded in but there are still visible lumps of egg whites. Pour the batter over the cherries and bake the cake for 45-55 minutes, until the top is golden brown and puffy and the cake is just set.

Transfer the dish to a cooling rack to cool before transferring to the refrigerator to cool completely for at least 3-4 hours.

Serve at room temperature dusted with icing sugar.