Peach Clafoutis
on Jul 17, 2012, Updated Sep 10, 2024
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Peaches star in this summery version of a French baked dessert, with fruit nestled in a lightly sweetened custardy cake.
This luscious summer clafoutis (pronounced KLA-foo-tee) is absolutely the dessert to make when peaches, or other stone fruit, are in season. The custard-ey cake enfolds juicy bites of fresh, ripe peaches, and an optional poof of homemade sweetened whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream makes it even more eye-rollingly good. It’s so easy to make — it’s basically making pancake batter and pouring it over cut-up fruit in a baking pan. Much easier than a pie or a tart or a crostata because there is no crust! And this peach clafoutis recipe has moderate level of sweetness, so you can still taste and appreciate the flavor of the ripe peaches.
Serve the fresh peach clafoutis while still warm (but not too hot) from the oven; you’ll notice that it falls a bit as it cools, which is a-okay. The texture of the cake becomes somewhat flan-like. I like it best anywhere from lightly warm to room temperature. If you feel ambitious, make your own vanilla ice cream without an ice cream maker. That’s a dessert worth bragging about.
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Peach clafoutis: Fresh peaches star in this summery version of a French baked dessert, with fruit the nestled in a lightly sweetened custardy cake.
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What Is a Clafoutis?
A clafoutis (or clafouti) is a baked dessert of French origin, classically made with black cherries. Even more classically, the dish is made with cherries that have the pits still left in them, although I tend to stay away from this approach for obvious reasons. The fruit is ensconced in a lightly sweetened pancake-like batter poured over top before baking in a baking dish or a cast iron skillet. When it bakes, the batter puffs up enticingly all around the fruit. It’s done when it firms up but is still slightly jiggly in the center.
Though it is most often made with cherries, you can use any fruit in a clafoutis. In this case, the fruit is the beautiful, local ripe peaches that we peach lovers dream of every summer. This is an awesome blueprint recipe and can be replicated with almost any fruit. Choose whatever is in season.
Often the batter is made in a blender, but I think you can achieve great results with just a whisk. Go ahead and blend up the batter in the blender if you want a slightly more puffy custard cake.
Peach Clafoutis Ingredients
- Unsalted butter – For buttering the pan.
- All-purpose flour – The base of a pretty straightforward, easy-to-make batter.
- Sugar – This clafoutis batter is light on the sugar because of the natural sweetness of the fruit.
- Kosher salt – Even sweet recipes need salt for balance.
- Cinnamon – This is optional, but it’s nice for a bit of additional flavor.
- Whole milk – You could also use a mix of milk and half and half.
- Eggs – Help the batter set in the oven, creating an almost custard-y texture.
- Vanilla extract – A clafoutis flavor booster.
- Peaches – Use peaches that are ripe but firm. Anything that you can make with peaches, you can also make with nectarines or plums — or a combo. The purity of all peaches is lovely, but a fruit medley is also really attractive. Go ahead and add some berries to this if you wish.
- Vanilla ice cream or sweetened whipped cream.
Kitchen Smarts
To quickly and easily peel peaches, just blanch them for a few seconds in boiling water. Drop the peaches into a pot of boiling water for about 15 seconds, then remove. You should be able to easily slide off their skins.
How to Make Peach Clafoutis
- Make the batter: Preheat the oven. Whisk together the dry ingredients, and separately whisk together the milk, eggs, and vanilla. Then pour the wet into the dry and mix just until combined. Chill until needed.
- Blanch and slice the peaches: Drop the peaches into a large pot of boiling water. Cook for just 15 seconds, then remove and slip off the skins before cutting the fruit into slices.
- Assemble: Arrange the peach slices in your buttered baking dish, then pour over the batter.
- Bake: Bake the clafoutis for about an hour or until fully set with a slight jiggle. Cool slightly, and serve warm.
FAQs
This peach clafoutis should bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour.
I prefer to peel peaches before adding them to clafoutis and other baked items. It makes for a better textural experience, and the peels can be a bit unpleasant. However, if you are in a rush or just don’t care, you can leave the peaches unpeeled. Just wash them before slicing them up.
The custard-like batter puffs up in a slightly souffle-like way as it bakes. However, once it comes out of the hot oven and begins to cool, it will sink slightly as the clafoutis deflates, with the hot air escaping. This is intentional – the clafoutis is supposed to sink a bit, and that’s what gives the cake part that nice custardy texture.
A toothpick inserted into the middle will have some damp crumbs sticking to it. The sides will be fairly firm, but the center will still be ever-so-slightly jiggly. It will firm up further while cooling on the wire rack. The top of the cake will be a pretty golden brown.
How to Serve Clafoutis
I like serving clafoutis somewhat warm or at room temperature, with a dusting of confectioners sugar plus a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a big spoonful of sweetened whipped cream.
Making Peach Clafoutis Ahead of Time
This recipe can be made ahead very successfully. Bake the clafoutis, cool on a wire rack, then cover completely and refrigerate for up to a few days. Just let it come to room temperature, or even better, warm it back up in the oven when you’re ready to eat.
The clafoutis will get a bit denser as it sits, and look a bit more sunken. But it will be just as delicious. Definitely think about adding some sweetened whipped heavy cream to the leftovers as well!
Variations
Try plums, plumcots, apricots, or nectarines. Also pitted cherries! Pears, raspberries, blackberries, all delicious – it’s a terrific seasonal dessert any time of year.
What to Serve With Peach Clafoutis
More Summer Dessert Recipes
- Patriotic Berry Cobbler with Whipped Cream
- Summer Berry Clafoutis with Whipped Cream
- Simple Raspberry Fool
- How to Make Ice Cream Sandwiches
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Peach Clafoutis
Ingredients
- 1 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
- 2 cups whole milk (or a combination of whole milk and half-and-half)
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 6 ripe peaches (about 2 pounds)
- Butter for greasing the pan
- Confectioners' sugar (to serve; optional)
- Vanilla ice cream or sweetened whipped cream (to serve, so not really optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and cinnamon, if using.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk and/or half-and-half, eggs, and vanilla. Pour this into the dry mixture, and whisk the batter until smooth. Let sit in the refrigerator while you prepare the peaches.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop the peaches into the boiling water and let them cook for 15 seconds, then remove with a slotted spoon, and slip off the skins. Cut the peaches into slices.
- Generously butter a pretty 10-cup baking dish (you will be serving the clafoutis in the dish you bake it in.) Arrange the peaches on the bottom of the baking dish, then re-stir the batter and pour it over the fruit.
- Bake for about one hour. Remove from the oven when the clafoutis is puffed and very lightly brown, just a teeny bit jiggly in the middle, and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes. It will sink slightly. Sprinkle warm or at room temperature with powdered sugar, if desired, and whipped cream or ice cream.
What a terrific and easy recipe for peaches. I was searching for a good dessert on a hot summer day. This sounds perfect. Thanks for sharing this peach clafoutis!