This Plum Clafoutis is an easy and classic French Dessert that will be ready to get in the oven in less than 15 minutes. The Fresh Plums are baked in a thick, custard-like batter, creating a deliciously creamy and fresh dessert that is perfect for afternoon tea!
Jump to:
Why we love this recipe
If you are looking for a Fresh Plum Dessert Recipe, look no further - you have found the one! This French Clafoutis with Plums is a delicious summer dessert that can be enjoyed cold or warm.
When it comes to easy French desserts, Clafoutis are on top of the list. Often made with Cherries, clafoutis can actually be made with any of your favourite fruits - and sometimes even turned into a savoury dish!
This French Plum Cake is a great way to use delicious summer plums, just like my Upside-Down Plum Cake and Yogurt Plum Cake. A super easy, no fuss baked plum recipe that require no other utensils than a whisk!
What is a Clafoutis
A Clafoutis (Pronunciation: "kla-foo-tee") is a Classic French Dessert made with fresh fruits and a custard-like batter. The fruits and batter are baked in the oven, traditionally in a ceramic dish, until the custard sets. It is usually served warm.
To be technical, Clafoutis is the name given to this dessert when made with Cherries. With any other fruits, it is called a "Flaugnarde". But the name "Clafoutis" is simply more widely used where I grew up (with any fruits), and how I always called this dessert!
What does a Clafoutis taste like?
Well, it is an interesting mix between a baked custard, a flan and a pancake. And topped with fresh fruits (or sometimes even veggies when made savoury!).
That's right, a pancake! Which is not surprising at all, since Clafoutis are made with the exact same ingredients than a Crêpe! Have you ever tasted a Dutch Baby Pancake? Clafoutis are very similar, just much thicker.
Ingredients
Like just mentioned, a clafoutis is made with the same ingredients than a crêpe batter. Extremely basic ingredients most of you should already have in their pantry/fridge, which is why clafoutis are so easy to make.
To make traditional clafoutis recipe, you will need (see quantities below):
- Butter: unsalted
- Eggs: medium size, at room temperature
- Sugar: Caster or Fine White Granulated Sugar
- Flour: Plain / All-Purpose
- Salt: a simple fine table salt
- Milk: use Full Cream Milk for the best results, but it will work with any type of dairy or non-dairy milk. To properly mix with the other ingredients, it is better to use milk at room temperature.
- Vanilla - optional
- fresh Plums
You can use the exact same recipe with any fruits you'd like. This is my Mum's recipe, and she often made it with Pears in winter.
More Plum Desserts:
- Plum Custard Tart
- Sourdough Plum Cinnamon Rolls from Dish 'n' the Kitchen
- Plum Muffins from Christina's Cucina
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
How to make a Clafoutis with Plums
This Plum clafoutis is made the exact same way than my Cherry Clafoutis. All you need is one bowl and one whisk. Super easy!
- Cut your Plums into strips - I cut each Plum in 8 (you can also cut them into cubes - it is up to you). Set aside.
- Melt the Butter and leave to cool while you start to make the custard.
- In a large bowl, whisk the Eggs and Sugar. Whisk them well - the more air you add to the batter now, the lighter the dessert will be. You want the eggs to become paler and see bubbles/foam at the top.
- Sift in the Flour and Salt. Mix until well incorporated and no lumps remain.
- Add the Milk (preferably at room temperature), Melted Butter and Vanilla - and whisk well until really smooth. If you get big lumps you are struggling to get rid off, you can use an immersion blender to blend the batter.
- Pour the batter in a well greased dish - I used a large round ceramic dish. Top with the sliced Plums.
- Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until set in the middle.
Recipe FAQs
You can use any type of Plums you want: Black Plums, Red Plums, Yellow Plums,... I recommend to use rather ripe, sweet plums though. The custard part of the dessert is quite low in sugar, so you want to use sweet fruits.
Yes, the Plain Flour can easily be substituted with a Gluten-Free Flour Mix. You can also find many recipes of clafoutis made with ground almonds.
They either use almond flour only (I have not personally tested this version though), or by substituting part of the Gluten Free Flour by an equal part of Almond Meal.
After 20 or 25 minutes in the oven, gently move the dish (don't forget to use oven mitts!). If you can see the batter jiggle in the centre, it means that the custard has not set yet.
A little bit of a jiggle is fine though, clafoutis are delicious when still creamy, but you shouldn't see any big movements in the custard.
Storing
The best way to eat a clafoutis is warm and just out of the oven. If not served/eaten straight away, a clafoutis should always be kept in the fridge. It will last for 3 to 4 days when refrigerated and covered with wrap.
Clafoutis keep really well in the fridge so they can easily be made in advance, preferably 1 to 2 days before serving. Simply make sure to re-heat them before serving it.
As it is best eaten warm, you can easily reheat this dessert before serving. The best way to re-heat this dessert is in a pre-heated oven at 150'C/300'F for about 10 minutes, or just until warm (no need to be boiling hot). You can also re-heat individual slices in the microwave.
Can you eat Clafoutis cold though? Yes, it is completely up to you. I have always eaten my clafoutis warm but they are also fine eaten cold!
I do not recommend freezing a clafoutis. They are much more delicious when fresh!
How to serve this dessert
The roasted plums will be a delicious topping on their own, but if you want to serve them with something else, here are a few ideas:
- with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream
- served with Peach Sorbet from Fearless Dining
- drizzled with Strawberry or Raspberry Coulis
- topped with some warm Mixed Berry Compote or Blueberry Compote
More easy French Desserts
- Easy French Apple Galette with applesauce
- French Buckwheat Crêpes
- Easy French Apple Cake
- Almond and Peach Galette
- How to make Crème Pâtissière (Pastry Cream)
- Spiced Red Wine Poached Pears
Made this recipe?
Let us know if you liked it by leaving a comment below, and tag us on Instagram @a.baking.journey with a photo of your creation!
Recipe
Easy French Plum Clafoutis
Ingredients
- 80 gr (1/3 cup) Unsalted Butter
- 5 Eggs
- 50 gr (1/4 cup) Caster Sugar, or Fine White Granulated Sugar
- 200 gr (1 1/3 cup) Plain / All-Purpose Flour
- 1 pinch Table Salt
- 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Paste
- 500 ml (2 cups) Full Cream Milk
- 4 Plums
Instructions
- Preheat your oven on 180'C/350'F
- Slice the Plums into thin strips - I cut each plum in 8. Set aside.
- Melt the Butter and set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, whisk the Eggs and Caster Sugar until foamy - at least for 2 minutes.
- Sift in the Flour and Salt. Whisk until smooth (see note 1)
- Add the Milk, melted Butter and Vanilla Extract and whisk until completely smooth - again, you shouldn't have any lumps (see note 2).
- Grease a Glass or Ceramic dish and pour the Clafoutis batter in. Top with the sliced Plums.
- Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until set in the middle.
- Serve warm.
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Notes
- This recipe is relatively low in sugar. Feel free to increase the sugar quantity if you would prefer a sweeter dessert, or if the plums you are using are not very sweet.
- Try to get rid of as many lumps as possible at this stage
- What to do if you get big lumps: use an immersion blender to dissolve any lumps remaining.
Michelle says
We mad this dairy free and gluten feee by using full fat coconut milk and avocado oil in place of the butter as well as gluten free flour. It turned out really good and we loved it! Baked plums are perfect in this dish.
Michelle says
This tasted like a plum omelette very strange. Not custardy at all. I ate it because I won’t waste it but my kids wouldn’t touch it! Not sure where it went wrong. The plums were lovely though - I put them in the dish first with cinnamon and brown sugar. Not the same as in the recipe - thank goodness!
NeverGain says
Disaster, stodgy, bland and overly set. In many decades of cooking, this would count as one of the worst ever. It should have been light and soft, but was the exact opposite.
There's probably way too much flour in the recipe, as after making it, I then cross-checked against several other recipes for plum clafoutis (alas, too late). No matter the volume of actual batter, the ratio of flour vs. liquids likely is 1:8 or 1:9. [I did the calculations from several other internet recipes].
Given flour is the main dry ingredient, the other main liquids are eggs (52ml per egg) and milk (measured in ml). This recipe has a 1:4 ratio (200g flour : 760ml liquid), whereas many other recipes have twice as much liquid for a much lighter consistency. No wonder it turned out like a slab of rubbery mess despite the light golden appearance on the top when baked. Ghastly!
A Baking Journey says
Hi Liam, I'm sorry to hear you did not like this recipe! We've been making this clafoutis recipe in my family for over 30 years and have never had issues with it being overly set of hard. I wonder if you maybe overbaked it?
Kris says
Took forever to set. Like baked for an hour. Any thoughts?
A Baking Journey says
Hi Kris, usually differing baking time comes down to your oven. It could also depend on the size of your baking dish; if you used a dish that is smaller than mine, the batter would have been thicker and thus require more time in the oven. Hope that helps!
maria says
Same with mine! I couldn't find size of baking dish in the recipe instructions so I used a 9 inch pie ceramic pie dish, similar to photo. Even increased the temperature and still took over an hour! Double-checked the amounts in the recipe. Maybe it would be better in a 9x13 shallow dish?
Robyn says
I have been meaning to make a clafoutis for ages and never have, but seeing this I really need to bake one very soon! I love the idea of using plums in it - can't wait to give it a go!
A Baking Journey says
Oh you should absolutely do, clafoutis are always such great desserts!
Kankana Saxena says
YUM YUM!! A couple slice of the clafoutis with coffee would be so nice in this cold weather.
A Baking Journey says
For sure, such a comforting dessert 🙂
Bernice Hill says
Wonderful clafoutis! I absolutely love the combination of plum and vanilla, especially in a custard-like dessert. Can't wait to try it during plum season!
A Baking Journey says
Thanks Berenice! Such a yummy combo when plums are in season 🙂
Jacqui Bellefontaine says
Love this dish and missed my chance to make it last year so have to wait until autumn now which is months away here and I so want to make it now seeing this post. Will pin for later
A Baking Journey says
Haha I know what you mean, sometimes I wish I could bake with seasonal fruits all year round!
Helen - Cooking with my kids says
I've never made a clafoutis before - I hadn't realised just how easy they were! #CookBlogShare
A Baking Journey says
Oh you should so try it!
Christina | Christina's Cucina says
Clafoutis are so easy and quick to throw together and plum is one of the best flavors! THanks for including my plum muffins on the list!
A Baking Journey says
Thanks Christina!