Ingredients

   
300g black cherries, pitted
4 eggs
125g caster sugar
125g plain flour
  pinch of salt
50g unsalted butter, melted
50g cold milk
25g dark rum

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly butter a 1-litre baking dish. Arrange the cherries in the bottom.

  2. Whisk eggs and sugar until pale and creamy. Sift in flour and salt, stir until smooth.

  3. Add melted butter, milk, and rum. Beat again until smooth and slightly glossy.

  4. Pour the batter over the cherries. Bake at 400°F for 10 minutes, then reduce to 338°F and bake 20 minutes more, until firm and golden on top.

  5. Cool to room temperature. Serve with cream if desired.

Analysis

Total batter weight: 573g (cherries excluded)

Component Amount %
Structure solids (flour) 125g 21.8%
Fat (butter, yolk) 53g 9.2%
Sugar 125g 21.8%
Liquid (milk, rum, egg water) 246g 42.9%
Egg/protein 24g 4.2%

Twice the structure of a clafoutis (~22% vs ~10%) with far less liquid (~43% vs ~64%) — that’s what makes far breton dense, sliceable, and chewy rather than soft and spoonable. Four eggs in a smaller batter pushes protein and richness up too. It sits closer to a dense quick-bread than to the thin custard of a clafoutis.

Notes

  • Far breton is the dense, sliceable cousin of clafoutis. Same family of ingredients but roughly double the flour and far less milk, so it sets into a firm, eggy flan-cake you can pick up rather than a soft spoonable custard.
  • Traditionally made with rum-soaked prunes, not cherries — soak 200g pitted prunes in the rum (plus a little tea or water) for an hour, then use in place of the cherries. The cherry version is a summer variation.
  • Can be served warm or cold. It firms up further as it chills and slices cleanly straight from the fridge.
  • The rum is doing real flavor work here — don’t skip it. Brandy or cognac also work.
  • Use a ceramic, glass, or enameled dish; the acidic cherries can strip a raw cast-iron seasoning.
  • For a smoother batter, blend everything for 20–30 seconds instead of whisking.