A few weeks ago Tim and I went to Norfolk for our friend Charlotte’s wedding. Norfolk is beautiful and I wish we could have stayed longer than just a short weekend.
We stayed at a hotel in Blakeney which is on the North Norfolk coast. It was raining when we arrived. It was raining a lot! We braved the seafront anyway and took a windswept stroll. On the way back we decided which pub to have our dinner in. We chose the The White Horse. As we walked into the seemingly empty pub we were asked if we had booked. They “squeezed” us into the empty conservatory and pretty quickly it became surprisingly very full. It would seem that Blakeney has the best food around and every pub/restaurant/hotel in the area get’s booked up in advance. Good job we headed out to fill our tummies so early in the evening!
As this is a baking blog I’m not going to bore you with what we both ate. I’ll just say that egg and local asparagus were involved in the started and neither Tim nor I could finish our main meals. Seriously large portions!
Dessert, not surprisingly is my favourite part of any meal and the menu on offer here was fantastic. I love to try out new dishes on a menu. It’s so boring to see the same old stuff time and again. When it came to choosing I knew exactly what it had to be.
What’s for dessert?
Before I tell you about dessert I should let you know that I have a small addiction to diet coke, well not really diet coke, Dr Pepper, but it’s not easy to come across, especially when you’re looking at a dessert menu! On the menu under”Saving the best till last...“, number three was “Wild Morello kirsch soaked cherry Clafoutis, Coca Cola syrup, toasted almonds and Creme Fraise“
Well, I was convinced on the spot that this was the pud for me. I had absolutely no idea what a Clafoutis was but it had a Coca Cola syrup – the first I time I had ever seen this done- and it sounded French which meant great taste and probably very fattening! What could go wrong?
The Clafoutis
When it arrived I was really impressed. I mean who wouldn’t want a mini skillet all to themselves? 10/10 for presentation. Don’t you think it looks great?
So what is Clafoutis?
Clafoutis is a ‘flan type batter with cherries and powdered sugar‘ according to Wikipedia. Am I the only person to not know what it is? Have you heard of it? I’ve Googled it since and come up with a ton of recipes which I can’t wait to try out. Apparently experts say that you should leave the cherry stones in when baking as it adds to the flavour so, I’ll be giving that a go when I make it.
Needless to say it was deelish! This dish was the perfect balance of cake and pudding. The Coca Cola syrup didn’t really taste of the black stuff, but it was lovely anyway and now I’ve discovered a new pudding. Do you have a great Clafoutis recipe? If so please let me know!
So, next time you’re in Norfolk, it’s definitely worth checking out the The White Horse pub. Fantastic grub and the perfect end to a wet and windy walk along the Norfolk sea!
EmmaMT
Mmmmm clafoutis – my weakness 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I know! Now I’ve discovered it I want it all the time!
We have a friend (french parents) that stayed with us for a while. Great cook and keen baker, he made some clafoutis to us during his stay. We used to pull his leg joking about how good his “fruit omelette” was!
Love it!
Hi Emma, so glad you’ve discovered and liked clafoutis. Another type of French dessert you might like to try is Far Breton. Quite similar to clafoutis but main ingredient being soft dried prunes (soaked in alcohol or just used plain) . My favourite. You should be able to find a few English recipes on the web.
Intriguing that it has coca-cola syrup in it…perhaps this will be my next coke related baking experiment! It looks wonderful!
I know! Coca cola syrup. What a brilliant idea. I actually came across Dr Pepper in a BBQ sauce yesterday. May have to give that a go too!
[…] a while or have a Paul twist to them. I was very excited to see Clafoutis there after my trip to Norfolk a few months ago. There’s also carrot and almonds cheese cake, raspberry and passionfruit muffins […]
[…] in love with Clafoutis a few months ago and vowed to create a recipe that matched the one I had in Norfolk. It’s a French dessert made with a custard (or batter mix to you and me) which is baked in a […]