This really is the best vegan clafoutis recipe. It has a perfectly creamy, custard-like centre and golden, puffy top and edges. You may think this isn’t possible in an egg-free clafoutis, but trust me, this recipe delivers!
Clafoutis has now reclaimed its place as one of my favourite weekend breakfasts. Yes, it is technically a desert but I’m definitely a dessert for breakfast person. It is a great way to use the last of the week’s fruit before our weekly shop. The blender batter takes minutes to make, and while you need about 20 minutes for it to bake, you are not chained to a stove during this time.
What is a clafoutis?
Clafoutis is a traditional french dessert, typically eaten in the summer when cherries are abundant. Some people describe it as a cross between a cake and a baked custard, although most recipes tend more towards the custard side.
Why this recipe works
The vegan alarm bells tend to go off when you hear “custard” because custards rely on eggs for thickening, creaminess and flavour.
When we gave up eggs, clafoutis was probably one of the things I missed most. I tried several other recipes for vegan clafoutis (most of these are based on silken tofu), and while they weren’t necessarily bad, they did not have that wonderful clafoutis character.
This recipe uses mung beans as an egg replacer. You may be sceptical, but this is the same stuff that goes into Just Egg, which is not available where I live. Just Egg uses mung bean protein isolate, but here we are using the whole bean. The soaked beans blend into a very smooth batter that behaves like eggs in the most amazing way when cooked. Also, the mung beans add more protein than three eggs and add fibre too.
I’ve added baking powder to the recipe. Conventional clafoutis does not contain baking powder, as the eggs bring the puffiness. The clafoutis will collapse when it comes out of the oven (just like its egg-based cousins), but I still think it makes for a nicer end product.
I have used a very moderate amount of sugar in the batter. If your fruit is not very sweet, or if you just have a sweet tooth, you can increase the amount of sugar. Also, where I live granulated sugar is vegan. Although I have not tested the recipe with other sweeteners, I’m fairly confident that you will be able to substitute this without issues.
What fruit can I use in clafoutis
The traditional clafoutis uses cherries, but this preparation is so flexible, it lends itself to a variety of fruits. My personal favourites are figs, raspberries and plums. Apples are also good, but they need some pre-cooking. Do not use too much fruit – this will make the clafoutis too wet.
Clafoutis variations
This batter is incredibly versatile. In addition to varying the fruit as described above, you can also vary flavour additions. Some of my favourite variations include:
- Replace the vanilla with about a 1/4 teaspoon almond essence. This is especially good with cherries.
- Vary the alcohol in the recipe – Kirsch is great with the cherries, I enjoy rum with peaches or calvados with apples.
- I’ve also made raspberry and chocolate clafoutis, by adding 1-2 tbsp of cacao powder to the batter.
How to serve the best vegan clafoutis
I often have this for breakfast, cut into quarters, and topped with a light dusting of icing sugar and perhaps some toasted flaked almonds. If you are having it for dessert, a little vanilla ice cream would be great.
Related recipes
If you have mung beans left over, try this recipe for vegan South African pancakes.
The best vegan clafoutis
Equipment
- Blender
Ingredients
- ½ cup yellow mung beans, soaked
- 2 cups soy or other plant milk
- ½ cup cake or all purpose flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp sugar This quantity is for moderate sweetness. Add more if you prefer more sweetness
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp brandy
- 2 cups cherries
Instructions
- Soak the yellow mung beans for at least an hour or overnight.
- Drain and rinse the mung beans, and add to a blender cup
- Add about half of the soy milk (if you have a big, powerful blender you can add all the soy milk at once – it does not quite fit in even the largest of my Nutribullet cups
- Add the sugar, salt, baking powder, vanilla and flour. Blend until smooth.
- Add the rest of the milk and stir until well combined
- Prepare the fruit, depending on what you are using. If you are using cherries, some people prefer to keep the stones in. Lately, I've been using defrosted black, sweet cherries, so there is not real prep there. If you are using stone fruit or apples, cut in about ⅛ chunks.
- Spray a large cast iron (30 cm/12 inch) pan with non-stick spray (or grease the pan). It is also possible to split this into two individual servings, which will cook a little quicker. You can also bake this in a pie or tart dish of similar size.
- Pre-heat the pan, then add the batter and the fruit. Then, pop the clafoutis into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes at 200 °C / 390 °F. The clafoutis will puff a little, but it is normal for it to deflate when taken out of the oven. The center should be custardy.
- You can either serve the clafoutis immediately, or let it cool a little, but you should eat it while it is still warm. It is great sprinkled with a little icing sugar