Late summer recipe: apple clafoutis

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

4-5 apples

a tablespoon of sugar

a dash of Calvados

a pinch of cinnamon powder

4 eggs

75g sugar

seeds of half a vanilla bean

100g flour

2dl dry apple cider

50g molten butter

more butter for the mould

Charlotte mould or ovenproof flat gratin dish

icing sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

Half the apples, remove the cores and stems, dice. Place in a bowl, add sugar, Calvados and cinnamon, mix and let sit for at least 30min.

Mix the eggs with the sugar and vanilla seeds until fluffy and white, this will take a couple of minutes. Add the flour, mix, then add the apple cider and the butter. Mix until the batter is smooth and light.

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

Generously butter the mould and place some thin butter flakes at the bottom of your mould. Add the infused apples, gently press firm and pour the batter over.

Bake for 40 minutes.

Once its baked, take out of the oven. In case you used a charlotte mould, take out of the mould when the clafoutis still, as a rule of thumb it is ready as soon as you can touch the mould without getting burnt. If you used a gratin dish you may as well leave it in.

Generously dust with icing sugar before serving.

EATING IT, THE HEITER WAY:

On one of those late summer afternoons – the ones that still have a little heat in them yet smell of leaves and soil and bring a crisper air once the sun has set –, with a cup of steaming hot coffee. Maybe some whipped cream aside, or maybe not, welcoming the beautiful golden days of autumn.

Selina Göldi is a Swiss-born cookbook author and photographer who now lives with her husband and six cats in a historic castle by the River Saône in France’s Franche-Comté. Each summer, she hosts culinary workshops and welcomes guests to the château’s B&B, sharing her enduring love of cooking and hospitality after many years in the world of food. Much of her time is also devoted to the castle’s restoration, a hands-on project she enjoys deeply. In 2026, she will begin hosting private events for small groups, inviting them to experience the charm of the castle and her culinary creations in an intimate setting.

You might also like the following recipes:

Andrew’s Heiter Apple Cake

Heiter Pear Cake

So very heiter: Rebecca's lemon drizzle cake

What never fails to make me feel heiter? My sister-in-law’s lemon drizzle cake. We had it at our wedding, her wedding and at several other family celebrations. It felt like the best choice to celebrate two milestones earlier this month too: it was my 35th birthday and heiter turned 6, hooray!

After posting a photo of the cake on social media two weeks ago, many of you asked if I could share my version of the recipe with them so I thought I’d make a little blog post out of it. Hope you’ll find it useful!

Be heiter,

Katharina x

Ingredients for the cake mixture:

200g unsalted butter or a dairy-free/vegan alternative - make sure it’s soft but not runny

250g (caster) sugar

3 medium eggs, at room temperature, beaten - vegan alternative: 3 tbsp chia seeds plus 9 of water

finely grated zest of 2 medium unwaxed lemons

250g self-raising flour (if you can’t get hold of self-raising flour, use normal flour and add 2 tsp of baking soda or powder)

1/2 tsp baking powder

100ml (plant) milk, at room temperature

Ingredients for the original topping:

100g (caster) sugar

juice of 2 medium unwaxed lemons

finely grated zest of 1 medium unwaxed lemon

Ingredients for my cream cheese topping (see photo):

100g icing sugar

400g cream cheese (or a vegan alternative)

juice of 2 medium unwaxed lemons

optional: flowers or blossoms to decorate

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/gas 4.

• In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, mix the soft butter, sugar, eggs (or the chia seed-water-mixture) and lemon zest.

• Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl, then add the milk.

• Beat with a wooden spoon, electric whisk or food mixer until all ingredients are thoroughly combined and smooth.

• Transfer the mixture into a prepared square tin that is lined with baking paper or greased with oil or butter. Alternatively, you can use two round tins. Spread the mixture evenly. Bake in the oven until the cake is golden brown (for about 50-60min, with two round tins it might take less time).

• Meanwhile, make the topping.

• For the original topping, mix the sugar with the lemon juice and zest to make a runny glaze. As soon as the cake is done, remove it from the oven and stand the tin on a wire cooling rack. Prick the top of the cake with a cocktail stick and then quickly spoon the lemon topping over so that it trickles down into the holes. Leave to cool completely before removing the cake from the tin.

• If you’d like to go for a cream cheese topping, I recommend leaving the cake out to cool over night. Remove the cake from the tin and it on a chopping board or cooling rack. Carefully (and evenly) pour the juice over the top of the cake so that it becomes more juicy and let it stand for a bit. In the meanwhile, mix the cheese (or vegan alternative) with the icing sugar. Before you serve the cake, add the cream cheese topping on top of your cake and spread evenly. If you used two round tins (rather than one square one), use some of the topping on one of the cakes and spread evenly. Sandwich the second cake on top and finish the now two layered cake with the rest of your topping. If you’d like, you can decorate your cake with blossoms or flowers.

• Enjoy!

Words & image: Katharina Geissler-Evans, heiter magazine