Cherry German Pancake
current situation: cherry german pancake
Cherries in a German pancake behave differently from apples. They are full of juice, they burst in the heat, and they bleed into the batter in dark streaks — which is the whole look and it cannot be arranged, only allowed.
That means cherries go in on top of the batter, not cooked first. The opposite of the apple version. Cooked beforehand they would collapse into syrup and the batter would never set around them.
Use dark sweet cherries, stoned, and dry them if they are frozen. Water is the enemy of anything that has to rise.
- Feeds
- 4
- Hands-on
- 15 minutes
- In the oven
- 22 minutes
- Cherries
- On top, raw
What you need
The batter
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup flour
- 2/3 cup whole milk, warmed
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp almond extract — it belongs with cherries
The cherries and the pan
- 2 cups dark sweet cherries, stoned, patted dry
- 4 tbsp butter, for the hot pan
- 2 tbsp sugar, to scatter
To finish
- 1/2 cup icing sugar mixed with 1 tbsp milk, for the glaze
- 1/3 cup pecan pieces
- A squeeze of lemon
How it goes
1 — Batter blended smooth and rested
Everything into a blender for twenty seconds, then rested thirty minutes on the counter. Almond extract rather than vanilla — it is the flavour that lives inside a cherry stone and it doubles the fruit.
2 — Stone the cherries and dry them
Halved and stoned, then laid on a towel and patted dry. Frozen cherries especially — the water they release will stop the pancake rising.
3 — Pan and butter hot before anything else
Cast iron in a 425°F oven for fifteen minutes, then butter swirled in so it foams and starts to brown.
4 — Batter in FIRST, cherries on top
Batter poured into the hot butter, then the cherries scattered over the surface and a little sugar over them. They sink partway and burst where they sit.
5 — Twenty-two minutes, door shut
A couple of minutes longer than a plain one because of the fruit. It climbs around the cherries and goes gold, and the batter stains magenta where they have burst.
6 — Lemon over it straight out of the oven
A squeeze across the whole surface while it is hot. Cherries are sweet and flat without acid, and this is the thing that makes them taste like cherries rather than like jam.
pro tip — If the middle still looks wet after twenty-two minutes, give it three more. Cherry juice slows the set and it is better slightly over than raw.
7 — Glaze and pecans once it has settled
Two minutes to sink and settle, then the icing drizzled over and the pecan pieces scattered. Glaze on a pancake straight from the oven just melts and vanishes.
Current situation. Eat it out of the pan, standing up, like it is meant to be eaten. LFG.