Clafoutis (;   or ), sometimes spelled clafouti in  Anglophone countries, is a baked French dessert of fruit, traditionally cherries, arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a thick custard/flan-like batter; there is no pie crust. The clafoutis is dusted with powdered sugar and served lukewarm, sometimes with cream.

Etymology 
One reported derivation of dish's name is from Occitan clafotís, from the verb clafir, meaning "to fill" (implied: "the batter with cherries").. Another reported derivation is that clafir comes from old French claufir, meaning "to fix with nails," explained as the cherries having the appearance of nail heads.

Cyanide 
A traditional Limousin clafoutis contains both the flesh of the cherries and the nut-like kernels. Cherry kernels contain benzaldehyde, the compound responsible for the dominant flavour in almond extract. They also contain a small amount of amygdalin, a cyanogenic glycoside - a compound potentially capable of releasing cyanide if consumed,  but non-toxic in small quantities.

Origins
Clafoutis comes from the Limousin region of France,

Clafoutis apparently spread throughout France during the 19th century.

Variations
While black cherries are traditional, there are numerous variations using other fruits, including red cherries, plums, prunes, apples, pears, cranberries or blackberries.
 
A flaugnarde is a dessert similar to clafoutis, made with other kinds of fruit instead of cherries, such as apples, pears, apricots or plums.

Cacou is a specialty of Paray-le-Monial is a dessert similar to clafoutis, with unpitted Bigarreaux cherries

Far Breton is a dessert similar to clafoutis, made with prunes.

Clafoutis is not a flan, athough it is prepared with milk, eggs, sugar, because flour is added to its batter, and the same dough is not used.

Cultural references
In her autobiographical novel The War: A Memoir, French resister and writer Marguerite Duras carefully gathers up the rationed ingredients to make her husband a clafoutis when he returns from the concentration camps, only to find that he is too weak from malnutrition and exposure to eat it.

See also
 List of French dishes
 List of French desserts

References

Occitan desserts
French desserts
Custard desserts
Cherry dishes