Name: Cherries Jubilee
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 40 g butter; 60 g caster sugar; 100 ml orange juice; 1 orange, zest only; 500 g dark cherries, pitted and halved; 4 tbsp kirsch or brandy; ½ tsp cornflour mixed with 1 tbsp cold water; 400 g vanilla ice cream

Cherries Jubilee

Dark cherries warmed in a sweet sauce of sugar, butter and orange juice, flamed with kirsch and spooned over vanilla ice cream.

20 min total Serves 4 servings Easy

It is a dessert to be finished at the table, with a lid, a lighter and a bit of showmanship. Cherries jubilee is a dish of hot cherries in a sauce, set alight with spirit, and poured over cold vanilla ice cream. The contrast of hot and cold, sweet and tart, is its appeal, and a pan of flames is the cherry on the cake.

The sauce is simple. Melt the butter and sugar in a wide pan, add the orange juice and zest, and cook for 3 minutes until the sugar dissolves into a syrup. Add the cherries, pitted and halved if fresh, or drained if tinned, and warm them for 3 minutes. They should be hot and glossy but not collapsed.

The flambé needs care. Warm the kirsch in a ladle or small pan, then pour it over the cherries. Light it with a long match or lighter, tilting the pan away from you. Keep a lid and a tea towel to hand, and don't pour spirit from the bottle near the flame. The flames die down in 30 seconds, leaving a smoother, cherry-scented sauce.

Spoon over the ice cream immediately and serve.

The Method for Cherries Jubilee

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Melt the butter and sugar in a wide pan. Add the orange juice and zest and simmer for 3 minutes until syrupy.
Add the cherries and warm them for 3 minutes. Stir in the cornflour mixture and cook for 1 minute.
Warm the kirsch in a small pan. Pour it over the cherries and ignite with a long match, standing back. Let the flames die down.
Spoon over the ice cream and serve at once.

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A Few Pointers

Warm the spirit before igniting.
Keep a lid nearby.
Use frozen cherries if fresh ones are out of season.

What to Serve With It

Vanilla ice cream · Shortbread · Coffee · Sparkling wine

Keeping and Reheating

Best eaten straight away. The cherry sauce keeps in the fridge for 2 days.