With Bavesen, one single thing decides whether they turn out perfectly or become a burnt mess in the pan: the consistency of the plum jam. If the jam is too runny, it seeps out between the toast slices during frying, caramelises in the butter and burns. When it is properly thick and reduced, the filling stays exactly where it belongs, and we get slices that are crispy on the outside and warm and fruity on the inside.
Bavesen are a piece of Swiss sweet-dish tradition from Graubunden and the Engadin. We know them here as the fruity relative of French toast: two toast slices sandwiched together with plum jam, dipped in egg and milk batter, and fried golden brown in clarified butter. We have been making them for years whenever we want to rescue a Sunday breakfast with leftover toast, or when a jar of plum jam is sitting in the fridge on a grey autumn afternoon and we are not sure what to do with it.
Plum Jam French Toast with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 9 ✓
- 8 slices toast bread
- 3 tbsp plum jam
- 3 eggs
- 80 g flour
- 400 g milk
- 1 pinch salt
- 50 g clarified butter
- 50 g sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions 0 / 5
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1
Spread the toast with jam.
Spread one slice of toast with plum jam, place a second slice on top and cut in half. Repeat with the remaining toast bread.
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2
Mix the batter.
Place the eggs, flour, milk and salt in the mixing bowl and mix for 10 sec / speed 4. Heat a frying pan with clarified butter over medium heat.
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3
Pour batter into a dish.
Pour the batter into a deep plate, and on a flat plate mix together the sugar and cinnamon.
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4
Dip the toast.
Draw the filled toast slices through the batter, allow to soak briefly, let the excess drip off, then fry in the pan until crispy on both sides.
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5
Serve.
Drain on kitchen paper, roll in the sugar and cinnamon mixture and serve.
Tip: You can also use bread rolls, cut them into slices and follow exactly the same method as with the toast bread.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Why jam consistency is everything
Shop-bought plum jam from a jar is usually just right. Anyone who cooks their own, though, must reduce the jam until it is really thick. In the Thermomix® this works in one go: cook plums with sugar for 8 minutes / 100°C / speed 4, then continue to simmer with the lid off until a spoon inserted into the jam nearly stands upright. Anyone cooking plum jam for the first time should take a look at our Thermomix® plum jam recipe. It gives the exact cooking time and explains how to check whether the consistency is right yet.
The second point: be sparing. Three tablespoons of jam across eight slices of toast means roughly half a tablespoon per portion. That sounds like very little, but it is plenty, because the jam tastes warm and intense after frying. Being too generous here risks exactly the leaking that ruins the pan.
What the Thermomix® actually does here
The batter is really simple: 3 eggs, 80 g flour, 400 g milk, a pinch of salt. By hand the flour tends to clump, especially because the cold milk gets whisked in quickly. In the mixing bowl we take care of it in 10 sec / speed 4. No whisk, no bowl, no floury lumps. That is exactly the kind of small job where we would not want to be without the Thermomix®, even if it looks almost too minor at first glance.
Things get more interesting when we cook the jam ourselves first. Then we use the machine twice in a row: first reduce the plums with sugar to a jam, give it a quick rinse, then mix the egg batter. Both without swapping pots, both without burning, because the mixing bowl heats from below while stirring at the same time.
What to watch out for with the toast bread
Toast is not all the same. We prefer a denser butter toast over very airy sandwich bread. The reason: airy bread soaks up the egg batter in seconds and falls apart when you try to turn it. Butter toast or day-old white bread stays firm. If you have no toast bread at all, cut a stale bread roll lengthways into slices. That works just as well, it just takes one extra cut.
We only draw the portions briefly through the batter, not soak them. About two seconds per side, then let the excess drip off on the edge of the plate. Anyone who soaks for too long ends up with wet, soggy Bavesen that fall apart in the pan.
Common mistakes we have made ourselves
Jam is too runny and leaks out
That was our first attempt: shop-bought jam that had more of a conserve consistency. It liquefied during frying and oozed out the sides. Solution: reduce the jam briefly in the mixing bowl for 5 minutes / 100°C / speed 1 beforehand. Or simply use home-made plum jam. That is naturally thicker.
Pan too hot, Bavesen burn on the outside and stay cold inside
Medium heat is essential. On high heat the egg batter caramelises in seconds but the bread stays cold. We prefer three minutes per side at medium heat rather than 30 seconds at full power. Clarified butter instead of regular butter also helps: it can handle much higher temperatures without the milk solids burning.
Cinnamon sugar clumps on the damp Bavesen
When we toss the still-hot portions straight from the pan into the cinnamon sugar, the sugar sticks in thick clumps. Better to let them drain on kitchen paper for a minute and cool slightly. Then, fat-free and with only a slightly warm surface, draw them through the cinnamon sugar. The coating comes out even and stays crispy.
Variations we actually make
With apple or pear jam instead of plum. Works just the same, but the jam must also be thick here. Drain shop-bought apple sauce beforehand, otherwise it leaks out.
With marzipan between the jam and the bread. Place a thin slice of marzipan on top of the jam. When the marzipan softens in the hot pan, it creates a creamy layer between the toast slices.
With warm stewed plums instead of jam. For those who prefer chunky plum pieces over smooth jam, add warm stewed plums from the Thermomix® on the side. We fill the toast slices with a little jam and spoon the stewed plums over the finished Bavesen when serving. That way we get both: a stable filling during frying and an intense fruit flavour on the plate.
With vanilla sauce instead of cinnamon sugar. On warm summer evenings we leave out the cinnamon sugar and serve cold vanilla sauce alongside. It sounds unusual because the Bavesen are already sweet, but it makes for a lighter dessert.
What goes well with them
Bavesen are a classic main course at lunch in Switzerland, and more of a dessert or sweet snack in Bavaria. We serve them for both: as a Sunday breakfast with a cup of coffee, as a pudding after a light soup, or simply in the afternoon with a cup of tea. Anyone who wants to round things out a little can add a bowl of warm stewed plums or a dollop of whipped cream.
Anyone generally interested in sweet bread recipes with egg batter should try our French Toast in the Thermomix®. That is the unfilled, simpler sibling of Bavesen and is a good way to practise the egg batter consistency before tackling filled slices.
Fry fresh, store leftovers with cinnamon sugar
Bavesen taste best fresh from the pan. For leftovers, place them on a plate, cover and store in the fridge. They keep for around 24 hours. To reheat, use the oven at 160°C top and bottom heat for 6 to 8 minutes on a rack, not the microwave. The microwave makes the bread rubbery; the oven at least partly restores the crispiness.
Freezing does not work well. The egg batter layer draws water when defrosting and the bread becomes soggy. If you want to prepare ahead, it is better to make a batch of jam and fry the Bavesen fresh each time. Home-made plum jam in sterilised jars keeps for several months in a cool, dark place.
Anyone looking for more fruity sweet dishes from the Thermomix® will find further classics here: from Zwetschgendatschi to warm stewed plums. Both are well suited to when the plum season is in full swing and we want to use up larger quantities.
What other recipes do differently
Goes well with: vanilla sauce.
Browsing other recipes, you will find two camps. The southern German version serves a wine foam sauce or vanilla sauce alongside and adds extra plums, often even marinated in red wine. The Bavarian school soaks stale bread rolls in milk for 15 minutes before they even go into the egg batter. We deliberately leave both out: toast soaks up quickly enough on its own, pre-soaking makes the slices soggy. And we keep the sauce optional because the plum jam itself provides all the fruit. Anyone who wants more fruit intensity can spoon warm stewed plums over the top.
