[1] If you have stemmed dessert dishes or Champagne coupes, Cherries Jubilee is an opportunity to use them (photo © The Nibble).

[2] We like the orange zest used to garnish this version of Cherries Jubilee. Here’s the recipe (photo © Grand Baby Cakes).

[3] Queen Victoria ate Cherries Jubilee from a stemmed silver dish, but you can use whatever dishes you like (photo © The Nibble).

[4] A classic chafing dish with flaming Cherries Jubilee (photo © The Nibble).

[5] At home, cherries are flambéed in a pan and spooned over dishes of ice cream. Here’s the recipe (photo © Claire Justine).

[6] A modern take on Cherries Jubilee, originally created by Escoffier for Queen Victoria. Here’s the recipe from Victoria Glavin (photo © Tiny New York Kitchen).

[7] Kirschwasser has many uses in recipes, but you can also relax with a snifter, enjoying the aroma and flavor of black cherries (photo © The Nibble).

Updated September 2026

September 24th is National Cherries Jubilee Day. A dish created for Queen Victoria, Cherries Jubilee is an easy, flambéed dessert that is presented with much fanfare.

A sauce is made of cooked, pitted cherries and Kirschwasser, cherry brandy (regular brandy can be substituted).

The sauce is flambéed in a chafing dish (or substitute) at the table, and ladled over dishes of vanilla ice cream.

It’s great entertainment for guests, most of whom have never had flambéed food.

And while the two ingredients may seem simple, together they create magic in a light dessert.

Below:

> The recipe for Cherries Jubilee.

> Different ways to flambé the sauce.

> The history of Cherries Jubilee.

> The history of flambéed food.

> More ways to use Kirschwasser.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The history of cherries.

> The different types of cherries.

> The year’s 15+ cherry holidays.

> The year’s dessert holidays, January-July (more than 100!)

> The year’s dessert holidays, August-December (more than 80!)
 
 
1. RECIPE: CHERRIES JUBILEE

If you don’t have Kirschwasser, you can use regular brandy or cherry liqueur. Cherry liqueur will give your sauce a sweeter cherry flavor, while plain brandy will create a less sweet sauce.
 
Ingredients For 6 Servings

• 1 can (16 ounces) best-quality pitted Bing cherries, or frozen cherries
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/4 cup Kirschwasser or brandy
• Premium vanilla ice cream
• Optional garnish: 1/2 cup slivered almonds

 
Preparation

1. DRAIN the cherries, reserving the juice.

2. COMBINE sugar and cornstarch; mix in the juice, a little at a time. When the sauce thickens, add the cherries.

3. WARM the Kirschwasser or brandy in an attractive saucepan on the stove, or in the microwave in a flame-proof dish.

4. BRING to the table with the ice cream, and ignote with a long kitchen match. Let flame burn out and ladle the sauce over the ice cream immediately.

SEE Section 2 below on different pans to bring to the table to flame the sauce.

IF YOU DON’T WANT TO USE A FLAME, the warm cherry sauce will taste just as good.

• Simply add the brandy and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes to remove some of the alcohol flavor.
• Flaming the alcohol leaves subtle notes of the Kirsch or brandy without the strong alcohol taste. It also adds flavor from caramelization.

Recipe Variations

• Serve the ice cream atop a slice of angel food cake, uniced chocolate cake (e.g. chocolate loaf), pound cake, or sponge cake.
• Some cooks add 1-2 teaspoons of almond extract or 2 tablespoons of orange juice, or a garnish of orange zest.
• You can also serve the sauce over custard or puddings. Cherries and chocolate pudding or lemon pudding are a delicious combination.

Preparation Tip

• Pre-scoop the ice cream into balls. Keep the balls in the coldest area of the freezer set on on parchment or plastic film.
• If you have room in the freezer, chill the dishes, too (you can use the fridge if there’s no room in the freezer).
• Then, when you set the ice cream on the table and guests watch you flambé the sauce, the ice cream will stay nice and firm, and won’t melt under the warm sauce.

 
 
2. DIFFERENT WAYS TO FLAMBÉ THE SAUCE

Originally, in French dining service, a chafing dish† of sauce was wheeled tableside, flambéed, and ladled atop the ice cream.

Here are modern alternatives, whether you want tableside drama or the safest, easiest kitchen method.

For Tableside Drama

The Electric Or Sterno Fondue Pot Or Induction Burner

• A fondue pot provides excellent heat retention and is designed specifically for tableside cooking.
• A portable induction burner or hot plate allows you to cook the entire dish right in front of your guests, using any regular pan.

The Skillet-to-Trivet Presentation

• Choose the right pan: an attractive, presentation-worthy pan such as an enameled cast-iron skillet (like Le Creuset), a stainless-steel sauté pan, or a copper skillet. Heavy cast iron is ideal because it retains heat long enough to keep the sauce bubbling off the burner.
• Prep the table: Place a sturdy, heatproof trivet or wooden board at the table, along with the pre-scooped bowls of ice cream, and a long-handled match or lighter.
• Cook on the stove: Make your cherry, sugar, and citrus base in the skillet on the stovetop until simmering and syrupy.
• Bring to the table: Remove the pan from the stove, carry it immediately to the table, and place it on the trivet.
• Add the warm liquor and ignite: Pour warm Kirschwasser or brandy over the sauce and ignite it immediately with a long match or barbecue lighter. Let the blue flame flicker out naturally (about 30–60 seconds), gently stir, and ladle over the ice cream.

 
For The Easiest Presentation

This method has no drama, but it’s the easiest and safest way to create the dish, avoiding open flames near tablecloths and guests.

• Cook the cherry sauce in any saucepan or skillet on the stove.
• Turn off the burner or take the pan off the heat source. Pour in the liquor, return the pan to the heat, and ignite the vapors.
• Let the flame burn out while gently swirling the pan.
• Carry the warm pan to the table or simply assemble the entire dessert in the kitchen and bring out the finished dishes.

 

[8] You can flambé at the table with an induction burner, hot plate, or simply a substantial trivit on which to rest the hot pan from the stove (photo © The Nibble).

In the 1950s, Cherries Jubilee became the rage for home cooks like our mother, the hostess with the mostest. In those postwar years, flambéing was the hallmark of fine dining and home cooks were eager to impress at their dinner parties.

But the recipe was first served in a far more elevated venue than American dining rooms.

The legendary French chef Auguste Escoffier created the dish for Queen Victoria, either her Golden Jubilee of 1887 (the 50th year of a monarch’s reign) or her Diamond Jubilee in 1897 (the 60th year on the throne); sources disagree on which‡.

The original spirit used to flambé appears to be Kirschwasser (or kirsch), a clear cherry brandy made from distilled cherries.

The “celebrity chef” was working at the Savoy Hotel in London at the time. Following its debut, Cherries Jubilee was a very fashionable dessert for many decades—far beyond England, including across the pond in the United States.

It immediately joined the menu at restaurants of haute cuisine, where it was prepared tableside with great fanfare.

Pitted black cherries were flambéed with kirsch (which is cherry eau de vie, or unaged brandy) or regular brandy, then spooned into a stemmed silver dish of vanilla ice cream.

You don’t need to have a stemmed silver dish—that kind of pomp disappeared in the 1960s.

Over time, cooks have substituted regular brandy and even rum. But it’s worth investing in a bottle of Kirsch: it has many other uses (see them in the *footnote).

Good news for home cooks: You can serve this queenly dish at home, or “jubilee” any other cooked fruit using any 80-proof or overproof spirit. It’s an impressive yet easy to make dessert.

While Escoffier’s team pitted and cooked fresh cherries and made the ice cream from scratch, you can elect to save time with canned cherries. We used Oregon Fruit Pitted Red Tart Cherries in Water, and have also used frozen cherries.

You can elect to flambé the dish or not. Tip: If guests ask to help, put them on flambé duty.

When you serve it to guests, tell them the Escoffier-Queen Victoria story.

We tend to make this recipe every year to celebrate George Washington’s birthday, traditionally a day for cherry desserts.

A recipe served to one head of state is certainly appropriate for another!
 

[10] This preparation uses halved cherries instead of whole ones (Abacus photo).
 
 
4. THE HISTORY OF FLAMBÉED FOOD

The word flambé comes from the French verb flamber, meaning to flame or singe. While lighting spirits on fire has roots stretching back centuries, the practice of flambéing as an intentional culinary technique and tableside performance emerged primarily in 19th-century Europe.

Pre-19th Century

Long before flambéing became a spectacle at refined restaurants, alcohol was used with fire for preservation, ritual, and theater.

• Medieval and Renaissance Banquets: Medieval feast-masters loved spectacle and illusion food (entremets). Occasionally, spirits like aqua vitae were poured over roasted birds or boar heads and briefly ignited to produce dramatic blue flames as dishes entered the dining hall. At that stage, it was pure showmanship rather than a flavor technique.
• The British Flaming Pudding: In 17th- and 18th-century Britain, the tradition of pouring warmed brandy over rich steamed plum puddings and lighting it at Christmas became widespread. This served a practical purpose (warming the dense pudding and infusing a toasted spirit aroma) as well as a celebratory, seasonal one.

The 19th Century: The Rise of Service au Guéridon

Flambéing in its modern culinary sense was born alongside classical French haute cuisine during the nineteenth century.

• Shift to Tableside Service: In the mid-1800s, European fine dining transitioned from service à la française (all dishes placed on the table at once) to service à la russe (courses served sequentially from carts or side tables, known as guéridons).
• The Role of the Chafing Dish: The invention of portable, spirit-fueled chafing dishes enabled maître d’s and captains to sauté, finish sauces, carve meats, and ignite spirits directly in front of diners. The flame provided ambient lighting, warmth, and an intimate theatrical experience.

 
Several classic flambé dishes emerged during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many with famous backstories:

• Crêpes Suzette (c. 1895): The most famous legend credits Henri Charpentier, then an apprentice waiter at the Café de Paris in Monte Carlo. As Charpentier later told it, he accidentally set a pan of cordial-infused crêpes ablaze while preparing them for Edward VII (then Prince of Wales). Tasting the sauce, he realized the burnt-off alcohol left behind a smooth, caramelized citrus glaze. The prince loved it and suggested naming it after a young French girl in his entourage named Suzette. While culinary historians dispute Charpentier’s sole claim (Auguste Escoffier and other chefs had similar recipes recorded), the dessert solidified flambéing as an international luxury sensation.
• Cherries Jubilee (1887 or 1897‡): Master chef Auguste Escoffier created this dish to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. Originally known simply as Cerises Jubilé, Escoffier poached sweet cherries in syrup, thickened them with arrowroot, and doused them in warm Kirschwasser before lighting the spirit at the table.
• Steak Diane (1930s–1950s): Named after the Roman goddess of the hunt, Steak Diane featured thinly pounded tenderloin steaks cooked tableside with shallots, mustard, Worcestershire, and butter, flambéed with cognac, and finished with cream. It gained prominence in luxury hotel dining rooms in London and New York, including the Drake Hotel and The Sherry-Netherland.
• Bananas Foster (1951): Created at Brennan’s restaurant in New Orleans by chef Paul Blangé and owner Owen Brennan. Facing a surplus of bananas entering the city’s busy port, they paired sautéed bananas and brown sugar with dark rum and banana liqueur, lighting it tableside over vanilla ice cream. It remains one of America’s most recognizable flambéed desserts.

The Mid-Century Golden Era (1950s–1970s)

By the mid-20th century, tableside flambé was the ultimate hallmark of cosmopolitan dining. Steak houses, continental dining rooms, and supper clubs across North America and Europe routinely rolled out copper-plated guéridon carts to prepare:

• Bananas Foster and Crêpes Suzette for dessert.
• Duck à l’orange flamed with Grand Marnier.
• Coq au Vin ignited with Cognac.
• Flaming Polynesian tiki cocktails (such as bowls ignited with overproof rum in carved-out coconut shells).

The Decline and Modern Resurgence Of Flambéed Foods

By the 1980s and 1990s, the rise of nouvelle cuisine shifted focus away from theatrical dining-room finishing toward kitchen-plated artistry, lighter sauces, and seasonal ingredients. Tableside service came to be viewed by some critics as dated, kitschy, or an unnecessary fire hazard.

Today, flambéing is appreciated for both its science and its nostalgic drama. The culinary chemistry:

• Chefs recognize that burning off ethanol rapidly reduces harsh alcohol vapors while caramelizing sugars.
• It also creates distinctive aromatic compounds that gentle simmering alone cannot replicate.

These days, high-end cocktail bars frequently use flambéed citrus oils or ignited overproof rinses, while classic restaurants and modern steakhouses have revitalized tableside cart service as an experiential counterpoint to casual dining.

Desserts: Black Forest Cake, chocolate fondue, fruit salads (especially with stone fruits and berries), ice cream (drizzle over chocolate, vanilla, and of course cherry, plus sorbets), and poached pears or fruit compote. Add to any chocolate dessert recipe, and to fruit tarts.

Cheese pairings: While cheese fondue is the classic, you can also serve a small glass with aged cheeses like Gruyère or Emmental.

Other recipes: Add to fruit preserves (even store-bought: just mix some into the jar) and sauces for duck, pork, or game—it’s one of our favorite ways to deglaze a pan for a pan sauce.

†A chafing dish is a serving pan designed to keep prepared food warm for an extended period. It typically consists of a water pan (bain-marie) that provides gentle, even heat; a food pan placed above the water; a lid to retain heat and moisture; a stand or frame it rests upon; and a heat source, traditionally a small fuel canister or candle (some modern versions use electricity).

Raw food is not usually cooked in a chafing dish. Instead, it is cooked beforehand and kept warm in the chafing dish. You’ve no doubt seen them at buffets. Copper-clad dishes are traditionally associated with fine dining, with silver-plate considered an even higher level. Stainless steel or nickel silver (an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc that resembles silver but contains none) makes a fine presentation. On the low end, aluminum is an efficient heat conductor and more lightweight than the others.

‡Which jubilee: 1887 or 1897? While the year hasn’t been definitely established by culinary historians, here are some facts for you to consider. We know that the dish was created by Escoffier for one of Queen Victoria’s jubilees. Since he didn’t more to London to the Savoy Hotel until 1890, he wouldn’t have been in residence for the 1887 jubilee. This does rule out the specific claim that Escoffier created the dish at the Savoy for the 1887 Golden Jubilee.

However, Escoffier was already a prominent and highly respected chef in elite European culinary circles. So he theoretically could have created a Golden Jubilee (1887) dish elsewhere. Points to ponder:

> Escoffier + Savoy Hotel + Queen Victoria’s Jubilee points logically to the 1897 Diamond Jubilee.

> Escoffier + 1887 Golden Jubilee remains chronologically possible only if the dish was created somewhere other than the Savoy.

> The earliest cited published Escoffier recipe appears in the 1903 Le Guide Culinaire, so that recipe does not conclusively establish where or precisely when he first served it.
 
 

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