French Financiers
A financier is a delightful little French cake made from almond flour, wheat flour, powdered sugar, egg whites, and beurre noisette, aka browned butter. A touch of vanilla rounds out the flavor, while a small amount of honey helps the cake stay moist. For added dimension, financiers are often garnished with nuts or thin slices of fruit before baking. If you're feeling really indulgent, upgrade to using a vanilla bean if you like. Scrape out 1/3 of a bean to substitute for the extract in this recipe.
Financiers are a versatile cake. They're small and not too sweet, so they're good at all times of the day. Enjoy in the morning with a cup of coffee, after lunch, at tea time or as a post-dinner treat. They're great with all kinds of garnish, from nuts such as almond or pistachio to seasonal fruits such as strawberry, plum, apricot, or persimmon.
These cakes come together easily by sifting together the dry ingredients and blending with the wet ingredients into a smooth batter. The batter is then piped or poured into molds, garnished, and baked. Traditionally, rectangular molds are used, lending the cakes a resemblance to bars of gold, suggesting one possible origin for the name "financier" (another origin story holds that the cakes were especially popular in the Parisian financial district). Any mold is fine, though. Not everyone has rectangular molds, but most bakers have a 12 cup muffin pan. Use what you have. Baking times will vary with the depth of the batter. Shallow, rectangular financiers may bake faster than deeper round ones. When the tops puff up and stop bubbling, they're ready.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups/170 grams powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup/65 grams almond meal
- 1/2 cup/65 grams bread flour
- 1/2 teaspoon/2 grams baking powder
- 2 teaspoons/16 grams honey
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup/100 grams butter
- 6 egg whites/180 grams
- 1/2 cup almonds, blanched and sliced, garnish