‘Financier’ is a small French almond cake flavored with brown butter. The name comes from its traditional shape (which looks like a bar of gold) and its golden color from the brown butter.
Of course if you have traditional financier trays, that would be ideal- but you can make these in any shape and they will be just as delicious. We have used crème brûlée pots and mini cocottes! If you don’t have those, muffin tins will do just fine.
In France, you’ll find different versions of this cake- some plain and some with fruits. We have made this recipe with several different berries and they all turned out delicious, it is simply a matter of taste!
The financiers in the photo above were made with serviceberries that we foraged in our neighborhood, inspired by the wonderful Alexis Nikole. The flesh of the fruit tastes like a blueberry while the seeds taste like almonds- which works perfectly for financiers.
Financier • French almond “gold bar” cake
Course: DessertCuisine: FrenchDifficulty: Medium4
servings20
minutes40
minutes1
hourLovely small French almond cakes flavored with brown butter. They can be made with or without fruits.
Ingredients
100 g 100 butter (+a bit more to butter the baking dishes)
60 g 60 all-purpose flour
90 g 90 almond flour
150 g 150 white sugar
1 pinch 1 salt
1 tbsp 1 vanilla extract
4 4 egg whites
60 g 60 berries (optional – see Notes)
Powdered sugar (optional)
Baking dishes (see Notes)
Directions
- Preheat the over to 185°C
- Make the beurre noisette (brown butter)
- In a pan, melt the butter on medium heat.
- Continue cooking the butter, stirring continuously.
- The butter will bubble vigorously. Once it stops and turns a golden color, remove from heat and set aside to let cool.
- Make the batter
- In a large bowl, whisk together the all purpose flour, almond flour, salt, and egg whites.
- Once the beurre noisette has cooled down to room temperature, strain it through a sieve into the batter along with the vanilla extract and whisk to combine.
- Assemble & Bake
- Butter the bottom and wall of your baking dishes or tray
- Pour in the batter – we recommend a 2cm thick layer.
- If you’re adding berries, spread some across the top and gently push them into the batter.
- Place in the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until you insert a knife or toothpick and it comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature before de-molding. If the cake is stuck to the side of the baking dish, run a pairing knife along the sides to dislodge.
- Sprinkle some powdered sugar on top (optional) and serve at room temperature or cold.
Recipe Video
Notes
- For the financiers in the photo of this recipe, we used serviceberries but any berry will work! Blueberries and raspberries are great choices.
- Of course if you have traditional financier trays, that would be ideal- but the shape doesn’t matter too much. For ours, we divided the batter between four 9cm-diameter cocotte dishes. If you have crème brûlée pots, those would work perfectly. If not, muffin tins will do just fine.
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