These classic French Financiers Cakes make the most delicious little treat. Perfect with your morning or afternoon tea, these Brown Butter Almond Tea Cakes are a great sweet snack and edible gift idea.
Preheat your oven on 160'C/325'F and generously grease a Financier Pan (see note 1). Optionally, dust the pan with flour and tip out any excess.
Prepare the Brown Butter: place the butter in a small saucepan and turn on low to medium low heat. Cook until the butter has completely melted and starts to get foamy. Keep on cooking, occasionally stirring, until the melted butter starts to turn golden and releases a nutty aroma (about 5 to 8 minutes approximately). Once you see small brown specks at the bottom of the saucepan, remove from the heat (see note 2). Set aside to cool down.
In a large mixing bowl, sift together the Flour, Almond Meal, Icing Sugar and Salt. Mix to combine.
In a separate bowl, lightly whisk the Egg Whites until slightly bubbly (see note 3). Add the egg whites to the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.
Add the slightly cooled Brown Butter and Vanilla to the dry, whisking until just combined.
Place the batter in a piping bag and pipe into a Financier Pan (or simply spoon/scoop it). Spread with the back of a spoon if needed, then top with Flaked Almonds (optional).
Bake for about 20min, or until lightly golden. Take out of the oven and leave for about 10 minutes before removing from the financier pan (see note 4). Leave on a cooling rack until cold
Video
Notes
Note: This recipe was very slightly adjusted in December 2022. The ingredients quantities are as per the written recipe, not the video.
If you don't have a Financier Pan, you can use any small cake pan instead like a regular or mini muffin pan or mini loaf pan.
The small specks are the caramelised milk solids than have separated from the fats. They contain most of the flavours of brown butter so don't discard it - make sure you use it all in the batter!
There are no raising agents used here. Slightly whipping the egg whites will incorporate some air into the batter, resulting in a much lighter crumb - but it is optional. I have made financiers with fully whipped egg whites (stiff peaks) and it does work - you will get extremely fluffy cakes.
The cakes will be very soft when they just come out of the oven so leaving them for 10 minutes in the pan will make it easier to release. Financier batter can be a bit sticky, so if the cakes are sticking to the pan, use a small knife to gently lift the edges until the cakes are released.