Friands are delicious little teacakes that originated from the French financiers.They are made mainly with ground almonds, egg whites and very little flour which makes them moist and extremelly moreish too !
I made financiers recently and was bowled over with how nice they were. Zurin from Cherry On a Cake made some too.
Friands are seriously popular in Australia and are found in cafes, beach huts and even McDonalds all over the country. They are much more popular there than muffins and cupcakes. Once you've tried these you'll want to eat the lot ....
The heady and seductive aromas of fresh summer raspberries and fresh smell of lemon filled my kitchen. Oh - if only that smell could be bottled ! These won't hang around long so neither will the smell..... :-(
Oval Friand Cake tins or pans seem to be really hard to find, which is why we've made some in flexible silicone bakeware. The cakes release beautifully with ease leaving a perfect oval form.
You don't want Friands to rise too high and the top should be domed but not cracked. There is no inclusion of any baking agents in this recipe. Friands are also very easy to make and supposedly keep and freeze very well. Needless to say, I've not tried freezing them.
With financiers, you need to cook the butter until nut brown. Australians it seems skip this step with Friands and just melt the butter..... brown it if you like !
Recipe
175g melted butter (I use salted)
210g icing sugar
60 g plain flour
120g ground almonds
5 egg whites
zest of 1/2 a lemon.
20 large, juicy raspberries
Sift icing sugar and flour. Add almonds and stir. Whip egg whites to break up until they start to foam, but well before they reach peaking. Add the eggs and mix. Quickly mix in warm / hot melted butter.
Pour into greased and floured Friand mould. Each cell should be approx 3/4 full. This mix is enough to make 10 - so you may want to put the remaining batter into a couple of silicone baking cups or a muffin tin / mould. Top each cell with a couple of raspberries and some lemon zest.
Bake at 190deg C fan oven (210deg normal) for 15 > 20 mins until springy to the touch.
With the remaining mix, I made another couple of snowflake shaped friands but without the addition of rasperries. The doming on the top was useful for propping the friands up to show the snowflake design. I love these !
With the remaining mix, I made another couple of snowflake shaped friands but without the addition of rasperries. The doming on the top was useful for propping the friands up to show the snowflake design. I love these !
Sarah-Jane Nash - http://www.siliconemoulds.com/ July 2010
Oh yes they are so pretty! the snowflake ones are too. I have never seen oval moulds like that. a very unusal shape for a small cake but totally delightful! another keeper im sure...Now I love ground almonds in cakes :) tq for the link ;)
ReplyDeletethe castle cake is fabulous Sarah. You really did a great job with the mould. It must have been diffficult with all the dimensions to figure out. bravo :)
They look incredibly delicious! I've never heard of them and must try it! Great combo with the raspberries and lemon and I wish I had one now for breakfast! Yum!!!
ReplyDeleteMade some financiers from your last recipe - but didn't have a mould and they stuck to my tin! We ate them with teaspoons and they were absolutely delicious! I'll be buying a mould before I try these :o)
ReplyDeleteHello
ReplyDeleteZurin - the castle cake was easy once I got the volume sorted out. I might not have had to make it twice if I had stopped to measure out how much liquid volume the mould held first. Duh !
Pam - these would be lovely at any time of the day as they are not overly sweet. The raspberries I had were rather tart too.
Ann - you need to treat non stick tins and silicone the same way - grease and flour them if the sugar content is greater than the fat content. Did you grease and flour your tin ?
Glad you enjoyed the financiers though .... They were yummy !
NOW we're talkin'. No cherries, right? ;) I love how you made the 2 versions. The snowflake ones are just adorable! For me, browning of the butter makes a diff. :) Saw your previous post on the castle cake and I am in awe!
ReplyDeleteYes - no cherries. Sad in a way - but rasperries are another favourite.
ReplyDeleteThere is honestly nothing hard about that castle cake. The only initial problem I had was getting the recipe volume right. I didn't realise it was a mix that wasn't going to rise. Duh ! Ended up having to do it twice. I'll learn...
I really love the snowflake mould...and I love your blog.. Tell you what - I'll post you it if you fancy doing me some snowflake cake pictures sometime :-)
they looks gorgeous sarah....lemon with raspberries, perfect summer treat! Friands is new for me, gud to know!
ReplyDeleteI've just made the Raspberry Friands in the silicone mould I got...they are delicious! I'll be making them to take to work!!
ReplyDeleteI've got some of the Pistachio Financiers out of the oven and they smell and look amazing! The 12 bar mould is fantastic!!!
Hello Anonymous
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked the friands. They really are soooo tasty.
The pistachio finanicers are cakes from heaven... If they had been left in my house and not given away, I would have eaten the lot. The 12 sponge finger / bar cake mould is super. I think that it will get a lot of use :-)
thanks for commenting
Sarah-Jane, I just made my first ever batch of friands using the silicone mould I bought from your site. I actually used a recipe from my 'Sweet Paris' cook book which is very similar to yours. I chose to add Fabbri Wild Amarena Cherries instead of raspberries which I hope will have worked ok. We are sitting here waiting for them to cool with our mouths watering in anticipation :o)
ReplyDeleteBtw your mould is perfect, the friands just slid out.
Hello Karen. My photos for these are really not good - just shows my photography has improved rather a lot in the last two years !
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you like the mould. They are very easy to use. Once those friands are cooled, I'm sure they will not be around for long. If you can bear not to eat them all, I really do think they improve and taste better the following day ..
thanks for your comments.
They were delicious! Still have two left, how is that for self control :o) Now I want to try them with blackcurrants.
ReplyDelete