Raspberry Financiers
A classic French recipe for practicing your baking skills, these almond financiers are topped with a fresh raspberry before baking.
From the book
Bake with Benoit Blin: Master Cakes, Pastries and Desserts Like a Professional
A masterclass in making cakes, pastries and desserts.
Foolproof recipes to teach you core baking techniques.
From classic viennoiserie, pies and tarts, to impressive desserts and cakes.
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Introduction
Financiers are the reason I became a pastry chef. I remember being six or seven years old and shopping with my aunt back in France and, because I behaved while shopping with her, she took me to a pastry shop, where I discovered this beautiful cake. I found myself emotionally affected by its flavour and texture, and hoped to be able to eat more at my leisure. This train of thoughts eventually grew into a pastry chef career for me and, of course, a similar version of this beautiful cake now features in my kitchen as part of our little coffee treats. The recipe below is made with raspberries, but you can also make them plain.
Ingredients
| 110g (3¾ oz) | unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing |
| 75g (2½ oz/⅔ cup) | ground almonds |
| 40g (1½ oz/scant 3 tablespoons) | caster (superfine) sugar |
| 125g (4½ oz/1 cup) | icing (powdered) sugar, sifted |
| 50g (1¾ oz/scant ½ cup) | plain (all-purpose) flour |
| 135g (4¾ oz) | egg whites |
| pinch of | salt |
| ½ teaspoon | vanilla extract |
| dash of | dark rum |
| 12 | large raspberries |
Essential kit
You will need: 12-hole non-stick muffin tray (moulds 6–7 cm/2½–2¾ in in diameter x 3–4cm/1¼–1½ in bag with a plain nozzle (1 cm/½ in diameter).
Method
Planning ahead: Before weighing out your ingredients for the recipe place a medium baking tray, about 20cm (8 in) square, in the freezer to stop the cooking of the butter when the time comes.
Preheat the oven to 190°C fan (375°F). and lightly grease the holes of the muffin tray with butter
In a small pan, melt the butter over a medium heat until it starts foaming and the foam is light brown in colour (see Chef’s Touches below). Transfer it immediately into the cold tray to stop the butter from cooking further and cool it down. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the ground almonds, caster sugar, icing sugar and flour. In a separate medium bowl, working by hand, whisk the egg whites with the salt until you have soft peaks. Fold in the flour mixture. Whisk in the cooled butter, then add the vanilla extract and rum.
Fill a piping bag with the mixture and pipe into the prepared muffin tray, filling each mould up to one-third of the way up the sides. Place a whole raspberry on top of each one.
Bake for 10–12 minutes, or until nice and golden.
Remove from the oven, de-mould straight away and place on a wire rack to cool for about 15 minutes. Enjoy fresh, but stored in an airtight container they will keep for up to 3 days.
Chef’s Touches:
This stage is called noisette or hazelnut butter, as it develops a nutty smell and taste and a golden-brown colour. Cooking the butter further or letting it become dark at the bottom of the pan would create bitterness, and it will not smell and taste nutty as it should.
You can also bake a large financier in a 20 cm (8 in) ring using 250–300 g (9–10½ oz) mixture. This makes a fantastic base for a tart.
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