Giant Strawberry Almond Financier
A French “Financier” is a notoriously delicate little almond cake (usually bite-size), made with ground almonds and flavored with “beurre-noisette” (brown butter). It has a rich, moist interior and a crisp egg-shell exterior. And if you’re a regular on this blog, you’re probably no stranger to my love for Financiers. I especially love to make them in the Spring time as they work so wonderfully nestled with fresh berries, such as blueberries, raspberries and of course, strawberries. I love them so much so, that this time I decided to upgrade…
- Prep time
- 20 min
- Cook time
- 30 min
- Yield
- 8 servings
- Difficulty
- EASY
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1/2 cup + 1/2 tbsp (125g) unsalted butter (made into “beurre-noisette” – see cooking note)
- 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp (80g) Ground Almonds
- 1 cup (125g) Icing Sugar
- 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp (50g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 egg whites
- ¼ tsp almond extract
- 6-8 fresh strawberries (not too ripe, not too firm), stemmed and cut in half
- ¼ cup slivered almonds
- Optional: 2 tbsp (40g) Strawberry jam
Instructions
- 1
Pre-heat your oven to 340F (170C) with a rack in the middle. Grease a 9-inch (23cm) cake pan (ideally, spring-form pan) with butter and dust with flour. Tap to remove the excess flour.
- 2
Make the beurre-noisette (see cooking note) and set aside to let it cool to room temperature.
- 3
In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground almonds, icing sugar, flour, baking powder and salt.
- 4
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to a stiff peak.
- 5
Sprinkle 1/3 of the dry ingredients over the egg whites and fold in gently with a spatula. When barely combined, sprinkle another third of the dry ingredients and fold again. Repeat with the last third of the dry ingredients. When combined, fold in the almond extract and the beurre-noisette. Stop folding when just combined.
- 6
Carefully transfer the batter to the cake pan and gently smooth out the top with the spatula.
- 7
Place the strawberry halves (cut-side down) evenly on the cake batter. Just barely push on the strawberries to keep them in place (not too much, they will sink in the batter when baking).
- 8
Sprinkle the slivered almonds evenly onto the cake.
- 9
Bake for 30 minutes, until golden. Transfer to a cooling rack.
- 10
Optional: Brush strawberry jam on the strawberries for a glossy shine.
- 11
Let cool 15 minutes before removing the financier from the pan.