Gold Financiers

Crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, these little cakes have exceeded my expectations.

Gold Financiers

September 4, 2010
Name of cupcakes: Two-Bite Financiers
Occasion: HCB
Constituents: little almond cakes

Although to be fair, my expectations were low as I was not impressed by the Peanut Butter Financiers, which we made in March.

I am fascinated with financiers, because the HCB seemed to have a love-meh relationship with the peanut butter variety. Looking back, it seems like the lovers of the financiers had either the correct pan or used a mini cupcake pan. Those of us who felt meh about them tended to be those who didn't have the proper pan. In the book, Rose speaks of the ratio of crispy crust to creamy inside being perfect when baked in smaller portions, so I thought maybe making the effort to use a better pan would make a difference. Which I think it did.

Gold Financiers

Cookie has a set of foil mini cupcake pans so I bought some paper liners and borrowed her pans. I used 10 grams of batter (less than a tbsp) per mini cupcake which yielded 47 little cakes.

These cakes have a fairly simple batter of ground almonds which are processed with sugar, wondra flour for tenderness, egg whites, vanilla, baking powder and a good amount of butter. In this case, the butter is in two forms, beurre noisette and just plain ol' melted. Both need to be kept hot, so I set up two mugs with the butters in a pan of hot water:

Gold Financiers

I felt pretty cool about that :)

The butter is whipped in last, taking about 5 minutes to properly emulsify the batter. This results in a thick and creamy batter that smells of almonds and browned butter. Yum.

The very last batch of financiers baked a little longer than the first batch, but actually they didn't suffer in dryness or anything discouraging like that. They were in fact a little crispier on the outside and chewier on the inside, which I liked. In Rose's Highlights for Success, she mentions that financiers are best made "within hours of serving so that they retain their soft, springy texture and thin crisp crusts..." I also found that they were best about 20 minutes out of the oven, and lost their crispiness as the day wore on. In the Special Tips from Chef Jean François Bonnet, he suggests freezing extra cakes, letting them thaw in the refrigerator and then recrisping them in the oven at 350°. I will probably do that, since I have 37 33 mini cakes (that's 74 66 bites) lurking on my table.

Gold Financiers

These little cakes are a nice tea time treat; a mild flavored cake with an unusual texture. They would make a nice little breakfast side to a bunch of gooey stewed fruit and granola. I don't know if I'll make them again (it takes a long time to spoon out the batter in 10 gram increments!) but I'm certainly glad to have made peace with the pesky little financiers. Plus, they photographed well, which is always pleasing.

Gold Financiers

Comments

  1. They look fantastic! I wondered how they would do in mini cupcake pans. I'll try that next time. We really loved them.

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  2. Nicely done! Glad you were happier with them this time around. I agree with your idea of having them as a teatime or breakfast treat.

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  3. Your ingots look great. The crispy outsides really show up in your photos. I made the peanut butter ones and didn't like them either. So I will have to try these next time.

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  4. they look very yummy and i agree with sugar chef that the crispy outsides really show up your photo!

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  5. Ohhh I never thought to bake them in mini cupcakes forms.

    Unlike most, I love the peanut butter one more than these, but nevertheless they lasted 48 hours around these parts - so I guess that must count for something.

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  6. Vicki, thanks! your mini tart financiers look wonderful too.

    jkcurtis, yep they are a perfect breakfast cake!

    sugar chef, i would be curious to hear your thoughts on these, hope you make and blog them soon.

    faithy, thanks!

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  7. monica, i am curious to give the peanut butter ones a re-do and see if the pan size really does make a difference. these are good for all-day snacking!

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  8. ECL--1)I love the pic of the butters, butters!!!
    2) I wouldn't mind being a taste tester for the PB ones if you make them in the proper size, and
    3)Did you 'put up' some of these little financiers in the freezer for when I come to visit??

    Just askin'
    love you later,
    joelf

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  9. Joelf, it's Butters! (that's me!)

    of course you'd like to be a PB taste tester....but i've got another YEAR of cakes before i can think about re-doing anything!

    ANNNNDDDD...do i hear you correctly? are you gonna be here this weekend? and yes, they are in the freezer.

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