Financiers
Prep Time 15 minutes 
Cook Time 15 minutes 
Total Time 30 minutes 
Servings 18 financiersIngredients
- 4 eggs only the egg whites, about 140gr
- 140 gr unsalted butter
- 120 gr ground almonds
- 140 gr icing sugar
- 50 gr plain flour
- 3 drops almond extract or vanilla extract
- flaked almonds for decoration
- 1 pinch salt
Equipment
Instructions
1. Brown the butter
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Once it foams, keep cooking for about 5 minutes until it turns a light golden brown and smells nutty (beurre noisette). Remove from heat and let it cool slightly.
2. Mix dry ingredients
- In a large bowl, sift together the ground almonds, icing sugar, plain flour, and a pinch of salt. This ensures an even texture throughout your batter.
3. Whisk the egg whites
- Lightly whisk the egg whites until frothy but not stiff. Avoid overbeating to keep the batter tender.
4. Combine egg whites with dry mix
- Pour the frothy egg whites into the bowl of dry ingredients. Gently fold the mixture together with a spatula until evenly combined.
5. Add browned butter and flavour
- Slowly pour the slightly cooled browned butter into the batter, stirring continuously to form a smooth mix. Add the almond or vanilla extract and mix well.
6. Chill the batter
- Place the batter in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to firm up, helping the cakes maintain their shape during baking.
7. Preheat the oven
- While the batter chills, preheat your oven to 200°C (400°F) conventional heat, or 180°C (350°F) fan/Gas 6. Arrange your financier moulds on a baking tray.
8. Fill the moulds
- Spoon or pipe the batter into the mould cavities, filling each nearly to the top. Sprinkle with slivered almonds for a little extra texture.
9. Bake the financiers
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 13–15 minutes, or about 10 minutes for mini financiers, until they are golden brown with crisp edges. Check doneness with a skewer, it should come out clean or with a few crumbs.
10. Cool and serve
- Let the financiers cool in the moulds for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy warm or cooled, ideally with a cup of tea.
Notes
- Financiers are a wonderful way to use leftover egg whites, and the subtle nuttiness of the browned butter is key for authenticity.
- Variations include swapping some almond flour for hazelnut or pistachio flour, topping with fresh fruits or chocolate chips, or adding citrus zest for a modern twist.
- They freeze well and keep for several days if stored airtight at room temperature.
About this recipe
The first time I saw financiers was in a supermarket, and I wasn’t really sure what they were. I asked my neighbour about them and she smiled and handed me her recipe. Of course she had the recipe! I didn’t even bother trying the shop-bought ones after that. I went straight into the kitchen and rolled my sleeves up. This financier pastry is surprisingly easy to make, ayou just need the right mould, and then you’re set and ready to go.
Where financiers come from
The financier cake has a long history, and it starts not in Paris but in a convent in Nancy, in the Lorraine region. In the 17th century, nuns from the Order of the Visitandines were making small oval almond cakes from egg whites, ground almonds, sugar, and butter, using up the egg whites left over from other preparations. They called them visitandines, after their order.
Here’s where it gets interesting: people became suspicious of anything with almond in it, since the smell of bitter almonds resembled the smell of cyanide! Can you imagine? So, the visitandines fell out of fashionas it was not an ideal association for a small cake you’re trying to sell.
Luckily for us all, they were brought back in the 19th century by a pastry chef named Lasne who had his shop near the Bourse in Paris. His clients were stock traders who wanted something small, elegant, and easy to eat quickly without getting their hands dirty. Lasne changed the oval shape of the original financier cake to a rectangle one resembling a gold bar. He also renamed them financiers as a nod to his clientele, and we still call them that today.
It’s worth saying that the details of this story aren’t fully verified by historical sources, but it’s the version everyone tells and honestly it’s too good not to repeat, don’t you think? The shape does look exactly like a gold ingot, and the name does make complete sense, so there’s probably some truth in it?
The brown butter financier
The ingredient that separates a proper almond financier from a plain almond cake is the beurre noisette, brown butter. Butter heated past the foaming stage until the milk solids turn golden and the whole thing smells of hazelnuts and caramel. That smell is the tell: when the butter reaches that point, it is ready.
The brown butter financier gets its characteristic flavour entirely from this step. The nutty, caramelised depth that beurre noisette provides is something no other fat can replicate, and it is why financiers taste more complex than their short ingredient list suggests. Combined with finely ground almonds, the result is a financier cake that is moist in the centre, crispy at the edges, and fragrant in a way that makes the kitchen smell extraordinary while they bake.
The egg whites go in unwhipped. This is not an error in the recipe. Unwhipped whites give you a dense, fudgy centre rather than the lighter, spongier texture that whipped whites would produce. That density is what makes a financier pastry distinctive. If you whip the whites, you get a different cake.
Getting the beurre noisette right
Brown the butter over medium heat, watching it constantly. It goes through stages: melting, foaming, the foam subsiding, and then the milk solids at the bottom beginning to colour. The window between perfectly browned and burnt is short. Pull it off the heat the moment the solids turn golden and the butter smells of hazelnuts. Pour it immediately into a cold bowl to stop the cooking.
Let it cool before adding it to the other ingredients. Hot butter added to the almond and sugar mixture will cook the egg whites slightly and affect the texture.
Resting the batter
The batter benefits from resting in the fridge for at least an hour before baking, and overnight is better. The rest allows the ground almonds to absorb the liquid, which gives the financier cake a more uniform crumb and a cleaner, more intense flavour. It also firms the batter slightly, which helps it hold its shape in the mould rather than spreading.
How to bake financiers
You can bake it in any dish you want, but if you want a crispy edge and a soft center with the ratio of this recipe, it’s better to get yourself a proper financier mould. If you use a mould that is too wide, you will lose the crispy borders. Or if you use a mould that is too narrow, you will end up with only crust and no soft center.
Variations
The classic almond financier is the version to make first. Once you have the technique down, the variations are really straightforward. You can replace a small amount of the ground almonds with pistachio or hazelnut flour to add different flavours of nuttiness to it. Or you can press a raspberry into the top of each one before baking to add a bit of acidity and colour to it. All of them work, as long as you make your beurre noisette to start with.
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