Blackberry Friands Recipe

Grab this blackberry friand recipe to make the cutest tea cakes packed with juicy blackberries and star anise flavor. Baked as hearts, they are delightful on Valentine's day. You'll be sure to enjoy these newly shaped and tasting friands.

After making Classic Brown Butter Financiers and pistachio ones, I decided to make little cakes close in taste and texture - friands.

With the Valentine's Day spirit is in the air, I went beyond the traditions and made friands in a mold similar to a heart-shaped silicone mold.

These small blackberry friands are so cute and tasty that you do not feel guilty about these pretty cakes!

Serve them with a cup of your morning or afternoon tea or coffee. Bring them to parties, picnics, or put them in a lunch box.

What is a friand?

Friand is a small almond cake popular mainly in Australia and New Zealand. A friand usually has additional flavorings such as some spices, nuts, and chocolate.

Are friands and financiers the same?

The basic recipe for friands and financiers calls for the same ingredients such as brown butter (beurre noisette in French), egg whites, powdered sugar, and flour.

Financiers are small French cakes baked in a traditional rectangular mold, which resembles a bar of gold.

Popular in Australia and New Zealand, friands are made in a special oval aspic mold.

The main differences between friands and financiers are the molds used to bake the treats, in addition to flavorings such as chocolate, fruit, nuts, and coconut added while making friands.

What is a friand tin? 

Oval aspic molds with a star or diamond imprint in the bottom of each tin are authentic molds to bake friands.

You can easily find them on Etsy, but you will want to buy the non-stick ones to facilitate baking. You can also use loaf tins to make rectangular friands resembled financiers.

Nowadays, friands are often made in a 12-hole non-stick friand pan. If you don't have one, you can easily bake these small cakes in a silicone friand mold (make sure to read about baking with silicone molds) or a muffin pan.

Why you should try this friand recipe

1. This easy friand recipe is perfect for a beginner baker or the experienced one.
2. Replacing blackberries with raspberries or blueberries makes another variation of the friand recipe.
3. Experimenting with different shapes of molds opens possibilities to create these small cakes for specially-themed parties.  
4. Friands are a great lunchbox idea and make a perfect edible gift.

Ingredients

Here is a quick overview of what ingredients you will need. Follow the full recipe below for exact amounts and instructions. I recommend making the recipe as written for the best results.

Butter: use unsalted butter to make friands.

Flour: the recipe calls for all-purpose flour.

Icing sugar: make it at home using a coffee grinder or use store-bought powdered sugar.

Almond flour: flour: use blanched, finely ground almond flour (not a coarse almond meal). While measuring almond flour, spoon it from a container gently into a measuring cup.

Star anise: use ground star anise or make it yourself by crushing 3 whole star anise in a spice grinder and passing it through a mini-sieve two to three times.

Egg whites: separate egg whites and egg yolks using an egg separator while the eggs are cold. Then bring egg whites to room temperature.

If you use leftover frozen egg whites, be sure they are fully defrosted and at room temperature before you start making the recipe.

Orange zest: use an organic untreated orange to make the zest with a zester grater.

Salt: it enhances the flavor of frinads.

Fresh blackberries: these berries are the stars of these friands. Only use fresh blackberries for the recipe or replace them with fresh raspberries or strawberry slices.

How to make blackberry friands

Preheat oven to 430 degrees F/ 220 C. Prepare a friand mold or a heart-shaped silicone mold: butter and flour cavities and refrigerate the mold while making the friand batter.

To make the brown butter, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat till the golden color (photo 1).

Once it is ready (look for the golden brown color, solid brown sediments on the sides and bottom of the pan, and hazelnut smell), pour butter in another bowl to stop cooking.

Let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Drain through a mini-sieve and discard the solids. Set the brown butter aside (photo 2).

To make the batter, in a bowl, sift flour, powdered (icing) icing sugar, almond flour, ground star anise, and salt.

In a separate bowl, lightly beat egg whites with a fork or a hand whisk (photo 3) for a few seconds (they do not need to be mounted).

Pour beaten egg whites into the dry mixture and combine. Add the orange zest (photo 4)...

and brown butter, and mix till the batter becomes homogeneous (photo 5).

Take the prepared mold out of the fridge and fill the cavities up to two-thirds. Arrange two whole blackberries on top (photo 6). 

Bake friands for 9 minutes. Then lower the oven temperature to 410 F/210 C and continue to bake for 8 to 10 minutes longer: the edges of friands have to become golden brown, and the centers get a slight "bump".

Check the readiness of friands with a toothpick: the inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Take the cakes out of the oven and let them cool in the mold. Remove friands and place them on a wire rack (photo 7). Sprinkle cakes with powdered (icing) sugar (photo 8).

Expert tips

1. To make ground star anise, crush 3 whole star anise in a spice grinder and pass through a mini-sieve two to three times or use a store-bought ground star anise.
2. Replace fresh blackberries with fresh blueberries or raspberries, or use frozen berries.
3. Store cakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.

Frequently asked questions

Looking for Valentine's Day desserts? Try these next!

• Raspberry Oreo Cheesecake Recipe
• Ile Flottante With Pink Praline
• Pink Praline (French Pink Pralines)
• Browse all Valentine's Day Recipes

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The recipe was adapted from https://ottolenghi.co.uk/. It was originally published on January 20, 2020. The recipe has been revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.