Authentic French Financier Recipe

Enjoy this insanely easy financier recipe to make brown butter French financiers. Their texture is amazing; their taste is beyond delicious. These financier cakes are perfect for your afternoon pick-me-up or as finger food while entertaining.

I love these cute French financiers baked in a mini muffin mold! They are absolutely perfect for your morning or afternoon cup of tea. If you make desserts at home, these easy to bake cakes may become your favorite bake-to-sell project. They also make a great edible gift during the holiday season.

I adapted a financier recipe created by the French chef Pierre Hermé. While he bakes financiers in a rectangular financier mold, which I did in the past, I have recently started to experiment with a mini muffin pan to make financiers.

Moreover, I noticed that David Lebovitz uses a mini muffin pan to make his tiny cakes. And I must admit that I love the idea.

Just have a look at the bite-sized Chocolate Cherry Financiers here on my blog. Although I made Pistachio Financiers using a financier mold, they can be easily baked in a mini muffin mold as well.

French financiers

French financier cakes have been known in France for more than 100 years. In the States, they have recently started being served in restaurants.

Formerly known as a visitandines, financiers are small bite-sized almond cakes made with beurre noisette (brown butter), egg whites, powdered sugar, almond, hazelnut, and all-purpose flour.

Initially, these cute cakes were made by the Visitandines order of nuns. Later, in the 19th-century, financiers were popularized in a financial district of Paris surrounding the Paris stock exchange.

The primary consumers of cakes were wealthy financiers who easily kept cakes in their pockets. It was possible due to the unique shape of the financier cakes baked in a traditional rectangular mold resembled a bar of gold.

Nowadays, the shape of French financiers may be different: rectangular in some places, round in others. But one thing is for sure financiers are tasty and delicious.

What is brown butter?

Brown butter (Beurre noisette in French) is translated as hazelnut butter because of its color. It is a warm sauce made by melting unsalted butter over low heat that is used to accompany savory dishes and to make French pastry. It has a toasty hazelnut color and nutty flavor. Read here and watch the video on how to make brown butter.

Financier recipe variations

Once the batter is poured into a financier mold or a mini muffin pan, it is time to add a topping of your choice (fruits, nuts, chocolate chips). For the toppings, just add them in moderation, usually one piece of fruit per financier. Here is a list of possible financier recipe variations:

• Top financiers with fresh raspberries, following the recipe of Stephanie from Joy of Baking.
• Sprinkle each cake with a few sliced almonds as Bee from Rasa Malaysia does.
• Add a dried cherry in the center of each financier in the way Ed & Marieke from Weekend Bakery recommend in their recipe.
• Arrange one blackberry in the center of each mold, following the recipe of Iryna from SoFabFood. 
• Place a halved fig on top of each financier as Becky from A Calculated Whisk does.
• Make Plum Financiers by placing two plum slices on top of each cake like Cook's Illustrated gives a try.
• Place a chocolate chunk on top of each cake and make Chocolate Chunk Financiers.

Why this financier recipe works

1. The recipe is insanely easy to make.
2. You will end up with a whole batch of financiers - 24 small tea cakes.
3. They are the best way to use leftover egg whites.
4. Financier cakes make a beautiful edible gift during holidays.
5. These bite-sized cakes are neat to eat when such a situation arrives.
6. These cute cakes are adorable and snackable for kids.

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.

Icing sugar: make it at home using a coffee grinder or purchase powdered sugar in a baking department of your grocery store.

All-purpose flour: it is necessarily to add to the combination of nut flour.

Almond flour: either use a store-bought blanched finely ground almond flour or make ground almonds yourself. To do so, toast blanched almonds at 300 F/150 C for 15 minutes, place nuts in a food processor, and process until finely ground. Do not over-process; otherwise, you will get nut butter.

While measuring, please, do not press/pack almond flour or ground almonds into a measuring cup; otherwise, you will get the wrong measurement.

Hazelnut flour: make ground hazelnuts yourself, following the same method for ground almonds. You can also replace hazelnut flour with almond flour if you desire. It works as a 1:1 substitute.

Egg whites: separate egg whites from yolks using an egg separator while eggs are still chilled. 150 g egg whites approximately equal to 4.5 raw fresh egg whites from large size chicken eggs.

For better success, I always encourage to weigh all the ingredients, especially egg whites, with a kitchen scale.

Butter: to make buttery financier cakes, use unsalted top-quality butter.

How to make brown butter financiers

Preheat oven to 375 F/190 C.

To make the brown butter, in a small saucepan, heat butter on low to medium heat, occasionally swirling the pan over the stovetop for about 5 minutes. It will foam at first, but then it will begin to brown, producing dark golden flecks (browned milk solids).

Check the color and once you are happy with the level of browning, pour the butter (with milk solids) into a bowl to stop cooking. Let it stand and fully cool down (photo 1).

To make the cake batter, using an electric mixer, whisk egg whites for no longer than 20 seconds and set aside (photo 2).

In a separate bowl, combine sugar, all-purpose flour, almond, and hazelnut flour. Add beaten egg whites to the dry ingredients and mix with a hand whisk (photo 3). Stir in the brown butter (photo 4).

Generously butter cavities of a mini muffin pan. Pour the batter into the mold filling the holes up to two-thirds (photo 5).

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, until nicely browned (photo 6). Remove from the oven, and let cakes cool before removing them from the mold.

Expert tips

1. Watch the video on how to make brown butter.
2. Make the cake batter in advance, cover with a plastic film in contact and refrigerate for a few days, if you desire.
3. Use a small, blunt knife to release the edges of the cakes and remove them from the mold. 

Frequently Asked Question

Do you need to chill the financier butter

Some financier recipes recommend covering the batter with a plastic film in contact and chilling it in the fridge for at least 1 hour before baking. This particular recipe does not require this step.

How to store French financiers

Store financiers in an air-tight container for up to seven days. I personally prefer to keep financier cakes for the first 24 hours at room temperature, covered with a kitchen towel. You can also freeze them for up to two months.

More delicious teatime dessert recipes you will love

• Classic French Madeleines
• Easy Blackberry Heart-Shaped Friands
• Kouglof – The Best Alsatian Brioche
• Browse all the Cake Recipes

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Recipe card

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.

The recipe was adapted from https://www.aux-fourneaux.fr. It was originally published on February 11, 2018. The recipe has been revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.