Raspberry Friands With Flavor Variations

Raspberry friands are the ultimate moist almond cakes topped with tart raspberries. Enjoy them alone, with a dollop of luscious whipped cream, or complement your morning coffee or afternoon tea.

What are Friands?

Friands are delicious small almond-based cakes with a chewy crumb popular in Australia and New Zealand. Made with egg whites and flavored with spices, nuts, and chocolate, they come in numerous variations.

Jump to:

• What are Friands?
• Friands vs. financiers
• Friand tin
• Friand recipe
• Ingredients
• How to make friands
• Expert Tips
• Recipe variations
• Storing and freezing
• Recipe FAQ
• Love French recipes? Try these next!
• Recipe card
• Comments

Friands vs. financiers

Friands, pronounced 'free-onds,' closely resemble French financiers, but there are some differences. While both are made with brown butter, friands can also be made with melted butter.

But the major difference lies in their shapes. Friands are shaped in special oval aspic molds, while financiers are shaped in rectangular molds.

Friand tin

Oval aspic molds with a star or diamond imprint in the bottom of each tin are the original molds to bake authentic 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 mini friand pans or mini loaf tins to make rectangular friands that resemble financiers.

Nowadays, friands are made in a 12-hole non-stick oval friand pan. You can easily bake friands in a silicone friand mold or a standard muffin tin if you don't have one.

Friand recipe

• Raspberry friands recipe is easy and quick; it is a one-bowl recipe perfect for a beginner or experienced baker.

• They are perfect for kids and adult lunch boxes and make an ideal holiday gift.

• Almond friands are so versatile that you can create your own variations.

Ingredients

For ingredients and detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.

• Butter: Use unsalted butter.

• Flour: The recipe calls for all-purpose flour, the same as plain flour. Don't replace it with cake flour or self-rising flour.

• Icing sugar (powdered or confectioners' sugar): Make it at home using a coffee grinder or use a store-bought one.

• Almond meal: Opt for a coarser almond meal over almond flour. Use a food processor to make ground almonds, but be careful not to overprocess and end up with almond butter.

• Egg whites: The recipe calls for egg whites, not whole eggs. Separate egg whites from the egg yolks using an egg separator while the eggs are chilled. Then bring egg whites to room temperature.

Pro tip: If using leftover frozen egg whites, ensure to defrost them at room temperature before you start.

Use leftover egg yolks to make creme Anglaise, Italian pastry cream, or Torta Mimosa.

• Salt enhances the flavor of friands.

• Fresh raspberries are the stars of French almond cakes. You can replace them with other fresh fruit or frozen berries, but use them unthawed to decrease the risk of color "bleeding" into the batter mixture.

How to make friands

Step 1. Preheat oven to 340°F (170°C). Prepare a silicone friand mold. If using a nonstick friand pan, butter and flour cavities, and refrigerate the mold until ready to use.

Pro tip: If using a silicone mold, read how to bake with silicone molds.

Step 2. To make the batter, cut butter into equally small pieces and melt it in the microwave at 20-second increments. Let it cool to room temperature.

Pro tip: For a more pronounced nutty flavor, replace melted butter with beurre noisette, but increase the butter amount to 6.4 oz. (180 g).

Step 3. In a large mixing bowl, sift AP flour, icing (powdered) sugar, almond meal, and salt.

Step 4. In a clean, separate bowl, whisk egg whites with an electric mixer for 15-20 seconds (photo 1). Add flavorings or add-ins to the beaten egg whites if used.

Pro tip: Alternatively, use a fork or a hand whisk to beat egg whites. 

Step 5. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour egg whites, and stir until combined. Add cooled melted butter and stir gently until just combined (photo 2).

Step 6. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Top each friand with 2-3 raspberries (photo 3).

Step 7. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until the edges become golden brown. Test with a toothpick: inserted in the center of the baked friand, it must come out clean.

Step 8. Allow to cool friands in a pan for 3-5 minutes. To help loosen them, use a butter knife to run carefully around the sides of each friand. Turn the pan onto a wire rack and let the cakes cool completely (photo 4).

To serve, dust friands with icing sugar.

Expert Tips

1. Don't overwhip egg whites: they shouldn't be mounted until soft peaks.
2. If using a metal friand pan, bake the cakes at 355°F (180°C) for 20-25 minutes.
3. This recipe makes 8 friands. For a mold with 12 cavities, simply multiply all the ingredients by 1.5.
4. The friand batter will also fill about ten cavities of a regular muffin tray. Bake at 355°F (180°C) for 15-20 minutes (use a toothpick test).

Recipe variations

Create endless recipe variations using this basic recipe.

• Chocolate: Add 3.5 oz. (100 g) of coarsely chopped white, milk, or dark chocolate to the friand batter. You can also add 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder to the dry ingredients.

• Coffee: Add 1 ½ tablespoons of fresh ground coffee to the dry ingredients.

• Zest: Add 1-2 teaspoons of lime, orange, or lemon zest to the egg white mixture.

• Coconut: Add 1 tablespoon of citrus juice and ¼ cup (20 g) shredded coconut to the egg white mixture.

• Nuts: Replace almond flour with ground pistachios, pecans, or hazelnut meal and sprinkle unbaked friands with flaked almonds or coarsely chopped pistachios, pecans, or hazelnuts.

• Berries and fruits: Top unbaked friands with fresh fruits or frozen berries (no need to defrost). You can use canned fruit (peaches, pineapple, etc.), well-drained on a paper towel before chopping.

• Citrus and poppy seed: Add 2 teaspoons of lemon or orange zest and one tablespoon of poppy seeds to the egg white mixture.

• Flavorings: Add vanilla extract, orange flower water, rose water, or almond extract. Simply add them to the batter when mixing in the melted butter.

Download this free 10-page fruit flavor pairing chart for more exciting fruit combinations.

Storing and freezing

Friands are best made and eaten on the same day. Store friands in an airtight container at room temperature for two days.

Can you freeze friands? You can freeze friands for up to three months. Wrap them individually in double plastic film, then aluminum foil and freeze.

To thaw, bring them to the refrigerator overnight or the kitchen counter for a few hours. Warm them up in a moderate oven for about 15 minutes and microwave on high (100%) for about 20-30 seconds. 

Recipe FAQ

Love French recipes? Try these next!

If you ever wondered about what to do with egg whites, here is a list of French egg white recipes:

• Raspberry financiers
• Chocolate financiers
• Blackberry friands
• French meringue cake
• Concorde cake

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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.