Financiers (French Almond Cakes)

These little tea cakes, or Financiers (French Almond Cakes), are lovely little buttery almond cakes that are baked in a rectangular shape, and are said to look like bars of gold. Thus, the name, Financiers.

These French almond flour cakes are a classic dessert that is just the right amount of sweetness in a simple little dessert. You’ll love these!

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Financiers are traditional small pastries with a light moist sponge cake texture.

They generally have nuts, typically almonds, but also pistachios or hazelnuts, and are buttery and delicious.

Financier pastry has a lovely crispy crust outside, and light and moist inside.

Simple and delicious

You may remember seeing these little cakes when I first made them with a roasted raspberry swirl, Almond Cakes with Roasted Raspberry Swirl.

The cakes are so good, simply plain, that I thought they deserved a special place of their own.

Serve these any time!

These moist & delicious almond cakes are popular for morning or afternoon snack in France.

Perfect cakes for any dinner party or brunch, like Easter, Mother’s Day or Christmas.

Serve them with coffee for a lovely afternoon snack.

Or serve them with tea for tea time.

Financier pan

To get this bars of gold shape, you’ll want to use a {affiliate link} Financier pan like this one from Amazon.

This pan is something you can use over and over again.

Make little individual loaf cakes for Christmas gifts.

Just wrap them up in a pretty cloth, maybe even a dishtowel, and tie with a pretty ribbon, and you have a nice homemade gift to give friends and neighbors.

What if I don’t have a Financier pan?

If you don’t have one of these pans (and don’t want to buy one), but want to make these individual Almond Cakes, just fill muffin tins, or bake a larger loaf in a regular 9-inch x 5-inch (or thereabouts) pan.

Adjust baking times accordingly.

I also love these {affiliate links} paper loaf pan molds if you want to give these cakes away as gifts.

Can these be made ahead?

These cakes store nicely. Let them cool at room temperature. Pop them in an airtight container and store them at room temp for up to 2 days.

They can be kept in the fridge for longer storage, the fridge may dry them out a bit.

These cakes can be made ahead and frozen if you’d like. Let them cool completely, wrap them in aluminum foil, and then keep them in an airtight container (like a ziptop bag) for a couple months.

What is super fine almond flour?

Super fine almond flour is simply ground almonds. You can see it in this Amazon affiliate link. Most grocery stores carry it – look in the baking aisle or maybe if you have a “health foods or gluten free” aisle it might be there.

You can make your own by grinding almonds if you want to, but be careful not to turn it into almond butter. I prefer to buy it already ground so it’s easy and perfectly ground.

You may see it called almond flour, almond meal, or ground almonds in different recipes. Almond flour is generally just almond meal that’s been ground even finer. I’ve also used almond meal in my Coconut Almond Cookies and Almond Cake.

Tip: store any leftover almond flour or almond meal in the freezer to keep it fresher for longer.

Items you may want to go along with your tea cakes

Note: these are affiliate links

Financier pan
Cake and cupcake carrier
Paper loaf pans
Edible glitter for garnishing
Wood slab cake stand
Rustic wooden cupcake stand

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Financiers (French Almond Cakes)

Financiers (French Almond Cakes)

Debi

Financiers are traditional small pastries with a light moist sponge cake texture. They’ve got a lovely crispy crust outside, and light and moist inside. Want to make a double batch, simply use the servings slider on the recipe card to easily adjust the ingredient amounts.

5 from 6 votes

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine French

Servings 8 cakes

Calories 380 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ¾ cup unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• pinch salt
• 1 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup super fine almond flour
• 6 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350° F.
• Melt the butter in a small saucepan, and cook until it turns a pale golden brown color. Keep a close eye on the butter, as it can burn easily.
• Grease the bottoms and sides of the financier pan with some of the melted butter.
• Let the butter cool slightly as you work on the rest of the recipe.
• Sift the all-purpose flour, salt, and powdered sugar together into a large bowl and stir in the ground almonds.
• Place the egg whites in a separate large mixing bowl, and whisk by hand, with a hand mixer, or in a stand mixer, until they are white and frothy.
• Gently mix the frothy egg whites into the flour mixture. Stir in the melted butter and vanilla extract, and mix well.
• Spoon the batter into the cake pan, about ½-inch to 3/4 –inch high.
• Bake the cakes in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until they are lightly golden.
• Let the cakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes, and then remove them from the pan, and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
• Serve the cakes warm or at room temperature. Cakes can be sprinkled with powdered sugar for garnishing.

Nutrition

Calories: 380kcalCarbohydrates: 36gProtein: 7gFat: 24gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 40mgPotassium: 54mgFiber: 2gSugar: 25gVitamin A: 532IUCalcium: 38mgIron: 1mg

Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations, and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.

Keyword almond, cake

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