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.
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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.
They’ve got 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 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 with Roasted Raspberry Swirl, just fill muffin tins, or bake a larger loaf in a regular 9-inch x 5-inch (or thereabouts) pan.
I also love these {affiliate links} paper loaf pan molds if you want to give these cakes away as gifts.
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)
Ingredients
- 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
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.
This makes me want to buy a financier mold! What lovely little cakes!
They are just beautiful. I can’t wait to enjoy one of these. Now I just need the pan.
I love it! Looks simple but packed full of flavors!
So yummy! I need to make these for my next brunch!
I was gifted a financiers pan recently – and I was so happy to have found this recipe!! It was the first I had made in my (new to me) pan – and they were perfection!! I will be making them often!! Keep the great recipes coming!! I love your blog!
fantastic recipe..thank you for sharing..,
didn’t get to buy financier pan yet..so tried this recipe in 8×8 pan..it came out perfect..moist and yet fluffy..I added a bit of lemon jest..it tastes really good…
The recipe was great.
I didn’t know where else to make bothering comment but….
The recipe calls for a pinch of salt but never tells you when to put it in. I just threw it in with my dry ingredients but I thought it was funny.
Meghan, thanks for the head’s up on the salt. LOL I fixed it!