Almond lemon financier cake recipe, financier cake is a very refined quick bread and a great recipe to make for using your leftover egg whites. Serve it with some lemon curd on the side!
Financier cake does not rise much while baking as it doesn't contain any leavening agent, only the whipped egg whites, therefore it is rather a thin cake.
The main differences between almond financier and other quick breads are mainly that financiers are made with egg whites, this is why they are great to use up leftover egg whites. Also they are made with brown butter and they contain no leavener.
Brown butter is obtained by melting butter on low heat until it starts to brown and flex of burnt butter start to form at the bottom of pan, at this stage, remove from heat and let cool before filtering through a fine meshed sieve.
Both can be used although I wouldn’t use them together. If you cannot find almond or hazelnut meal, you can process an equal quantity of almonds or hazelnuts in your food processor just until you obtain a fine meal, don’t go to far though or the meal would become grainy.
For this almond and lemon financier, I added the zest (outer skin) of 1 lemon. The almond flavor is so powerful though that the lemon flavor remains remote, therefore I served my financier with a side of lemon curd. Hellooo! Let me tell you, financier and lemon curd are a match made in heaven, so good!
Here is the link for my lemon curd recipe.
Here are a few other quick bread recipes, check my Chocolate strawberry jam quick bread or my Chocolate orange marbled quick bread, click on my "Sweet" category for more sweet treats.
1/2 cup (113 g) butter
4 egg whites
1 cup + 1 tbsp. (113 g) almond meal
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp. (56 g) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (150 g) sugar (set aside 2 tbsp)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
Zest of 1 lemon (outer skin)
About 1/4 cup icing sugar to sprinkle on top
Pre-heat your oven at 400°F (200°C), butter a 9 x 5 inches (23 x 12 cm) loaf pan
Into a small saucepan, melt butter on medium heat and let bubble away just until the butter starts to brown and dark specks are forming at the bottom of pan, set aside to cool
Into the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the 4 egg whites at high speed, once the egg whites start to foam, add slowly the 2-tbsp. sugar and the vanilla, whisk until almost stiff peaks, set aside
Into a large bowl, whisk together almond meal, flour, salt, sugar and lemon zest, pour the cooled butter through a fine meshed sieve and stir with a spatula to distribute
Add 2 spoonfuls of egg whites to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly with a spatula, you don’t need to be delicate at this stage
Add the rest of the egg whites, mix delicately all the ingredients with a spatula, make large strokes from the bottom and around the bowl, try not deflating the meringue. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared loaf pan
Into the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes (mine took 30 minutes), check that a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean
Let cool for about half an hour on a cooling rack, run a knife around the sides of the cake before taking out of the pan, once cooled dust with icing sugar
This cake will keep well for a few days at room temperature
Serve with a side of lemon curd, click here for my recipe
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