Giant Strawberry Almond Financier

A French “Financier” is a notoriously delicate little almond cake (usually bite-size), made with ground almonds and flavored with “beurre-noisette” (brown butter). It has a rich, moist interior and a crisp egg-shell exterior. And if you’re a regular on this blog, you’re probably no stranger to my love for Financiers. I especially love to make them in the Spring time as they work so wonderfully nestled with fresh berries, such as blueberries, raspberries and of course, strawberries.

I love them so much so, that this time I decided to upgrade my recipe to a big pie dish and nestled into it the first fresh Ontario strawberries of the season. Instead of cute individual bite-size cakes, you get a Giant Almond Strawberry Financier that makes for a perfect Spring dessert to be served when hosting or to be shared for a tea-time treat.

Because it is pie-sized (not bite-sized), this Giant Strawberry almond Financier is chewier in the middle but still has a satisfying crackly shell. I added sprinkles of slivered almonds on top as well, for extra crunch.   

With a deep almond flavour, a chewy bite and a crisp outside, this big Financier cake is the perfect vessel for juicy strawberries.

How to make brown-butter (beurre-noisette)

1. In a small sauce-pan, melt your butter over medium-low heat, whisking frequently. Once all melted, the butter will start to simmer and foam.
2. Keep a close eye on it and watch for golden specks to form at the bottom of the pan. Smell the butter for nutty aromas.
3. Remove from the heat and pour the butter into a cold bowl to stop the cooking process. Set aside and cool to room temperature.

Be careful, it’s easy to go from brown-butter to burnt-butter. If you think you’ve over-cooked or burnt the butter, do not overthink it. Dump it and start again. Burnt butter is terrible for your health.

Cooking notes:

• Although not compulsory, I recommend using a spring form cake pan or pie dish (9-inch) for this recipe. Because the center of the financier is rather moist, it will make the unmolding of the cake easier. 
• For the ground almonds, you can either buy them in store (either a package – such as Bobs Red Mill Almond Flour- of it or in bulk) or make your own. I made my own for this cake: I weight the right amount of whole toasted almonds and ground them in a Vitamix. to a semi-fine grind.
• When whipping the egg whites, make sure you reach a stiff peak. The egg whites then get folded into the dry ingredients and will lose some height. But you should still end up with a thick batter (that holds it shape). You can then use a spatula to spread it evenly into the pan/dish. 
• This recipe works perfectly with strawberries, but you can switch for blueberries or raspberries if you wish. Just do not overcrowd the cake batter with berries, as the fruits release some moisture when baking – you don’t want to end up with a soggy cake.
• You can omit the slivered almonds if you wish or replace them with pistachios (unsalted, chopped).

Giant Strawberry Almond Financier

Print Recipe

Serves: 8 Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cooking Time: 30 Minutes 30 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 4.4/5

( 9 voted )

Ingredients

1/2 cup + 1/2 tbsp (125g) unsalted butter (made into “beurre-noisette” – see cooking note)
3/4 cup + 1 tbsp (80g) Ground Almonds
1 cup (125g) Icing Sugar
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp (50g) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
3 egg whites
¼ tsp almond extract
6-8 fresh strawberries (not too ripe, not too firm), stemmed and cut in half
¼ cup slivered almonds
Optional: 2 tbsp (40g) Strawberry jam

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 340F (170C) with a rack in the middle. Grease a 9-inch (23cm) cake pan (ideally, spring-form pan) with butter and dust with flour. Tap to remove the excess flour. 

Make the beurre-noisette (see cooking note) and set aside to let it cool to room temperature.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground almonds, icing sugar, flour, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to a stiff peak.

Sprinkle 1/3 of the dry ingredients over the egg whites and fold in gently with a spatula. When barely combined, sprinkle another third of the dry ingredients and fold again. Repeat with the last third of the dry ingredients. When combined, fold in the almond extract and the beurre-noisette. Stop folding when just combined.

Carefully transfer the batter to the cake pan and gently smooth out the top with the spatula.

Place the strawberry halves (cut-side down) evenly on the cake batter. Just barely push on the strawberries to keep them in place (not too much, they will sink in the batter when baking).

Sprinkle the slivered almonds evenly onto the cake.

Bake for 30 minutes, until golden. Transfer to a cooling rack.

Optional: Brush strawberry jam on the strawberries for a glossy shine.

Let cool 15 minutes before removing the financier from the pan. 

If you try this Giant Strawberry Almond Financier recipe let me know!  Leave a comment or share a photo using #pardonyourfrench on Instagram. Bon Appétit!

Shop for this recipe (click the photos): 

Circular 9-inch cake pan

Bob’s Red Mill Almond Flour