I've never been much of a baker, nor really had a sweet tooth so I was slightly taken aback after I'd pressed the 'confirm' button on Ebay, having bought a silicone friand mould. Australian in origin, I've had them before at the excellent Kaffeine, and the fancy just took me.
Light and airy with the background flavour of almond, these are perhaps one of the easiest cakes I've made and the most tricky thing is buying the mould itself. With this as a base recipe, I'm looking forward to trying out variations of flavours. Most commonly, these seem to be topped with an icing of some sort or studded with summer berries but being rather out of season at the moment, I opted instead for a simple lemon and Earl Grey flavouring; the bergamot of the tea complemented the lemon well. They're pretty much the perfect size to snack on with a cup of coffee, while a dollop of creme fraiche, mascarpone or served warm with vanilla ice cream turns them into a more substantial dessert.
Lemon & Earl Grey Friands
Makes 6
3 Earl Grey teabags - I like Bellevue Tea most.
4 tbsp boiling water
Zest of 1 lemon
25gr plain flour
100gr ground almonds
100gr icing sugar, plus enough to dust
3 egg whites
Zest of 1 lemon
100gr melted butter, plus enough to grease your moulds
Soak the teabags in the water for 30 minutes, and then squeeze out, reserving the liquid.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Grease your moulds with butter and dust lightly with flour.
Sift the flour and icing sugar into a large bowl. Add the ground almonds and mix together. Make a well and then add the lemon zest, Earl Grey liquid and the butter. Mix briefly. Whisk the egg whites until frothy and floppy - not stiff. Fold the egg whites in, and then spoon the cake mix into the friand moulds. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes - a skewer should come out clean. Leave to cool for 5 minutes, then carefully turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar when they have cooled.
9 comments:
Hi, great recipe idea. Definitely going to give this a go! Quick question, when do you add the earl grey
Liquid?
Hi Anon - Sorry! It's in there now.
yum... I want to eat these!
Following a trusty old friand recipe I always brown the butter, not just melt it. It gives a nutty, toasty flavour. Try it and see if you like it that way. And I am going to try your earl gray & lemon friands this week, as they sound great and I've just been given some duck eggs.
I love making friands. The best thing is coming up with flavours: I did some coffee and some blackberry & lime last time I did them. Yum yum.
First tried friands (raspberry and blueberry and lime) at Federation Coffee in Brixton Village. They seem to be an Antipodean thing. These look very nice. Have always wanted to try making them. Could maybe sub Lady Grey tea for the Earl Grey. Anderson's in Bellenden Road sometimes have them in. They are also called financiers in some establishments. Friand is so much easier to say!
Rachel - Oooh there's an idea. I know that's something you usually do in financiers, but I'll give that a go too.
Katie - Blackberry and lime sounds gorgeous.
Catherine - Yup, they do seem to be Australian. I think financiers are different shaped, more rectangular than oval? Friand is definitely easier.
My Australian heart just swooned. This is classic 'make up with your Mum after a fight' food from Sydney. You go out, you get a flat white and you share a friand. By the end one of you should have apologised. Think these will fill a hole (just need to get one of those speccy moulds now)
These look delicious! I really like friends and earl grey is a very exciting flavour to add to them.
I'll definitely have a go at these at some point, but may need a proper friend baking tray first haha.
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