Financier Nature ~ 原味費南雪小蛋糕

Hello friends, it has been a while (awww~~~ it seem to be the opening line for the last couple posts)! Although I have not been posting regularly but I have been in the kitchen baking away! One of the treats that I have been baking a lot is this dainty, buttery French teacake calls financier, which is financer in English. How did it get its name? It is believed that a baker in the Paris financial district created this and he named the cakes after the traditional rectangular mold, which resembles a bar of gold. These teacakes were also know as brown butter cakes to many because it is made with butter cooked till golden brown (beurre noisette) to give that characteristic nutty flavor. The traditional financiers are made using just brown butter, sugar, flour and egg whites. Now, they come in many other flavors like matcha, sesame, lavender, pistachio, chocolate and whatever you name it. For me, I like the traditional flavor most but I like to top with different toppings, usually berries or tart stoned fruits to cut the oil a bit.

I adopted the recipe from this rocking lady. Traditionally made with flour, her recipe called for a healthier alternative, which is replacing some of the flour with almond meal and pistachio meal. I think it is yummier since it yields a more moist cake. However, I omitted pistachio and used just almond for this particular batch. Depending on the size of the molds, you can make as many as 15 traditional bars or 3 dozens petite four. Also, this is a great do-ahead treat – I bake them in pretty shaped silicon molds and freeze them and just reheat when I have friends over. They are best when share so start baking and invite your friends over =)



Financier Nature
3 dozens mini cake (silicone mold)

120g egg whites
125g sugar
Zest of half a lemon
30g all purpose flour
80g almond meal
150g unsalted butter, browned and strained, cooled

Cut the butter into big chunks and cook in a small saucepan over medium heat until it starts to foam and dark particles start to form on the bottom of the pan. It will smell nutty. Remove and strain the butter and let it cool.

Whisk the first five ingredients together in a bowl. Slowly add the cooled brown butter and whisk until it is incorporated. Let the batter rest in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat oven to 375°F/185°C. Pour batter into a piping bag and pipe into silicon molds until almost full, top with either raspberries or blueberries and bake for about 10 minutes or until golden. Time will vary depending on the size of the mold.



親愛的﹐好久不見啦﹗天呀﹐這快變成每次發文的開場白了(苦笑ing) 。雖然最近不常更新博客﹐我可沒在偷懶﹐我可是不停的在廚房轉。那為什麼沒跟大家分享呢﹖Well ﹐就得了思維阻塞症唄。。。突然就是不知道該寫些什麼(T~T)。。。希望這只是過渡期。。。唉。。。

今天要分享的法式糕點是financier。這financier即費南雪﹐翻成中文就是金融家﹐所以這蛋糕又名金融家蛋糕。聽說是由在巴黎金融區的一名糕餅師傅發明的。他是為了讓在證交所上班的金融家們也能快速品嘗下午茶而發明的一種甜點，所以理所當然就以金融家命名。也有人稱為金磚蛋糕。好像是傳統造型是細長型的，又烤成黃金般的顏色﹐讓人不假思索地聯想到金磚的緣故。 是道簡單卻有著迷人風味富深度的精緻點心。除了小巧討喜的外觀﹐口感細緻溫潤外還帶有濃郁奶油焦香味是它的特色。傳統風味為奶油味但時至今日，費南雪已發展出各種不同特色的風味，像是巧克力﹑芝麻﹑抹茶﹑開心果又或是薰衣草風味等等。我最愛的還是奶油風味的﹐不過為了口感吃起來清爽一點我喜歡加點酸味莓果一起烘烤。

傳統的做法是用麵粉來製作的﹐但我喜歡她用杏仁跟開心果仁粉較養生的做法﹐而且果仁粉除了讓蛋糕體更濃郁舒爽有層次﹐口感也較比麵粉來的溼滑綿密。費南雪多用傳統的長方形烤模來製作﹐不過我喜歡用不同形狀的小巧矽膠模來製作﹐這樣比較賞心悅目。這個食譜可製作出約15個傳統長方形蛋糕或36個迷你蛋糕。不得不說的是這是可以提前操作的一道點心喔 - 將烤好的蛋糕放密閉式容器再放冰庫存放﹐享用前放烤箱回溫即可。



原味費南雪小蛋糕
約36個迷你蛋糕

120g 蛋白
125g 砂糖
半個檸檬的皮茸
30g 麵粉
80g 杏仁粉
150g 無鹽奶油 (焦化﹑濾過﹑放涼)

要注意什麼呢?
- 烘烤時間只是參考而以﹐因為烤箱應不同制造商﹐溫度有差異﹐當然模具的大小也會影響烘烤的長短。

將無鹽奶油切塊﹐以中火煮至冒泡成金黃色還散發出堅果般的香氣就可以了。將奶油濾過放涼﹐備用。

混合蛋白﹑砂糖﹑檸檬皮茸﹑杏仁粉﹑麵粉﹐然後一邊用打蛋器攪打一邊將放涼的奶油倒進麵糊中至呈順滑麵糊狀。將麵糊放冰箱醒麵一個晚上。

將烤箱預熱至375°F/185°C。將麵糊取出倒入沒有擠嘴的擠花袋裡﹐剪去一角﹐將麵糊擠進矽膠模中至約9分滿﹐然後在每個模中輕輕推進一粒藍莓或覆盆子。放進烤箱裡烘烤約10分鐘至金黃色。從烤箱取出﹐擺在網架上稍微放涼﹐翻轉倒扣﹐放涼。