Chocolate Financiers
Learn how to make chocolate financiers with this easy recipe. These little chocolate cakes are made with ground almonds and brown butter, which create a sweet, nutty chocolate cake!
Servings: 24 mini cakes
Calories: 92kcal
Ingredients
- 115 grams unsalted butter
- 90 grams ground almonds
- 150 grams granulated sugar
- 42 grams bleached all-purpose flour
- 32 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
- 115 grams large egg white(s)
- 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
- cacao nibs
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and continue cooking it until it turns light brown in color. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the brown butter to a small bowl to cool down sllightly. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the ground almonds, sugar, flour, and cocoa powder. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, combine the egg whites and salt. Whisk them until they are very frothy and foamy.
- Pour the frothy egg whites over the dry ingredients. Whisk vigorously to mix everything together, then add the cooled brown butter and whisk the batter more to completely incorporate it. The batter will be quite stiff.
- Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and chill the batter for at least 1 hour until cold.
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Butter a non-stick 24-cup mini muffin pan.
- Divide the batter among the 24 wells of the prepared pan. Sprinkle the tops of the financiers with cocoa nibs to garnish them.
- Bake the chocolate financiers until the centres are set. This takes about 16 minutes. Use a cake tester inserted into the middle of one of them to verify they are baked through. Let cool slightly before using a mini offset spatula to unmould them.
Notes
Here are a few substitutions and variations you can explore:
- Sugar—instead of granulated sugar, you can try icing sugar or a combination of the two. Brown sugar will also work, but watch for lumps!
- Nut-free—instead of ground almonds, you can try ground sunflower seeds for a nut-free version
- Gluten-free—for a gluten-free version, you can test the recipe with an alternative flour. For example, millet or sorghum flour should work well, but I've also successfully made gluten-free financiers with chestnut flour and even white rice flour! Buckwheat flour would also be a really interesting option here.
- Cocoa—you can try natural cocoa powder instead of Dutch-processed in this recipe, but the flavour and colour of the chocolate tea cakes may differ with a different cocoa powder.
- Salt—This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
Nutrition
Calories: 92kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 59mg | Potassium: 31mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 120IU | Calcium: 11mg | Iron: 0.4mg
