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Sekai Gohan
Friand: Australian Brown Butter Almond Cakes with Raspberries
Ingredients
| Ingredient | Amount | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Unsalted butter | 7¾ oz (220 g) | Browned for flavor. 6½ oz (185 g) goes into the batter and the rest greases the tin |
| Egg whites (from about 6 eggs) | 7¾ oz (220 g) | Moisture and structure. Mixed until combined, never whipped |
| Blanched almond meal | 4½ oz (125 g) | The main flavor and the moist crumb |
| Icing sugar | 8½ oz (240 g) | Sweetness. Together with the almond meal it replaces part of the flour and gives the cake its texture |
| Plain flour | 2¾ oz (75 g) | A small amount to bind, so the cake stays light |
| Lemon | finely grated zest of 1 | Fragrance without sourness |
| Raspberries, fresh or frozen | 30 berries (about 9 oz / 250 g) | Three on top of each cake |
Steps
1Brown the butter
Put 7¾ oz (220 g) unsalted butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. It melts, foams loudly, then goes quiet as the foam turns fine. The milk solids on the bottom of the pan turn brown and the kitchen smells of toasted nuts. Butter goes from brown to black in seconds, so stay at the pan. Take it off the heat when the solids are deep brown, not black, and set the pan aside to cool.
2Prepare the tin and heat the oven
Heat the oven to 345°F (175°C), or 310°F (155°C) if it is fan-forced. Brush ten of the twelve holes in the friand tin with some of the browned butter and leave the last two bare. Cut ovals of baking paper to fit the bases and press one into each greased hole. This much sugar makes the batter stick, and the paper is what lets the cakes come out clean. The tin is ready when each paper oval lies flat on the base without riding up the sides.
3Mix the egg whites
Put 7¾ oz (220 g) egg whites in a large bowl. Stir them with a balloon whisk only until they are combined. Stop as soon as the thick clumps of white are gone and the liquid flows evenly off the whisk. A few large, loose bubbles are fine. You should see no layer of white froth on top, because the cake gets its texture from the almond and sugar, not from whipped air.
4Sift in the dry ingredients and add the lemon
Sift 4½ oz (125 g) almond meal, 8½ oz (240 g) icing sugar and 2¾ oz (75 g) plain flour over the egg whites. Fold with a rubber spatula until no dry pockets remain, scraping the bottom of the bowl. Mixing the dry ingredients in fully before the butter goes in keeps the batter from separating. Grate in the zest of the lemon and fold it through. The batter is ready when it is smooth, even and slightly sticky.
5Weigh in the brown butter
Let the butter cool first, because warm butter sets the whites. Set the bowl of batter on the scale, zero it, and pour in 6½ oz (185 g) of the browned butter. Browning cooks off water, so measuring the butter after browning gives the right weight. Fold gently until the batter is glossy and falls from the spatula in a soft ribbon, then pour it into a jug.
6Fill the tin and add the raspberries
Pour the batter evenly into the ten lined holes, checking from the side that the levels match so the cakes bake at the same rate. Leave the two bare holes empty. Place three raspberries on each cake, frozen ones straight from the freezer. Press them in lightly. Push too hard and they sink out of sight. The berries should sit half-set in the surface.
7Bake, rest and turn out
Bake for 25 minutes. The friands are done when the edges are golden brown and slightly crisp, the centres have domed and spring back when you press them, and a skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean. Leave them in the tin for 5 minutes, because they are fragile straight from the oven. Then turn them out onto a wire rack and peel off the paper. A cooled friand has a firm, crisp edge and a moist centre.