AUSTRALIA - Classic cakes - Friands

Thank you to Angela for introducing me to friands and sharing all her fave recipes and great cake advice!!

Friands  are another tasty wee cake that I've not seen anywhere in Scotland but are in all the cafes in Austalia. They are light muffin type cakes (though generally smaller) and are made with ground almond, and can be made in all different flavours - raspberry, strawberry, anything you fancy...

Here are a couple of different recipes. The first made with just egg whites.


Almond and Strawberry friands
6 egg whites
185g melted butter
1 cup (125g) ground almonds
1 1/2 cups (240g) icing sugar
1/2 cup (75g) plain flour
100g strawberries

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Grease friand pans.
2. Place egg whites in a bowl and whish with fork until combined. Add butter, almond, icing sugar and flour. Stir til just combined using wooden spoon.
3. Divide into tins and top with strawberry slices.
4. Bake for 25 mins. Once baked cool in tin for 5 mins then turn on to rack (top side up) to cool completely.
5. Serve warm or at room temp dusted with icing sugar.

Variations: blueberry, sliced banana, raspberry and white chocolate, lime & coconut ( 2 teaspoons of finely grated lime rind, 1 tbsp lime juice and 1/4 cup (20g) dessicated coconut into egg white mix).

Mini Raspberry friands

melted butter to grease
Plain flour to dust
1 1/2 cups (195g) sifted icing sugar
1/2 cup (75g) sifted plain flour
1 1/2 cups (55g) ground almonds
3 eggs lightly whisked
180g unsalted butter, melted & cooled
100g frozen raspberries
2 tbspns flaked almonds
icing sugar to dust

1. Preheat oven at 180C. Grease thirty 40ml mini muffin pans with melted butter. Dust with flour. (You get specialist friand tins in Australia - not so common in the UK, so muffin tins or cupcake tins will do).

2. Combine the sugar, flour and almond meal in a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Add egg and butter. Stir until well combined.

3. Divide among the prepared pans. Divide the raspberries among the centres. Sprinkle with flaked almonds.

4. Bake for 15 - 20 mins or until light golden. Set aside in the pans for about 5 mins to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. Dust with icing sugar to serve.