Sharmila on Food

Friendly friands

I am most definitely in baking mode at the moment.  First it was a chocolate and Guinness cake.  Then it was a fudgy chocolate cake that didn’t rise and ended up looking like a brown frisbee (and it flew like one when I flung it across the kitchen in frustration).  Now it’s friands.  Must be the cold weather.  At least the oven heats up the kitchen.

I love friands.  I remember eating one at Lantana, and having a bit of a moment.  But then any cakes involving almonds and lemon zest will generally find a friend in me.  So moist, so tasty!  Anyway, they are also very easy to make.  Though they do involve sifting.  However, I love them so much that I will even do a bit of sifting, even though I am supremely lazy when it comes to sifting anything.

These make great cakes to have with a hot drink.  They are not too rich and the lemon zest gives them a bit of zing, that means you could probably eat about three of them in one go if you wanted to.  I do.

I’ve always used this recipe from The Times (you can still access it - in your face paywall!), and the result has always been great.  I added some raspberries (I like having a stash of frozen raspberries in the freezer), and the sharpness worked really well.  Similarly, I’ve used blackberries and blueberries before.  Basically, any soft fruit works a treat.

Friands - taken from Times Online

Makes 12 large or 24 small cakes - you will a normal, or mini-muffin type tin

180g unsalted butter
6 large egg whites
75g plain flour
210g icing sugar
125g ground almonds
Zest of 1½ unwaxed lemons

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat and then grease the inside of each muffin hole using a brush. Leave the remaining butter to cool.

3. Whisk the egg whites in a large bowl until frothy (but not at the soft-peak stage). Sift the flour and icing sugar over the egg whites and sprinkle the almonds and lemon zest on to.

4. Pour in the cooled butter, then mix carefully until the batter is completely smooth. Spoon into the tins (at this point, drop your soft fruit of choice onto the top of each one) and bake for 13-15 minutes (18-20 minutes for larger muffins). They should be light golden and springy to the touch.

5. Leave for 5 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool.