A Cake of Real Gold -- Un gâteau en or, du vrai
Blaze : - « Monseignor, il est l'or, l'or de se réveiller. »
Don Salluste : - « Il en manque une ! »
B. : - « Vous êtes sor ? »
D.S. : - « Tout à fait sor ! » Blaze: - " Sir, it is time, time to wake up.
Don Salluste: - One is missing!
B.: - Are you sure?
D.S.: - Totally sure!"
(dialogue between Blaze (Yves Montand) and Don Salluste de Bazan (Louis de Funès) as Blaze tries to wake Don Salluste up by moving gold coins in his hands) There are those language puns that I just wish I could translate but non, cela ne marche pas! (It just does not work). Unless you speak French or have seen the French classical hilarious comedy La folie des grandeurs featuring Louis de Funès and Yves Montand, you have no clue what I am talking about! Let's say that—and to make it short because I am quite bad at telling movie stories without adding more confusion—, I am talking about de l'or (gold) because Don Salluste was obsessed with gold. So as Blaze moves the gold coins in his hands to produce noise in order to wake Don Salluste up, his words are punctuated with the word or, which replace syllabes in his words. He says: Il est l'or instead of Il est l'heure (It is time). The language pun lies just right there! Monsignor instead of Monseigneur, sor instead of sûr. I think you better see the movie before I ruin it all, even if you have never heard about it before. It is truly a French cult movie I watched over and over again while growing up.
As to us, Il est l'or du thé, and I bet you had no idea that Tea Time could make you rich today.
Financiers: Mes lingots d'or - Bars of Gold Every time it is the same old story. I am convinced that I am safe and have a favorite cake that I can bake when ideas are failing me. These days, the truth is that I cannot think straight because of the heat wave we live in. It is almost as if my neurones had escaped from my head to go on a vacation who-knows-where. Did God or whoever created this world really believe that humans and animals would enjoy living in hot humid weather? So here I am again, talking about the weather more than is healthy. In countries where people wake up with the same looking sky every day, they don't even notice the weather anymore. C'est vrai! It is true. My cousin's husband from Nigeria onced told me so. After living in England for years, every time he would go back to Nigeria and talk about the weather with his friends, they would look at him with a weird puzzled look on their face, a What's up with him? kind of look. But I discovered a new baby cake.
Financiers have always intrigued me. It has to do with their shape, the almond and nutty taste, and the fact that they are small individual cakes, mini-versions of bigger cakes. You can find big financiers but small is what attracts me to them. Not that I do not want to get richer! But why call them financiers?—and I think you will understand finance, the root of this word easily. What is the point of that? When I asked P. what his thought was, he simply replied: « Ah mais c'est la forme. C'est comme un lingot d'or! » Really? They are like bars of gold? Why did I not think about that? Of course, as my neurones are gone with the heat, this thought could just not have crossed my mind! Or I just think differently, and what should be obvious to me just flies above my head. The heat, I tell you.
Financiers are traditional French cakes which base ingredients are a combination of white eggs , nutty butter (beurre noisette) and almond powder (called also almond flour, in French, poudre d'amandes). The shape of the cake is usually rectangular although it is possible to find oval financiers as well. Enough to convince you that they are just lovely little cakes?
Whether it is hot or cold, we drink a lot of tea at home. P.'s family background taught me that with tea should always come biscuits, cake or cookies. Does every Irish family do this? "A cup of tea? A biscuit anyone?" Luckily, we do not eat something with every cup of tea we gulp down, otherwise we would just...., well we simply don't so there is no sinon.
I decided to make a batch with two different flavors of financiers and test the texture a bit. One with Matcha green tea, the other one with a red fruit. But the flavors are endless! The results obtained were a moist nutty texture. As to which one I preferred, well let's see, which one was the heaviest in gold? In any case, they make you both repus, that is food happy! Enough to make many people happy.
La joie du ventre, c'est toute la richesse du monde ! (The joy of the stomach is all the richness of the world).
Red Fruit Financiers
- 4 white eggs (at room temperature)
- 1 cup almond powder not packed (or 3.6 ounces)
- 3 tablespoons hazelnut powder
- 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 9 tablespoons butter
- 1 + 1/2 cup + 4 tablespoons (or 6.5 ounces) confectioner's sugar
- 8 fresh strawberries (or 16 raspberries)
- Use a sieve to sift the flour and sugar before mixing them together.
- Add the almond and hazelnut powders to the dry preparation.
- Melt the butter in a pot and cook for 2 mns after boiling point, so that it has a nice nutty flavor(called then a beurre noisette), and let it cool down to room temperature.
- Filter the butter
- Add it to the preparation and mix well.
- Beat the egg whites until foamy but not firm.
- Add and mix well to get a sticky batter.
- Let the batter rest for a few hours before dividing it between 8 small greased and floured individual financier molds*.
- Wash the strawberries and slice them in halves. Place 2 halves in each cake, pressing the fruit down a bit.
- Preheat your oven at 350 F and bake the financiers for about 15 to 20 mns.
- Check whether they are cooked through. Remove from the oven and let them cool down for a few mns before unmoulding.
Matcha Tea Financiers
- 4 white eggs (at room temperature)
- 1 cup + 3 Tbsp almond powder
- 9 oz butter
- 1 +1/2 cup + 4 Tbsp (or 6.5 oz) confectioner's sugar
- 2 tsp Matcha green tea
- 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- Follow the same steps with the variations that follow.
- Add the Matcha tea to the dry preparation, that is the flour/sugar/almond powder mixed together. Then proceed in the same way.
- The step with the red fruit is omitted of course.
Le coin français
Les financiers aux fruits rouges
- 4 blancs d'oeuf (à température ambiante)
- 100 g poudre d'amandes
- 20 g poudre de noisette
- 80 g farine
- 125 g beurre
- 180 g sucre glace
- 8 fraises (ou 16 framboises)
- Tamisez la farine et le sucre avant de les mélanger ensemble.
- Ajoutez la poudre d'amande et de noisette à cette préparation sèche.
- Faites fondre le beurre dans une casserole et amenez à ébullition, pour faire cuire pendant environ 2 mns. Vous obtenez un beurre noisette. Laissez-le refroidir pour qu'il soit à température ambiante.
- Filtrez-le et ajoutez-le à la préparation. Mélangez bien.
- Battez vos blancs d'oeuf pour qu'ils soient mousseux mais pas fermes.
- Ajoutez-les à votre préparation et mélangez bien.
- Laissez la pâte reposer pendant quelques heures avant de la diviser entre 8 moules à financier* graissés et farinés.
- Lavez vos fraises et coupez-les en 2. Enfoncez deux moitiés dans chaque petit gâteau.
- Préchauffez votre four à 180 C et cuisez les financiers pendant 15 à 20 mns.
- Sortez-les du four et laissez-les reposer pendant quelques minutes avant de les démouler.
Les financiers au thé vert
- 4 blancs d'oeuf (à température ambiante)
- 120 g poudre d'amande
- 125 g beurre
- 180 g sucre glace
- 2 càc de thé vert Matcha
- 80 g farine
- Suivez les mêmes étapes avec les variantes qui suivent.
- Ajoutez le thé vert Matcha à la préparation sèche, c'est à dire la farine/sucre/poudre d'amandes mélangée. Puis procédez de la même façon.
- Omettez bien sûr l'étape avec les fraises.
42 Comments
L Liza ·
B béate ·
F fiordizucca ·
K Kat ·
G Geneve ·
F Framboise ·
L laura @ cucina testa rossa ·
E Ellie ·
A Audrey ·
E Ester ·
F flo ·
V Vroumette ·
M MarieT ·
1 100g de sucre.. ·
A Alhya ·
I iamchanelle ·
D David ·
G Gracianne ·
N Natalie ·
L Lilo ·
C Claire emma ·
C Cocopassions ·
C Caterine ·
I Ivonne ·
B Béa ·
Beate, merci! ;-)
Francesca indeed, and your Matcha tea ideas abund!
Kat, not a problem, hurry!
Geneve, thanks!
Framboise, ah ben avec une gourmande comme toi, c'est facile dis!
Laura, thanks for your nice note!
Ellie et Audrey, merci a toutes les deux!
Ester, wouah, quelle superbe idee. Et alors, ils etaient donc sales?
Flo, ah oui ce film, je viens d'ailleurs de le commander sur Netflix (si tu connais, un systeme de films qui remplacent les videos!) Merci a toi!
Vroumette, merci de t'etre arretee. Curieuse de voir tes realisations, je suis sure que tu es bien modeste!
Marie, tout a fait, une des meilleures excuses pour te lancer! vas-y!
100g de sucre, ahaha;-)
Alhya, gourmande, va!
imachanelle, thanks my dear. Yes this weather indeed....it slows things down, so not that bad for me in many ways!
David, ah interesting. I like this one! It makes sense!
Gracianne, oui courageuse ou optimiste! ;-) Ah oui le langage des gourmands est universel, thank god!
Natalie, sweet idea!
Lilo, c'est vrai que ca ressemble, pas vrai ?
Claire, alors ca fait combien ?
Cocopassions, ah ah, merci!
Caterine, je suis ravie que cela t'ait plu! Yeah!
Ivonne, get the movie and watch it. It is hilarious!
F Fabienne ·
T Tanna ·
A astridcmoi ·
V Vanessa ·
M Marie-Luce ·
B Béa ·
Tanna, thanks for your kind words! Very appreciated! ;-) ;-)
Astrid, je vais de ce pas les voir! ;-)
Vanessa, thanks so much! Small is nice, isn't it? ;-)
Marie-Luce, ah super! J'en suis tres heureuse! Merci de me le faire savoir, ca fait plaisir!
E Ester ·
L Latifa ·
C christine choc ·
A Anne ·
B Béa ·
C ChrisBliss ·
J John Hough ·
M Marina ·
J jonathan ·
B Beverly ·
B Béa ·