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    Home » Recipes » Small Cakes

    Published on Jul 15, 2015. Modified on Nov 10, 2024 by bakingqueen74. This post may contain affiliate links. 21 Comments

    Pistachio, Cardamom and Rose Financiers

    921 shares
    Jump to Recipe

    Lightly spiced and fragranced pistachio financiers are little French almond cakes, great for afternoon tea.

    Pistachio, Cardamom and Rose Financiers

    I haven’t baked much recently, so it was really good to get back in the kitchen and get baking.

    Pistachio and rose are some of my current favourite flavours, and I’ve also seen some lovely pistachio and rose creations on Instagram and Twitter recently.

    So I was inspired to make these pistachio financiers, with a touch of added cardamom to spice them up alongside the rose!

    As these are a French speciality, these are my entry into the Perfecting Patisserie linkup for July.

    Jump to:
    • What are financiers
    • How to bake financiers
    • Ingredients
    • Method
    • Related
    • Recipe
    • Reviews

    What are financiers

    Financiers are small almond cakes made using as a beurre noisette, or brown butter.

    They are typically made in small bar shapes, like small bars of gold, and this could be where the name stems from. The other theory was that they were popular in the financial district and gained their name from there.

    They are also sold as small round cakes in France, like these delicious red berry financiers I had last year on holiday.

    Financiers fruits rouges

    How to bake financiers

    My pistachio financiers were baked in a mini loaf tin, and a couple of extras went in a normal muffin tin.

    They don’t need to bake for long, so they don’t dry out and remain springy. Just bake until they are turning golden. 

    Pistachio, Cardamom and Rose Financiers

    Ingredients

    Here’s what you will need (quantities are in the recipe card further down):

    • butter
    • pistachio kernels – you’ll chop and grind these to use in the mixture.
    • icing sugar
    • ground almonds
    • plain flour
    • salt
    • egg whites
    • rosewater – to add floral flavour.
    • cardamom – to add gentle spice.
    • rose petals – to decorate

    Method

    1. Chop the pistachio kernels until they are finely ground. I used my Pampered Chef mini chopper to chop my pistachios, in batches, but you could also use a food processor.
    2. Put the butter in a pan and heat on a medium heat until it turns a medium brown colour. For me this took around 8 minutes or so.
    3. Mix the ground pistachios, ground almonds, icing sugar, flour and salt in a large bowl.
    4. Add the egg whites, rose water and ground cardamom and mix until combined.
    5. Add the brown butter little by little, mixing well each time, to ensure it is combined well.
    6. Spoon the mixture equally into a mini loaf tin, muffin pan, or friand tin. Makes 10 financiers.
    7. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 180°C in a preheated oven. Remove from the oven when they are starting to brown.
    8. Cool for a few minutes in the tin, then remove from the tin and cool fully on a rack.
    9. Decorate by dusting the financiers with icing sugar and sprinkling over the dried rose petals.
    Pistachio, Cardamom and Rose Financiers

    These pretty cakes are delicious served for afternoon tea.

    Even though the flavours are a bit different from the norm, they will no doubt be enjoyed by all and make a delicious change.

    Related

    For more financier or friand recipes, take a look at these:

    • Strawberry and lemon friands
    • gingerbread friands
    • black forest friands
    • Brown butter choc chip friands from Tin and Thyme
    • Blackcurrant chocolate friands from Lancashire Food
    • Strawberry and pistachio financiers from Patisserie Makes Perfect

    Pin for later:

    Collage of pistachio, cardamon and rose financiers on a cooling rack

    Recipe

    Rose and pistachio financiers on a cooling rack.

    Pistachio, Cardamom and Rose Financiers

    A pretty and quick bake, French financiers are light almond cakes with pistachio nuts, rose petals and cardamom spice.
    5 from 4 votes
    Print Pin Rate Save Saved!
    Course: Baking
    Cuisine: British, French
    Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 30 minutes minutes
    Servings: 10
    Calories: 242kcal
    Author: Lucy Allen | BakingQueen74

    Ingredients

    • 120 g butter
    • 100 g pistachio kernels
    • 120 g icing sugar
    • 50 g ground almonds
    • 50 g plain flour (all-purpose flour)
    • Pinch of salt
    • 4 egg whites lightly beaten
    • 1.5 tsp rosewater
    • 1 tsp freshly ground cardamom I ground my own from cardamom pods, using a pestle and mortar
    • Rose petals and icing sugar to decorate
    UK Measurements – US Measurements

    Instructions 

    • Chop the pistachio kernels until they are finely ground. I used my Pampered Chef mini chopper to chop my pistachios, in batches, but you could also use a food processor.
      100 g pistachio kernels
    • Put the butter in a pan and heat on a medium heat until it turns a medium brown colour. For me this took around 8 minutes or so.
      120 g butter
    • Mix the ground pistachios, ground almonds, icing sugar, flour and salt in a large bowl.
      120 g icing sugar, 50 g ground almonds, 50 g plain flour (all-purpose flour), Pinch of salt
    • Add the egg whites, rose water and ground cardamom and mix until combined.
      4 egg whites, 1.5 tsp rosewater, 1 tsp freshly ground cardamom
    • Add the brown butter little by little, mixing well each time, to ensure it is combined well.
    • Spoon the mixture equally into a mini loaf tin, muffin pan, or friand tin. Makes 10 financiers.
    • Bake for 12-15 minutes at 180℃ / 350℉ in a preheated oven. Remove from the oven when they are starting to brown.
    • Cool for a few minutes in the tin, then remove from the tin and cool fully on a rack.
    • Decorate by dusting the financiers with icing sugar and sprinkling over the dried rose petals.
      Rose petals and icing sugar to decorate
    Did you try and love this recipe?Then please leave a star rating and comment below to let me know how you got on!

    Note: Recipe adapted from Edd Kimber’s recipe for Raspberry and pistachio financiers, as reproduced here.

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Harriet says

      January 01, 2022 at 12:16 pm

      Excellent result, the only thing I would tweak is the amount of cardamoms- I like a stronger flavour. Otherwise they were faultless. Thanks

      Reply
      • bakingqueen74 says

        January 02, 2022 at 9:48 am

        Wonderful, thanks for your review Harriet!

        Reply
    2. Stuart says

      July 25, 2015 at 9:28 am

      These look stunning Lucy – thanks for taking part in Treat Petite x

      Reply
      • bakingqueen74 says

        July 25, 2015 at 4:06 pm

        Thanks for hosting Stuart, a great linkup

        Reply
    3. nadia says

      July 19, 2015 at 9:04 pm

      Love the Middle Eastern feel to these financiers 🙂 pistachios are my favourite nut and cardamom my favourite spice, so these are definitely a winner in my eyes 😀

      Reply
      • bakingqueen74 says

        July 23, 2015 at 5:49 am

        Thanks Nadia!m

        Reply
    4. Foodie Quine (@foodiequine) says

      July 19, 2015 at 2:35 pm

      I am so ignorant about baking and would have had no idea what a financier or a friand was! Love the idea of them looking like gold bars though.

      Reply
      • bakingqueen74 says

        July 23, 2015 at 5:49 am

        Friands are very popular in Australia apparently, not that I’ve been!

        Reply
    5. choclette says

      July 17, 2015 at 6:55 pm

      These look super cute Lucy and so very tasty. I’ve never tried making them with pistachios before and LOVE the idea. I made raspberry and rose ones the other day, so great minds and all that! Thanks for including a link to one of my friand recipes 🙂

      Reply
      • bakingqueen74 says

        July 18, 2015 at 5:52 pm

        Thank you, they were so good, rosewater is my current favourite ingredient!

        Reply
    6. Jen @ Jen's Food says

      July 16, 2015 at 10:07 pm

      These are wonderful, I’ve never made financiers, need to add another tin to my collection! Loving the flavour combination and so pretty with the rose petals scattered on top 🙂

      Reply
    7. efwalt says

      July 16, 2015 at 1:28 pm

      I love financiers but these take financiers to a whole ‘nother level! Cardamom, pistachio and rose is a great flavour combination and these just look so delicate and beautiful. Great recipe Lucy!!!

      Reply
      • bakingqueen74 says

        July 16, 2015 at 9:35 pm

        Thanks Emma, just a combo I thought could work well for a bit of a change

        Reply
    8. recipesfromapantry says

      July 16, 2015 at 8:57 am

      These have three of my favorite flavours in them so I am drooling like mad.

      Reply
      • bakingqueen74 says

        July 16, 2015 at 9:34 pm

        Drool away! 😀

        Reply
    9. Lucy Parissi says

      July 16, 2015 at 8:04 am

      Oh Lucy these look so lovely! I love financiers and the flavour combination is dreamy. Thanks for linking with #CookBlogShare

      Reply
      • bakingqueen74 says

        July 16, 2015 at 9:34 pm

        I remember seeing your financiers a while back I think, they helped inspire mine x

        Reply
    10. Jac -Tinned Tomatoes (@tinnedtoms) says

      July 16, 2015 at 7:40 am

      I’ve never tried making these before, they look fab. By the way your blog is looking fab too! Stumbled, tweeted and pinned 🙂

      Reply
      • bakingqueen74 says

        July 16, 2015 at 9:33 pm

        Thanks Jac! Added my pic to the blog the other day. The cakes are so easy, try them!

        Reply
    11. Honest Mum says

      July 15, 2015 at 11:05 pm

      So so dreamy! Thanks for linking up to #tastytuesdays x

      Reply
      • bakingqueen74 says

        July 16, 2015 at 9:32 pm

        Thanks Vicky x

        Reply
    5 from 4 votes (3 ratings without comment)

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    Hi, I'm Lucy! I'm a slow cooker addict, food blogger and also a busy working mum of two. I hope you'll enjoy the recipes I create and post which are perfect for busy families.

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