Makes 9 small friands (using regular muffin moulds). I filled them up to the 2/3 mark so they are pretty small but that’s the way I want them to be.
This is a Japanese inspired version of one of my favourite tea cakes. I love how the cake is moist and flavourful. You need quite a bit of matcha powder for the flavour and the colour to come through. Raspberries go well with the matcha – it’s like the unexpected kick in acidity.
Ingredients:
- 95g unsalted butter, cubed
- 135g egg whites
- 150g granulated sugar
- 100g almond meal
- 60g flour
- 12g Zen Green Tea matcha
- pinch of salt
- Optional: Fresh/frozen raspberries
Method:
- Grease your muffin tins thoroughly with butter and dust flour sparingly over it.
- Prepare a Beurre Noisette (French for “browned butter”): Heat the butter in a pan over low-medium fire and allow it to cook until it is golden brown in colour. Turn off the fire and take it off the heat once it is golden brown, otherwise, it will go from golden brown to black very quickly. Allow the beurre noisette to cool to room temperature while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- In a bowl, place sugar, flour and ground almond, matcha powder and salt together. Whisk the dry ingredients a little. Add in the (cooled) beurre noisette (including the brown sediments) and whisk to combine.
- Add in the egg whites slowly while whisking till incorporated. You do not need to create too much volume in the egg whites. I do all this by hand as you just need the batter to come together.
- Spoon the friands batter into the greased muffin moulds. Place a raspberry into the centre of the friand. Bake in a 190 degrees preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until it springs back to touch.
- Allow it to cool slightly in the muffin tins before unmoulding. Cool them completely on wire racks before serving.