These are little French cakes made with ground almonds. Traditionally made in a friand tin (an oval cupcake mould) you can make them any flavour you like really. Raspberry and dark chocolate work really well too. We’ve opted for pistachio, white chocolate and blueberry on this one. The blitzed pistachios give a really nice green colour to the cakes. These are lovely on an afternoon tea. They just need a little sprinkle of icing sugar to decorate.

Tools:

  • Spice grinder or blender (a Nutribullet or Ninja works well)

  • Friand moulds

  • Stand mixer with balloon whisk or hand-held mixer

  • Flour sifter or sieve

  • Wire cooling rack

Ingredients

  • 100g pistachios, blitzed

  • 200g butter, melted

  • 80g white chocolate (we use callettes which come in button form rather than a bar. If you are using white chocolate, chop it into chunks)

  • 200g icing sugar

  • 85g ground almonds

  • 85g plain flour

  • 5 large egg whites

  • 1 small punnet of blueberries

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Brush your moulds with lining paste.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, add your egg whites and on medium speed, whisk until nice and frothy. Sift in your flour and icing sugar and add your pistachios.

Whisk lightly. Finally add your melted butter and mix until just combined.

Pour the batter into the wells and add your blueberries and white chocolate individually to each well. Place in the centre of your oven and bake for 25 minutes.

Remove from oven and leave to cool slightly. When cool enough to handle, remove from the tins and leave to cool completely on the wire rack.

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