Epicure Recipe Card #19: Fresh Strawberry Cake

With a household of two people it really is difficult to make a full-sized cake and consume all of it while it’s still fresh. The other quirky option is to make half a cake, of course. But under more usual circumstances things which freeze and defrost well are most welcome in order to avoid wastage, as are individual portions which easily allow some to be shared amongst friends or colleagues at work.

Having said that, and with my track record with these recipe cards, you probably already know that I didn’t make this strawberry cake, right? I mean, look at it in all its layered and sandwiched glory – that’s two whole cakes we’re talking about there!

So instead I shall be sharing with you a recipe for petite and dainty mini-friands. A recipe which I’ve had kicking about in my repertoire for quite a few years, which has been tried and tested and shared with others, and which never fails to impress. The small bites of cake are slightly chewy and perfect for popping into your mouth whole, as well as being great with a cup of tea.


The friands are entirely open for variation. I’ve made them plain, with jam, with fresh berries, and with frozen berries most recently for Christmas. Citrus zest can be added to the batter, as can poppyseeds, or citrus curd can be dolloped on top prior to baking. Substitute pistachio or hazelnut meal for the almond meal if you like.


But the best part is that these mini-friands are low on effort and high on impact. Perfect for the novice baker, they can be made by hand, in one bowl, require only a few ingredients, and hardly take any time to mix and bake at all.


You can have your cake and eat it too, faster and easier than you would expect.

Mini-Friands (makes 24 in a mini-muffin pan)
(can’t recall the origins of this recipe exactly, though I do remember it being a magazine from some years ago…)

Ingredients:
·         1/3 cup plain flour
·         1 cup icing sugar mixture
·         1 cup almond meal
·         4 eggwhites, lightly beaten with a fork
·         120g unsalted butter, melted
·         jam, fresh/frozen berries, citrus curd (optional)

Method:
  1. Sift together flour and icing sugar mixture into a large bowl. Stir in almond meal then add eggwhites and butter. Mix until well combined – the batter will be slightly sticky.
  2. Preheat oven to 210°C and lightly grease a 24-hole mini-muffin pan.
  3. Divide batter evenly across the mini-muffin pan, approximately 1 tbs batter per cavity. (If you are using any jam, berries or curd, place a small amount on top of the cake batter portions.) Bake in the preheated oven for 8 minutes before reducing the temperature to 200°C and baking a further 5 minutes.
  4. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes before removing the friands to cool on a wire rack. A toothpick or thin skewer is helpful in levering the friands from the pan. Dust with icing sugar before serving, if desired.
  
happy cooking!

17 comments:

  1. Dude, you could make the whole strawberry cake... and give it to me! :P

    But your mini friands are too adorable. And anything with berries and jam is always a winner :)

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  2. So cute and delish! Love berries and jam.

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  3. Very cute! These look perfect for a party!

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  4. Your friands look gorgeous! And it's great that you used a mini muffin pan as it saves having to buy a friand pan.

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  5. oh my love simple little cakes like this

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  6. I've yet to drag myself into a kitchen to make friands, and now you've reminded me of this...perhaps I need to make an attempt...!

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  7. Spot on :)

    I will go and put the kettle on and be right back........

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  8. Aww love friands! Your strawberry ones are wayy too cute! And you know... a whole cake is an excuse to invite friends over for tea ;)

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  9. Aw, and here I was expecting strawberry cake tortellini, if your last recipe card was anything to go by :)

    Mini friands. The new cupcakes...? :)

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  10. My eyes popped when I saw 'fresh strawberry cake', I love strawberry cake. And your photographs of the little friands look delicious...I want! If only strawberries were in season in the States...

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  11. Love these mini size cakes! So dainty.

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  12. Hey chocolatesuze, one mixing bowl only... No excess washing up - yay!

    Hey Karen, haha, I'd love to have made a whole strawberry cake - I love sponge sandwiches!

    Hey Joey, berries and jam and sponge...so simple!

    Hey Betty, they are so easy to make for a morning or afternoon tea and great for dessert when you don't want to go all out.

    Hey Bel, thank you! Haha, I have a proper friand pan that I've never used =p

    Hey Chow and Chatter, simple in presentation and very simple to make =D

    Hey aptronym, they're so so easy - do it!

    Hey ProChef360, thanks for dropping by =) Seriously so easy to nibble on whilst chatting to people over cups of tea!

    Hey Angie, haha, I'll keep you in mind the next time I have a whole cake which needs taking care of!

    Hey Simon, strawberry cannelloni! Perhaps with a sauce...stop putting ideas in my mind! =p

    Hey Indie.Tea, they can obviously be made with any sort of berry or jam but I always like red berries more than anything =)

    Hey Ellie, and so easy to eat without getting crumbs everywhere!

    Hey fotoğraf çekimi, thank you!

    Hey fotoğrafçı, thank you for visiting!

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  13. Way too cute and very delicious looking :)

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  14. I adore Friands! I keep doing variations on my blog ( lemonylovesbaking.com ) Salted Caramel and Choc Chip was the most recent. I've never thought of doing mini ones though, nice one!

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