These have always been a firm favourite at Flor, says Helen Evans. Moist and treacly, they’re perfect as a bite with coffee, or as a pudding. Make sure you find panela for this recipe – the unrefined nature of the sugar gives the cakes an extra fudginess and depth of flavour. The cakes are also gluten-free, and freeze particularly well due to their high fat content. Make ahead and reheat if you like them warm.
Ingredients: makes 12
- 120g unsalted butter (making roughly 100g of brown butter)
- 150g panela
- 60g ground almonds
- 20g buckwheat flour
- 20g cornflour
- 4g fine sea salt
- 100g egg whites
Method
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- Put the butter into a small saucepan and over a medium heat leave it to melt and bubble. When you see the milk solids start to turn dark brown on the bottom of the pan, remove it from the heat and set aside to cool slightly. This is your “brown butter”.
- Mix together all the dry ingredients, making sure everything is evenly dispersed. Break down any lumps in the panela with your fingers.
- In a clean and dry bowl, or a Kenwood-style mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, start to whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the dry ingredients to the same bowl and turn the machine to its lowest speed setting. Mix slowly to combine.
- Finally, with the machine on low, drizzle in the brown butter, which should be cool but still liquid. Using a flexible spatula, make sure you get all the browned milk solids from the bottom of the pan. Continue mixing until everything looks smooth, shiny and well homogenised.
- Transfer the finished batter to a reusable piping bag and chill for at least 2 hours.
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (fan-assisted) or 200°C (non fan-assisted). Lightly grease your moulds (we use silicone mini-muffin moulds at 280mm x 500mm) with any neutral cooking oil or melted butter and set them on top of a baking tray. Fill each mould with 35-40g of the batter, then transfer to the oven for around 14-16 minutes, until nicely golden brown on top. Let them cool for 5 minutes in the moulds, then pop them out and leave them to cool completely on a wire rack.
Helen Evans is head of baking and pastry at Flor Bakery (flor-bakery.com)
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