Financiers or almond cake

[christy319]

I love Patricia Wells recipe and I make them in muffin tins, since I don't have molds. Has anyone tried to make, essentially, one giant financier, in an 8" cake pan? I think this would be so good as a sliced cake with berries but I'm wondering if there is a pitfall I'm overlooking, in adapting a recipe for smaller pastries into one for a bigger cake. Experiment is the obvious answer, but I need to bring a cake to work in a couple days and I don't have time to experiment (and, other people will be eating this). Thoughts?

Or if anyone has a cake recipe that uses ground almonds (not almond paste, which I don't care for), let me know.

[splatgirl]

I've made this one several times and it's fabulous. Like FABULOUS fabulous.
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/06/...
I have always made it using my homemade almond paste--croissant filling leftovers--which is just toasted ground almonds, powdered sugar and a few drops of almond extract. Not to be mistaken for that goop you can buy in a tube--I completely understand why you don't care for that!

[karykat]

Hey splatgirl -- any tips and ideas on proportions? Your approach makes good sense. Will pursue with details.

[splatgirl]

do you mean for the almond paste? I usually use the JOC recipe as written with the tweak of toasting the blanched almonds a bit first.

Warning: the cake is addictive. I could eat the whole thing in a day.

[christy319]

That sounds great. I did make Suzanne Goin's cake and it was a huge hit, served with local strawberries and whipped cream, rather than the chocolate glaze. 2 people asked for the recipe. I will make this almond cake next.

[karykat]

Yes -- looking for proportions for your homemade almond paste.

Would be good to know how to do. There are lots of uses for it!

[maxie]

I have made one in an 8" fluted tart pan. It was delicious. Just dont try to make it too tall.

[sbp]

This. And I've done it with pistachios and it was delicious.

[Caitlin McGrath]

It should work well. If you look at this recipe, hazelnut brown butter cake from Sunday Suppers at Lucques cookbook, you'll see that it is essentially a hazelnut version of financier, baked in a large cake pan: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/03/haz...

[christy319]

Oh my gosh. I KNEW I'd made something like this before and that's it. I will make it again. Perfect, thanks so much! And I'll make Patricia's recipe into a cake soon.

[todao]

I don't see any real problem with your idea. It'll be a bit more difficult to judge when the cake is ready to come our of the oven but if you've got baking experience that shouldn't prove too difficult. You know how to prepare the pan much batter to pour into it so as not to overfill it. So I'd say go for it. However, IMO, a major part of the enjoyment of the Financiers is the brown crust that develops around the edges. That's a major, IMO, element in the flavor and you'd lose a great deal of that in a typical 8 - 9 inch cake.

[christy319]

That's a really good point about the crust. Hmm.