2 hours ago
1
These little nectarine and brown-butter cakes suit January’s rhythm perfectly: hot days, long matches on TV, slow drifting between indoors and out.
These little nectarine and brown-butter cakes suit January’s rhythm perfectly: hot days, long matches on TV, slow drifting between indoors and out. They’re small enough to keep on the kitchen bench for grazing during a five-set thriller, but sturdy and portable enough to tuck into a bag for an afternoon on a picnic rug at Melbourne Park. The nectarines bring a last flush of summer sweetness, though you can substitute with peaches, plums or berries and later, as the season starts to shift, sliced figs.
Ingredients
180g unsalted butter, plus 10g softened for greasing tin
finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
80g plain flour, plus a little extra for dusting moulds
200g icing sugar, plus a little extra for dusting the cakes
¼ tsp fine sea salt
60g ground pistachios
60g ground almonds
150g egg whites (from 4 large eggs)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 ripe but firm nectarines, halved, stones removed and thinly sliced
Method
Step 1
Brown the butter by placing it in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Gently swirl the pan until the butter has melted, then continue to cook, swirling occasionally, until bubbling and foaming. The butter will splutter and hiss at first, then quieten down as the foam subsides and dark-brown sediments begin to form on the base and sides of the pan. When the mixture turns a rich golden-brown and smells like toasted nuts and caramel, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon zest. Set aside to cool until just warm.
Step 2
Grease a standard, 12-hole muffin tin with the 10g softened butter, then dust lightly with flour. Preheat the oven to 200C fan-forced (220C conventional).
Step 3
Sift the flour, icing sugar and salt into a medium bowl, then add the ground pistachios and almonds and use a hand-whisk to combine. Make a well in the centre and pour in the egg whites (no need to whisk them first). Add the vanilla extract and stir gently until combined and smooth.
Step 4
Gradually pour the brown butter into the batter, including the bits of browned milk solids (they hold much of the flavour) and stir gently and patiently with a wooden spoon until fully incorporated.
Step 5
Fill the holes of the prepared muffin tin with the batter until they’re three-quarters full (about 60g) – a latch-release ice-cream scoop works really well here to portion the batter. Arrange a few nectarine slices, slightly overlapping, on top of each friand, then place the tin in the oven. Immediately lower the temperature to 175C fan-forced (195C conventional) and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden-brown and a skewer inserted into the middle of a cake comes out clean.
Step 6
Cool the friands in the tin for 5 minutes, then lift out and transfer onto a wire rack to cool further. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm or at room temperature.
The best recipes from Australia's leading chefs straight to your inbox.
