Chocolate Ingots

This recipe for financiers au chocolat is the first from this book to disappoint. The little cakes are very rich, very buttery and very involved to make but sadly lacking in chocolate flavour.

The instructions start with the directions to preheat your oven for 20 minutes before you bake, not giving any indication that during those 20 minutes you will be scrambling to toast, cool and grind almonds into almond flour, make beurre noisette and caramelize cacao nibs! My oven preheated for almost an hour before I was ready to bake!

I don’t have a financier pan so I baked them in a mini muffin tin, a size I thought was better suited to the rich cake. The texture was quite nice with a thin crispy crust and moist but dense interior, and though I didn’t care for the caramelized cacao nibs on their own, they added a nice crunch and cut the sweetness of the cake.

As much as I didn’t like them, others loved them so you’ll just have to try them yourself!