Gluten Free Chocolate Raspberry Cakes
Traditionally, financiers are petite rectangular cakes made with nut meal and browned butter—naturally gluten free (vive la France indeed). Admittedly, adding chocolate isn’t exactly traditional—but trust me, no one’s complaining once they’ve had a bite of these dessert-sized gluten free mini cakes. A centre of my low sugar raspberry jam adds just enough brightness to cut through the richness, making each mouthful feel balanced and indulgent.
Equipment
- 8-hole mini loaf pan
- Small saucepan
- Heatproof jug or bowl
- Large mixing bowl
- Medium mixing bowl
- Fine mesh sieve
- Large whisk
- #24 ice cream scoop (optional)
- Medium piping bag (optional)
Ingredients
- 200 g butter (150g beurre noisette)
- 250 g egg whites (room temperature)
- 250 g almond flour
- 45 g gluten free cornstarch
- 25 g cacao powder
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- 250 g granulated white sugar
- 50 g honey
- ¾ cup low sugar raspberry jam
Instructions
- Assemble ingredients and equipment.
- Brown the butter: In a small saucepan, cook the butter over medium-high heat until the milk solids turn golden and the butter smells nutty. Once browned (you should be left with just over 150g), immediately pour into a heatproof jug to stop the cooking. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Mix the dry ingredients: In a large mixing bowl, weigh in the almond flour and sugar. Place a fine mesh sieve over the bowl, then weigh in the cacao powder, cornstarch, and salt. Sift these directly into the almond flour mixture, then whisk everything together until evenly combined.
- Whisk the egg whites: In a medium mixing bowl, lightly whisk the egg whites just enough to break them up and loosen their texture. You're not building volume—just making them easier to incorporate.
- Combine: Whisk the egg whites into the dry ingredients in three additions to avoid lumps. Then whisk in the honey. (Weighing it directly into the bowl saves you scraping out a measuring cup.)
- Add the beurre noisette: Gradually whisk in the browned butter. Take your time here to create a smooth, glossy batter with no oily separation.
- Rest the batter: Put the batter in a sealed container and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight. This helps hydrate the almond flour, firm up the butter, and improves the rise and texture of the baked cakes.
- Portion the batter: When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 170°C conventional (150°C fan-forced). Grease an 8-hole mini loaf pan, using any leftover brown butter. Use a #24 scoop or roughly ¼ cup to portion the batter evenly into the pan.
- Pipe the jam: Transfer ¾ cup of low sugar raspberry jam into a medium piping bag or zip lock bag with the corner snipped off. Pipe a neat line of jam down the centre of each mini cake, stopping just short of the edges.
- Bake: Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are risen, the tops spring back when lightly pressed, and a skewer inserted at the edge (not through the jam) comes out clean.
- Cool and serve: Let the cakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. For extra jammy flair, pipe a second swipe of jam across the top just before serving.
Just before you cook with abandon…
Do I have to use a mini loaf pan? Not at all. While I’ve used an eight-hole mini loaf pan here, this recipe works just as well in a 12-hole standard muffin tin or an oval friand pan. The cakes will be a little smaller—closer to the size of a traditional financier. Remember to adjust the cooking time if the size of the cakes change.
If using a muffin tin or friand pan, how do I add the jam? Instead of piping a line, just pipe or spoon a small circle of jam into the centre of each portion of batter before baking.
Why chill the batter? Chilling the batter gives you a better rise, a crispier edge, and a more cohesive crumb—but it also helps keep that line of jam suspended near the top, rather than sinking into the base of the cake. It’s a small step that makes a big difference.
Can I skip the piping bag? Yes. A medium zip lock bag with the corner snipped off will do the job just fine. And if you don’t want to deal with bags at all, just spoon the jam across the top of the batter with a teaspoon—neatly, if you’re aiming for patisserie vibes.
What if I don’t have homemade jam? Use the best store-bought low sugar raspberry jam you can find—check the label for sugar content. Or press a few fresh raspberries into the batter before baking. It’ll still deliver that sweet-tart balance.
Can I make these in advance? The batter is very happy to rest in the fridge overnight, so you can make it the day before and bake them fresh when you’re ready to serve. You can even have the jam preloaded in the piping bag—just leave the tip sealed until it’s go time.
What can I do with the leftover egg yolks? Crème anglaise, curd, custard, or the richest quiche of your life. Personally, I vote for custard—no sharing required.
Made too much brown butter? First of all, good instincts. Extra beurre noisette is never a problem. Pour it into a jar, store it in the fridge, and use it anywhere you’d use melted butter—pasta, roasted veg, scrambled eggs, or drizzled over ice cream. Liquid gold never goes to waste.
Room temperature eggs: When baking cakes, it’s important that your eggs are at room temperature—this helps prevent the batter from splitting and gives you a smoother, more cohesive mix. I usually take them out the night before. If I forget (which happens), I put the eggs—shell on—in a bowl and cover them with hot water. They’ll come to room temperature in a few minutes.
Oven temperatures: Cakes are supposed to be baked in a conventional oven (top and bottom heat), as a fan forced oven (convection) dries the cake out. All well and good if your oven maintains an even temperature on that setting, mine does not. I use the fan forced setting on a lower temperature, as this gives me a more even heat distribution in my oven. I don’t believe in oven thermometers as they are notoriously inaccurate. But you will know there’s a problem when two cakes on the same rack (on the conventional setting) bake at very different rates. The only way you can accurately test your oven temperature is with a laser temperature gun (and, yes, I have one!).
Testing for doneness: With a dense batter like this, it’s important not to open the oven too early. Start checking at around 30 minutes—no sooner. The cakes are done when they’ve risen and a skewer inserted at the edge (not through the jam) comes out clean. If you have a Thermapen, the cakes will be ready when they reach an internal temperature of 93–94°C.