Pistachio & Lime Cup Cakes

I had been meaning to bake some of these dainty cakes for several months and I finally did it. Some may call them friands, in France they are "financiers" and although baked using almond flour, I wanted to try with pistachios instead. I adapted the recipe for a small batch and for a cupcake tin.

Prep: 20 min

Bake: 12 min

Difficulty Easy

Makes 6

Ingredients:

• 75 g pistachios flour
• 30 g of 00/plain or sponge flour
• 75 g icing sugar
• 3 egg whites from medium eggs
• 75 g unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 limes, zest and juice
• Ground pistachios and crème fraiche to serve

Method:

1. Preheat your oven at 180° C / Gas Mark 4. Line and flour the cupcake tin and set aside.

2. Prepare your burnt butter by adding the butter to a saucepan and letting it melt on a low heat. Cook for a further 5/6 minutes until of a golden colour and set aside to cool.
3. Sieve all your dry ingredients in a bowl and combine fully.
4. Add half of your lime juice, the egg whites and half of the lime zest.
5. Once all combined, add the burnt butter and fold using a spatula.
6. Fill your cupcake tin to half and bake until slightly underdone. This should not take more than 12 minutes.
7. For the syrup, combine the honey and the rest of the lime juice.
8. Once the cakes are cooled, serve with crème fraiche or yogurt, sprinkle some ground pistachios, more lime zest and cover in syrup.
9. They will keep in an airtight container for 3 days. If decorating with crème fraiche, store in the fridge.

TIPS: 

• Use unwaxed lemons
• For a better consistency don’t overbake.
• You can use almond flour instead of pistachios.
• They can be made gluten free.
• As they don’t have any rising agents, make sure to use a light flour.
• Why don’t you make lime sugar by covering the zest with caster or granulated sugar?