These little cakes remind me of a more sophisticated, stripped-back cupcake. Full of flavor with a dense but chewy crumb, it's like frangipane meets fairy cake. Beautifully simple to make, the biggest pitfall is not greasing your tins properly. If you don't have non-stick muffin tins or friand tins, make sure you butter them to death or you'll have eight fabulous cakes that you can’t get out of the tins.

　　

Ingredients

Makes 8

　　200g (1 3/4 sticks/14 Tbsp) butter, plus extra for greasing

　　100g (3/4 cup) pistachio nuts, plus a few extra to serve

　　200g (1 2/3 cups) confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting

　　85g (3/4 cup plus 2 1/4 Tbsp) ground almonds

　　85g (2/3 cup) all-purpose flour

　　5 large egg whites

　　1 small container raspberries

　　

Special Equipment

8- or 12-hole muffin or friand tin and a food processor.

　　

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C/160°C fan/gas 4. Melt the butter in a small pan, then remove from the heat and leave to cool a little. Grease eight holes of the friand (or muffin) tin with a little bit of butter.

　　

Step 2

Blitz 85g (2/3 cup) of the pistachio nuts in a food processor with the confectioners' sugar until very finely chopped. Tip into a bowl with the ground almonds and flour and mix together. Roughly chop the remaining pistachio nuts and set aside.

　　

Step 3

Froth the egg whites lightly with a fork, then pour into the nuts and flour mixture with the melted butter and mix well.

　　

Step 4

Pour the mixture into the friand tin holes, add a few raspberries to each one, then scatter with the chopped pistachios. Bake for 20–25 minutes until the friands are risen and springy to the touch and a skewer inserted comes out clean.

　　

Step 5

Serve warm or at room temperature. Dust with a little confectioners' sugar if you like. They should be light and chewy!

　　

Twist:

Step 6

Pecan Pie Friands:

　　Make the friand recipe above, swapping pistachios for 100g (1 cup) pecans and the raspberries for 75g (2.6 oz) chewy toffee, chopped into small pieces. Sprinkle the toffee over the friand batter before baking.

　　From Twist: Creative Ideas to Reinvent Your Baking, © 2017 by Martha Collison. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins.Buy the full book from HarperCollins or from Amazon.