Chocolate-Glazed Teacakes

These buttery teacakes are based on the centuries-old French recipe for financiers, little nut cakes as rich as the stockbrokers for whom they were named. While the original financiers were small, ingot-shaped cakes with almonds, mine are supersize, made with walnuts, and topped with a chocolate glaze.

(Makes 12 cakes)

Created by: Dorie Greenspan

Food stylist: Susan Ottaviano

• 2 ¼ cups ground walnuts or walnut meal (available at specialty grocers)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 large egg whites
• 1 stick plus 7 tablespoons (7 ½ ounces) unsalted butter
• 6 ounces finely chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, or 1 cup mini chocolate chips

• 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 6 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into four pieces
• Jam, whipped cream, or crème fraîche, for garnish

• 1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350° F. Butter or spray a muffin tin and place it on a baking sheet.
• 2. Put the ground nuts, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl and stir.
• 3. Put the egg whites into another large bowl and stir with a whisk to break them up—there’s no need to beat them. Pour the nut mixture over the egg whites and stir until the batter is homogeneous.
• 4. Bring the butter to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat or covered in a microwave oven. Pour the hot butter over the batter and, using the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently mix until smooth. Let the batter cool for about 5 minutes, then stir in the chopped chocolate.
• 5. Spoon batter into the muffin molds—they should be about three fourths full—and bake the cakes for 24 to 28 minutes, or until they start to come away from the sides of the molds and a thin knife inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack, let the cakes rest for 2 minutes, then turn them out onto a rack to cool.
• 6. To make the glaze: put all the ingredients into a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and heat, stirring occasionally, until the glaze is smooth.
• 7. To glaze the cakes: set the cooling rack over a sheet of wax paper and dip the bottoms—the narrow ends—of the cakes into the glaze, then return them, glazed-side up, to the rack. Let the cakes sit a couple of minutes, then dip them again
• 8. Let the glaze set before serving or freezing. Serve with jam, whipped cream, or crème fraîche.
• Storing: The teacakes can be kept in a covered container at room temperature for up to three days. To store for up to two months, put them on a baking sheet, slide them into the freezer, then, when they’re firm, wrap them airtight. The best way to defrost them is to put them, still wrapped, into the refrigerator overnight. If the chocolate topping has lost its sheen, warm it with a little heat from a hair dryer.

Nutrients per serving:
Calories: 435
Fat: 35g
Cholesterol: 52mg
Carbohydrate: 31g
Sodium: 86mg
Protein: 6g
Total dietary fiber: 2g

TIP: A word on size: The molds in my muffin pan hold ½ cup, and so I can get a dozen cakes from this recipe. If your molds are smaller, you can either fill the cups a little more generously (but not to the top) or make a few more teacakes. If you use a second pan and it has some empty molds, just fill the empties with water to even out the heat during baking. You can also make these as minicakes, using minimuffin pans (you’ll get more than 3 dozen). Of course, minicakes need less time in the oven—start checking them after 15 minutes.

November & December 2006

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