Financier or Friand??

I was surfing the Internet looking for ways to use up the leftover egg whites and chanced upon this recipe.  Some called it Financier while others called it Friand. 
The pineapple rolls I baked for Chinese New Year left me with lots of egg white.  I have been keeping them in the in the freezer till now.  I was told that egg whites can be safely freeze up to 3 months.  As the end of 3rd month is fast approaching, I thought I better find ways to use them.  That's when I came across these two petite cake recipes that called for the use of only egg white. 

Both the recipes are quite similar although both bearing different names.  One is called Financier and the other is Friand.  This is what I found when I do a search on Wikipedia.

A financier is a small French cake, often mistaken for a pastry. The financier is a light teacake, similar to sponge cake, and usually contains almond flour, crushed or ground almonds, or almond flavoring. The basis of the cake itself is beurre noisette (brown butter), egg whites, powdered sugar and flour. Financiers are often baked in shaped molds. The name "financier" is said to derive from the traditional rectangular mold, which resembles a bar of gold. Another theory says that the cake became popular in the financial district of Paris surrounding La Bourse du Commerce (the former name of the Paris stock exchange).


Financiers are often served topped with whipped cream, berries, or other fruit, and served accompanied by ice cream or other frozen confections. Financier pans are traditionally rectangular; however, other shapes are not uncommon. Financiers are somewhat similar to madeleines.

The friand pastry, which has become popular in Australia and New Zealand appears to have been based on the French financier; however, Australian and New Zealand friands typically have additional flavorings such as coconut, chocolate, fruit, and nuts. Australian / New Zealand friands are also baked in oval shapes.


Since both seems to be quite similar I decided to use the following recipe.

Blueberry Friand

Ingredients
90g egg white (3 egg whites)
90g ground almond
30g plain flour
1/2 cup icing sugar
90g butter, melted
some blueberry filing for topping


1.  Sift together flour, ground almond and icing sugar. 
2.  Lightly whisk egg white until frothy.
3.  Stir in melted butter.
4.  Fold in sifted flour, ground almond and icing sugar.
5.  Fill mini cupcake tin half full with batter then top with 1/2 tsp of blueberry filing.
5.  Baked in oven preheated to 180C for 15 to 20 minutes.
6.  Cool completely before dusting with icing sugar.

In conclusion, the name of this little cake is immaterial when the taste speaks volume of itself.......