Blackberry financiers

1 Make the browned butter by placing the butter in a medium saucepan over a low heat to melt.

2 Continue to cook the butter for three to five minutes until the butter starts to brown. Once the butter starts foaming, swirl the pan, and when the butter is smelling fragrant and you can see the colour of the butter on the bottom of the pan turn a medium brown colour, remove it from the heat. Once it has cooled slightly, pour the browned butter through a sieve into a bowl or jug and set aside and keep it warm.

3 Put the ground almonds in a mixing bowl and sift in the icing sugar and flour. Add the egg whites and beat together for two to three minutes until smooth.

4 Drizzle the cooled but still slightly warm browned butter into the batter and whisk well until smooth. Add the orange zest and fold through.

5 Leave the financier batter to rest at room temperature for at least one hour.

6 Preheat the oven to 190 degrees, or 170 degrees if using a fan oven. Grease nine small rectangular moulds, or 12 miniature muffin tins.

7 Scrape the batter into a jug or piping bag. Pour the batter into the moulds until half full.

8 Cut the blackberries in half, and arrange on top of the financiers, taking care not to press the fruit down too much. The cake will rise up and bake around the blackberries. Alternatively, keep the blackberries whole if they are small.

9 Bake for 15-20 minutes for small financiers baked in a mini muffin tin, or 20-25 minutes if baked in a rectangular mould. The cakes should have a slightly golden crisp exterior and fluffy centre. Check the financiers are ready by inserting a skewer into the centre of each, and if it comes out clean, they are baked.

10 Remove from the oven and leave to cool for five minutes in the mould. Turn the financiers out and serve warm or leave to cool completely.