cake.eat.talk.

Yes, it’s July…in Paris, it’s meant to be sunny all the time…Sundays should be full of walks, icecream, picnics in beautiful parks, icecream and then some more icecream. Not rain. Not slight glimpses of sunshine that give false hope. Not gloomy afternoons stuck inside!

*J-4 until les vacances. J-4 until les vacances*

Unfortunately for this Sunday, rain was on the menu, fortunately for me, what goes best with rainy Sundays…baking!  Staying inside, baking and eating what you’ve baked! My choice (mostly due to Paris shut down on Sundays and the limited contents of my cupboards but also because they are delicious and small and therefore can be eaten in large quantities) - financiers!

As I do love a good story behind my cakes…the financiers have a rather nice one. These little mignardises were born way back in the Middle Ages, and we owe their existence to les soeurs visitandines. The originals, oval in shape, disappeared after the Renaissance, only to make a come back around 1890 in Paris, thanks to a pâtissier named Lasne.

La patisserie de Lasne was located just next to the bourse (stock exchange) à Paris and therefore his clientèle were mostly busy bankers and financial workers (financiers!) looking for a quick and delicious no-mess, no-fuss gourmandise. Lasne, quite advanced in marketing for his time, decided to change the shape of the original cakes to look more like un lingot d’or (a gold bar!) to attract his wealthy clients…and it paid off - the financier was born, never to disappear again!