Pecan and fudge almond cakes

Tasty little cakes, similar to friands. I love the combination of sweet fudge and crunchy pecans.

1. 1

   Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Use a little butter to grease the insides of 10-11 cups of a standard muffin tin or line with 8 'tulip' paper cases.

2. 2

   Melt the 200 g butter in a small saucepan or in a microwave. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes.

3. 3

   Sift the icing sugar into a mixing bowl, followed by the flour. Add the ground almonds.

4. 4

   Blitz 80 g pecans in a mini chopper until quite fine, but not like a paste. Add to the bowl and stir everything together. Roughly chop the remaining 20 g pecans.

5. 5

   Briefly beat the egg whites with a fork until frothy (like bubbles from washing up liquid - you don't need to whisk them as you would for a meringue).

6. 6

   Add the frothy egg whites and the melted butter to the mixing bowl and fold everything well together.

7. 7

   Unwrap the cubes of fudge and cut each one into little pieces. Fold half into the mixture.

8. 8

   Spoon the mixture into the tin, filling each cup almost full (leave a gap of about 1 cm from the rim)*. Top with little pieces of fudge and the remaining pecans.

9. 9

   Bake for 25 minutes until risen and golden and a cocktail stick comes out clean. Larger ones in 'tulip' paper cases will need 28-30 minutes.

10. 10

    If any fudge melts on to the tin during baking, just scrape it back onto the top of the cakes as soon they come out of the oven.

11. 11

    Leave in the tin for a few minutes then run a palette knife around each one and lift out onto a cooling rack. Enjoy warm or leave to cool.

12. 12