According to several sources, financiers were created in the 17th century by the sisters of the Visitandine order in Nancy, Lorraine. This is also the reason why they are nicknamed visitandines. In the north of France, financiers take the name of friand.
Although created in the 17th century, it was not until the 19th century that financiers gained popularity. In the meantime, visitandines have fallen into oblivion. Indeed, after the Renaissance, people were wary of preparing almond pastries because they were not very popular.
Back in the day, it was common to use cyanide to suppress enemies. Cyanide is known to have a smell similar to bitter almond. So, it was better to stay away from the almonds. It was not until 1890 that a Swiss pastry chef nicknamed Lasne revived the recipe of the sisters of the Visitandines order.
Lasne’s pastry shop was located near the stock exchange in Paris. Among his clients, there were many financiers and big names in high finance. Lasne therefore decided to bring the visitandines recipe up to date by creating a cake that did not dirty the fingers, to the great satisfaction of these gentlemen.
But what contributed to the popularity of the financiers was the flash of genius of the pastry chef Lasne who took the initiative to bake them not in oval molds, as the sisters of the Visitandine order did, but in rectangular form in order to reproduce the gold bars of the stock exchange. The cake was a real success and is popular until today.
