Madeleines

November 28, 2022

Madeleines

Madeleines

Madeleines are my new favourite thing to bake these days. These buttery two-bite seashell cakes are very easy to put together as you can mix all the ingredients up in one mixing bowl with a manual hand whisk!

They look beautiful when baked up, making one feel very accomplished because you wouldn't think it needed just 20 minutes to produce these mini génoise cake sponges that look simple but taste gratifying when fresh from the oven. The recipe is dead simple but it does require careful execution and specific bake times to turn them into refined-looking cakes!

Recipe (Adapted from French Cooking Academy)

Ingredients:

For the Madeleine:

2 whole eggs (about 100 - 105g without shell)
100g caster sugar
20g (1 tsp) good quality honey
100g unsalted butter
1 squeeze of lemon juice
1 small pinch of salt
100g plain flour
3g (3/4 teaspoon) baking powder
Grated zest of 1 whole lemon (optional)

For the lemon drizzle (optional):

Lemon juice (I usually use less than half a lemon)
50g of icing sugar

Method:

P.S - I use a hand whisk and my classic 12-cavity madeleine mould from Phoon Huat is a tad smaller than the regular ones. If using a deeper 6-cavity scallop mould, please see difference in bake times below. I've included some tips as well - these were what worked for me :)

1. Break the eggs in a large mixing bowl. Add sugar and whisk slowly for a minute.

2. Add honey and whisk for a further 3 minutes until the mix becomes pale and foamy.

3. Melt butter in a saucepan on medium heat. When the butter has melted, add a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow it to cool.

4. Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixing bowl over the egg and sugar mixture. Whisk gently until the flour is incorporated fully and no flour streaks are seen.

5. Pour in cooled melted butter and whisk until a smooth batter is achieved.

6. Chill batter in fridge for at least 2 hours. Do this by putting a plastic wrap over the batter with the plastic touching the batter (vs wrapping it over the bowl).

7. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 220 degree celsius (use an oven thermometer). Take batter out of fridge and let it sit out for 20 minutes before filling the mould. (I do this if the batter has been chilling overnight. This way, the batter will not be too stiff to be spooned or piped onto the mould.

8. While waiting during this 20 minutes, brush the baking mould with melted butter. Make sure it is a thin layer spread evenly into the crevices. If the melted butter starts to collect in the deepest point of the mould, spread it out again with your pastry brush or use a paper towel to lightly dab it off.

9. 5 minutes before filling the mould, pop the mould into the fridge to chill.

10. Fill mould to 3/4 full. Do not over or under fill.

11. Tap hard on the counter to burst away air bubble before sending it into the oven.

12. On middle rack, bake 3 minutes at 220 degree celsius. Lower heat to 180-190 (depending on your oven temp and gut feel) and bake for another 6-7 minutes.

13. Remove from oven once ready. Turn the cakes and let cool in mould.

14. If using lemon drizzle, use a pastry brush to thinly coat the non-shell side.

* If using the bigger and deeper scallop mould (pictured below), I bake it at 220 degree celsius, lower the temp and continue to bake for another 9 minutes. The lemon drizzle is optional. I like how they add a burst of lemon flavour to the cakes.