These sweet little French madeleines are mini sponge cakes that have a distinctive shell-like shape.They are light and tender with a nice buttery flavour and a hint of citrus.
Have you ever seen anything so tempting and so pretty? These sweet little French madeleines are mini sponge cakes that have a distinctive shell-like shape. They are known for their little ‘humps’ on the back side of the cake. Therefore if you don’t see a hump on the back of your cake you haven’t followed the directions just right (see images below for the madeleine ‘hump’)!
I’ve had a secret crush on these mini french cakes for a long time because they are absolutely the perfect treat to enjoy as you sip your afternoon coffee or tea. Besides being lovely on their own they are also nice to dunk right into your coffee! It’s just like being a kid but now with a little class ;).
Madeleines are light and tender with a nice buttery flavour and a hint of citrus. One side should be lightly crisp while the other is soft and spongy with it’s distinctive hump. They are simple yet sophisticated little cakes (once you’ve made them yourself you’ll understand). What’s more, they even have their own special oval shaped pan moulds with ribbed indentations that gives them their pretty shell shapes.
Technique
The technique has a lovely flow to it – making the sponge with delicate folding and simple ingredients. What’s equally important to the folding is letting your batter rest in the fridge! Don’t miss this step or else you’ll be dissatisfied with how your madeleines turned out! It’s important to follow the recipe just so, since you need to have the proper temperatures to bake the perfect madeleine to get its characteristic “hump”.
Also, make sure you read through the entire recipe so you know how to plan your day. The batter doesn’t take long to make but it’s best if you chill the batter overnight. Madeleines are best served warm right from the oven: you can save your batter for up to 3 days, making warm fresh batches for a few days.
Madeleines
These sweet little French madeleines are mini sponge cakes that have a distinctive shell-like shape.They are light and tender with a nice buttery flavour and a hint of citrus. Best served the day of.
- Prep Time: 2 hours 30 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 2 hours 40 mins
- Yield: 48 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: French
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 Tablespoons liquid honey
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon orange rind zest (or lemon zest)
- 1 teaspoon orange blossom extract (or vanilla extract)
- extra butter and flour to prepare madeleine cake pans
- 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar for dusting cakes (approx.)
Instructions
- In a mixer with the paddle attachment beat eggs, sugar, honey and salt until pale and thick, about 8 minutes (medium speed).
- In a small saucepan melt butter with your zest and orange extract. Let butter cool until just warm. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, sift flour with baking powder.
- Add a third of the flour to the egg mixture and lightly fold to combine. Do this two more times until all your flour is combined into the egg mixture.
- In a seperate bowl combine warm butter with approx. ¼ of the batter, whisk to combine.
- Add butter mixture to your batter and lightly fold until combined.
- Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until the next day (overnight is best). It is very important for the batter to be cold before baking, the thermal ‘shock’ is necessary for a good ‘bumpy’ round madeleine.
- Preheat oven to 350˚F.
- Prepare your pans. Melt a tablespoon of butter, brush each mould with the melted butter.
- Add flour to each mould and shake pan to ensure you cover each mould with flour. Dump out extra flour (do not skip this step, you’d be pretty upset if you did all this work and then you couldn’t get your mini cakes out of the pan!!).
- Drop a tablespoon size of batter into the middle of each mould (DO NOT SPREAD or overfill).
- Bake for approx. 10 minutes until sides are browning and cake lightly springs back, keep an eye on them.
- Slide madeleines onto a cooling rack, dust with icing sugar when slightly cooled and serve warm.
Notes
Store in an airtight container for up to a day or freeze for a month, best served right away.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 60
- Sugar: 4.9g
- Sodium: 38mg
- Fat: 2.8g
- Saturated Fat: 1.7g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 8.1g
- Fiber: 0.1g
- Protein: 0.9g
- Cholesterol: 19mg
Keywords: Madeleines, Mini Cakes, Tea Cakes, Lemon Cake, French Dessert, Dessert, Lemon Cake
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