The Best Madeleine Recipe You’ll Ever Try

Recipe: Madeleines Recipe »

This recipe for Madeleines makes the absolute best ones you will ever make or eat! Madeleines can something be a bit dense and dry (unless they are freshly baked out of the oven) but these Madeleines are incredibly light and fresh. You won't make these gorgeous little scallop shaped French butter cakes any other way after you try these I promise! This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader.

I got this madeleine recipe from Jan Dirck of the Carroll Gap Farmhouse. "She makes the best old fashioned cakes," said Dan, the GM of our hotel Wilderluxe Lake Keepit. And he was right, Jan was asked to make us a picnic basket and in it she slipped two madeleines in the basket for a sweet treat after our lunch of cheese, charcuterie and bread. Normally I'm not a big madeleine lover I have to admit. These little cakes go stale quickly and quickly evolve to a dense, moisture-drawing biteful. But these madeleines, given to us hours after they baked, were so light and fresh (they were almost like a friand!).

As soon as I met her I asked her if she would share the recipe with me. Jan was very sweet, "I've never had anyone know what these are!" she said excitedly. She also showed me the cookbook she got them from (The Essential Baking Cookbook by Murdoch books). And a couple of days after returning home I had to give them a try to see if they were delicious and they were absolutely perfect!

The method to making these madelines is a bit different. You start with a sabayon mixture of whisked eggs and sugar. Then you mix in the flour and melted butter and zest and that's it! Same ingredients as other madeleines but a different method and they are SO much better and fresher and keep fresher for longer.

What makes madeleines special? Madeleines are cute little French butter cakes that have a soft centre and crisp edge.

How long do madeleines stay fresh? Some say that madeleines stay good for up to 3 days. I'm sorry but to me, madeleines are best freshly baked out of the oven - that's why many restaurants offer freshly baked madeleines for dessert! After that are usually only good for that day unless they're these madeleines in which case they will last 2 days.

Can I refrigerate my madeleine batter so that I can have freshly baked madeleines? Yes! Refrigerating your madeleine batter overnight makes it thicker and help to give it a small bump. That is also how restaurants can bake these fresh for diners. You can keep the batter in the fridge and then bake them fresh for 14-15 minutes (we need to add a couple of extra minutes as they'll be cold). The batter will be quite firm so just press the batter down in the tin. I will say though that unlike other madeleines, these are delicious the next day too!

Why are my madeleines sticking? The thing with madeleines is that they are clingy, even non stick tins after a while need the proper amount of buttering and flouring. Don't skip both, the butter is important but so is sifting the flour on top of the butter!

Notes: I used this madeleine tin - I love its shape!

Recipe Tips For The Best Madeleines:

1 - Make sure to properly butter and flour the madeleine tin. Avoid using oil spray for this. I melt the butter and let it cool for a bit and then brush it. This gives the butter a better coverage of the tin.

2 - Sift flour on top of the butter and then take the tin and then shake it over the sink to dislodge any excess flour areas.

3 - Make sure to whip the sabayon mixture (egg and sugar) until you can no longer feel sugar crystals in the mixture. You can do this with a balloon whisk Then remove from heat and whip until thick and cooled and barely warm. This will need to be done with an electric mixer to get the required volume so I switch to the stand mixer.

4 - The madeleine batter can be refrigerated overnight and then baked so that you can serve freshly made madeleines. The batter will thicken in the fridge so ensure that you don't overfill the tin when baking.

5 - I used orange zest for this but you can also use lemon and lime zest or vanilla extract too. Almond extract is also nice in madeleines.

6 - Baking fresh madeleines is a great dinner party idea. Serve these as gorgeous petit fours with coffee after dinner!

7 - Madeleines are best freshly baked from the oven but these can keep in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Madeleines

Recipe by Lorraine Elliott, Adapted from The Essential Baking Cookbook by Murdoch Books

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 12 minutes per batch

Makes 10 madeleines

• 10g/0.3ozs butter, melted and cooled for brushing on tin
• 1-2 tablespoons plain all purpose flour for tin
• 65g/2.3ozs cake flour*
• 1 egg, large, room temperature
• 110g/3.9ozs caster or superfine sugar
• 95g/3.3ozs butter, melted and cooled
• 2 teaspoon finely grated orange, lemon or lime zest
• 1 tablespoon icing or powdered sugar

Cake flour can be bought at the supermarket. You can also make it at home. To make 1 cup/150g/5.2ozs of cake flour replace 2 tablespoons of plain all purpose flour with cornflour/fine cornstarch and whisk well. I usually mix up a big batch of this and keep it in a container ready for baking cakes as it produces a softer texture.

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F or 160C/320F fan forced. Brush the 10g/0.3oz of butter in the madeleine baking tray making sure to get in all the crevices. Then sift the 2 tablespoons of flour over the tin. Shake off excess.

Step 2 - Sift the flour three times. Then in a heatproof bowl that fits snugly over a small saucepan with an inch of barely simmering water, add the egg and sugar and whisk until combined. Take a handheld electric whisk and whisk until the mixture turns thick and pale yellow. This can also be achieved with balloon whisking by hand but it will take 2-3 minutes (this is what I do). There should be no grains of sugar in the mixture if you feel it between your fingers.

Step 3 - Remove from the heat and beat with the handheld mixer until the mixture has cooled until barely warm and has increased in volume. Since I don't have a handheld mixer I put it in the stand mixer for this step.

Step 4 - Fold in the sifted flour, melted butter and zest mixing with a metal spoon quickly. Place in a jug with a pouring spout and pour into prepared madeleine tray. Do not overfill, just a little under the top is perfect as shown. Bake for 11-12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then take a butter knife and loosen the edges and remove from the tin. I place a cooling rack on top of the tray and flip it upside down. Dust with icing or powdered sugar and serve.

Because these are best when they are freshly baked all of my testing and dozens of madeleines went to my neighbours. We are really lucky that we get on so well with all of our direct neighbours and it's probably because Mr NQN always chats with them while I push out a steady stream of baked goods. I first gave some to one neighbour who gave us a couple of kilos of limes (feel free to suggest any lime recipes!) as a thank you for the limes.

Then another neighbour received a batch and then asked, "That wasn’t you that dropped a plate glass at 2.30 this afternoon was it?" I'm embarrassed to admit that indeed it was me that broke a plate and then I remarked to Mr NQN that she probably heard me swear and that it could only be me that would curse like that!

And then we gave a batch to another neighbour commented that whatever it was that I was cooking yesterday afternoon smelled absolutely delicious. These were Cajun chicken breasts which I will be sharing very soon! And I feel safe that if at least something happens to us in our house, that our neighbours will notice!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you notice what your neighbours are doing? Do you bake madeleines often? And do you have any suggestions for limes?