Madeleines are gorgeous little French butter cakes that are shaped like a shell or scallop. These gorgeous lemony madeleines have a zingy lemon flavour from plenty of lemon zest plus one secret ingredient that really gives it a lemon sherbetty quality. These madeleines are dipped in white chocolate with some edible flowers for a pretty detail. These lemon madeleine cakes last for a few days so they make a perfect gift!
About These Lemon Madeleine Cakes
I'll admit that before I discovered this madeleine recipe I was completely immune to the charms of a madeleine. Unless it was coming fresh out of the oven at a restaurant or filled with lemon curd, I didn't care for them. Normally madeleines have the staying power of a cut avocado (aka not long!). If they weren't eaten within a couple of hours they just tasted like stale cake. But then I did a cooking class at Carroll Gap and Jan shared the recipe with me (from the The Essential Baking Cookbook by Murdoch Books) and suddenly I was VERY interested in madeleines!
Ingredients for Lemon Madeleines
Did you make this recipe? Share your creations by tagging @notquitenigella on Instagram with the hashtag #notquitenigella
Butter - I always use salted butter in all of my recipes
Cake flour - you can buy cake flour at the supermarket or you can also make it at home and we use it to give cakes a softer texture. 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.
Egg - large eggs are best for baking as they will help the madeleines rise.
Caster or superfine sugar - this is what sweetens the madeleines
Lemon zest - I give the measurement for lemon zest in tablespoons as lemons vary so much in size. This was around 2 large lemon's worth for me.
Citric acid - this is optional but I keep citric acid as an ingredient for lemon or citrus flavoured baked goods. If you try it, it tastes like Wizz Fizz sherbet.
White chocolate - You can also use dark or milk chocolate but I love the combination of sweet white chocolate and fruit
Coconut oil - extra virgin coconut oil is used to make the chocolate more liquid and spreadable. Otherwise it can be a bit too thick to spread easily.
Edible flowers - use any dried or fresh edible flowers. I used these edible flowers.
Tips For Making Lemon Madeleine Cakes
1 - Take the time to butter and flour the madeleine pan well. If your tin is new it should be a bit more forgiving but once they get a bit older and more used, the less non stick pans are.
2 - If you don't have a handheld whisk, you can use a balloon whisk for the first step and then transfer it to a stand mixer with a whisk attachment for the second step. I don't recommend making madeleines unless you have a mixer for the second step as it requires whisking until the mixture cools off which can be more than 5 minutes.
3 - Remember white chocolate has a lower melting temperature than milk or dark so if you microwave it, do it on 50% power. There's nothing more heartbreaking than burnt chocolate!
4 - Make sure to mix the chocolate and coconut oil well.
5 - The key to getting the chocolate just right and not too thick is to spoon a teaspoon of white chocolate in the clean madeleine mold and then use the teaspoon to spread out the chocolate all the way to the edge. Then tap the madeleine pan gently against the benchtop to remove air bubbles and press the baked madeleine into the chocolate lined mould. If you don't spread it all the way to the edge you don't get as much of a visual effect.
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 slightly
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon citric acid (optional)
225g/7.9ozs white chocolate
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon edible flowers
Cake flour can be found at the supermarket or you can 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 cake texture.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F or 160C/320F fan forced. Brush the 10g/0.3oz of butter in the madeleine pan making sure to get in all the crevices. Then sift the 1-2 tablespoons of flour over the tin. Tap the tin against the counter into the sink to shake off any excess flour and check the pan to see if every part is greased and floured and redo spots if needed. I know I sound crazy but it's so annoying when a madeleine sticks!
Step 2 - Sift the flour three times. Then place the egg and sugar in a heatproof bowl that fits snugly over a small saucepan with an inch of simmering water. Take a handheld electric whisk and whisk until the mixture turns thick and pale yellow. I don't have one so I used a balloon whisk that takes 2-3 minutes. You should feel no grains of sugar in the mixture if you rub it between your fingers.
Step 3 - Remove from the heat and beat with the stand mixer with a whisk attachment or electric handheld mixer. The aim here is to whisk it until the mixture has cooled until barely warm and has increased in volume.
Step 4 - Then fold in the triple sifted flour, melted butter, zest and citric acid mixing with a spatula. 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. 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. Trim the madeleines with a sharp knife to give them a sharper edge. Wash the madeleine tin and dry well.
Fill the pan until juuust under the top
Step 5 - Melt the white chocolate in the microwave on 50% heat or in a double boiler and stir in coconut oil. Make sure to stir well until amalgamated completely. Take a small pinch of edible flowers and place in the madeleine tray. Then add 1 teaspoon of melted white chocolate and use the teaspoon to spread out the chocolate all the way to the edges. Place the madeleine in the chocolate. Repeat until all of the madeleines are dipped (I like to keep a couple of madeleines undipped in case some people don't like chocolate). Place in the fridge for 10 minutes to set and then slide out of the tin.
Trimming the madeleines with a sharp knife
Personal Note
Lemon and garlic are two ingredients that I always feel good when I have them in surplus. When our neighbours Vic and Nicki were away for over a month Mr NQN asked them if he could help himself to some of their lemons from their tree and I ended up with a whole crisper of them. They actually came in really handy. While we were on holidays when we had a week to go I started to get sick. It started with a cough and then quickly progressed to laryngitis. Couple that with a severe heat rash all over my arms and legs and I was quite a sight to behold.
I tried to stay out of everyone's way because a cough can be very alarming especially in this COVID-aware world. But it wasn't contagious because Mr NQN never caught it nor did anyone on the cruise. I think it might have been made worse with the air-conditioning and constantly going in and out of hot and cold temperatures. By the time we finished the cruise, I had no voice and when we arrived at our hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Mr NQN was used to translating everything for me because all I could do was gesture.
He had to call downstairs for some hot honey and lemon for me to make a hot drink. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. Instead of handing Mr NQN the bowl of honey and lemon the guy burst into our room. I was half naked because I wasn't well and was uncovered as I was trying to not irritate the heat rash. I also had no voice so I couldn't protest at the sudden intrusion. I let out a half strangled husky "Arrrggh" and the guy looked like he really shocked! I'm sure that from now on he will just hand over the goods at the door!
So tell me Dear Reader, what ingredients do you always have to hand on hand? Do you like madeleines?
This post contains affiliate links. These help earn me a small commission at no added cost to you.
Reader Comments
Loading comments...Add Comment