These delicate, buttery cakes will float right into your mouth and are the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea or coffee.
What You’ll Need for This Recipe
Lemon: A bit of lemon zest adds a nice nuance of flavor to the cakes but is optional.
Vanilla: try to use a nice real vanilla extract. You could substitute it for almond extract or even a dash of rosewater.
Don’t forget your Madeleine pan! It’s the only way to get that scallop-shaped cake.
How to Make Madeleines
1. Melt the butter you’ll be incorporating into the batter later. You can use the microwave or melt it in a small pot over medium heat. I LOVE browning the butter as it adds a wonderful nutty depth of flavor. To do this just cook the butter until it takes on a caramel color, stirring occasionally. Transfer the melted butter into a bowl and set aside to cool.
2. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into a bowl then whisk together and set aside.
3. Add the eggs and sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or a large bowl if using an electric hand mixer. Beat on high until the mixture is light in color with a thick consistency; you’ll see trails left by the beater as in the photo above. Mix in the vanilla and lemon zest before moving to the next step.
4. Sift in the flour mixture as you fold in gently. At this point it’s important to treat your batter with care as you don’t want to pop all the tiny bubbles you’ve beaten into the eggs.
5. Drizzle the melted butter into your batter and fold in until combined. Cover the surface of the batter with plastic and chill for an hour. After the batter is placed in the fridge you can melt about two tablespoons of butter and brush your Madeleine pans with it. Place pans in the refrigerator to chill.
6. Preheat oven to 350F. Place about one tablespoon of chilled batter in each shell-shaped depression then bake for around 9 minutes. The edges will be golden and the centers should spring back if pressed lightly. Allow to cool in pans for a few minutes before removing to cool completely. Dust the cooled cakes with powdered sugar if desired.
Pro Tips for this Recipe
- Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake. The best, and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don’t have one then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.
- The batter for these Madeleines is a Genoise, which gets most of it’s lift from the tiny air bubbles beaten into the eggs. Be gentle with your delicate batter.
- These Madeleines are light and airy cakes, not cookies. They’re best the day of but if you’re storing leftovers then make sure to seal them in an airtight container.
- If your cakes are sticking in the pan after baking run a knife around the edge and gently press at the base to nudge the madeleine forward. It should release without loosing any crumbs.
- Your madeleines will still be scrumptious even if you don’t have that characteristic hump on the back so don’t stress about it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are they called Madeleines?
Madeleines are a traditional cake from the Lorraine region of France. The name’s origins are disputed but some top contenders are Madeleine Palmier, cooked for the exiled king of Poland, or a pilgrim from Spain named Madeleine who brought the recipe back from her travels.
Are they a cookie or cake?
These are tiny cookie-sized cakes! They’re a variant of the very traditional Genoise sponge which uses beaten eggs for the leavening.
What do they taste like?
Madeleines have a very delicate texture. Buttery, light as air and flavored with vanilla and a hint of lemon. This recipe uses browned butter for added depth of flavor but madeleines can have any number of flavors from raspberry to chocolate.
If you love this recipe try these out!
If you’ve tried this Madeleine recipe then don’t forget to leave a rating and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Madeleines
Video
Equipment
- Madeleine pan
- Mixer
- Bowls
Ingredients
- 7 tbsp unsalted butter 100g
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar 100g
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour plus 1 tbsp 100g sifted
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Melt the butter either in your microwave or in a small pot over medium heat. Browning the butter will add a lovely depth or flavor to the cakes but is of course optional. Once melted or browned pour the butter into a bowl and allow to cool.
- Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into a bowl then whisk together and set aside.
- Add the eggs and sugar to the bowl or your stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or a large bowl if using an electric hand mixer. Beat on high until the mixture is a light yellow color with a thick silky texture, about 8-9 minutes. You'll see the beater leave trails when it's ready. Mix in the vanilla and lemon zest toward the end.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture and mix until just combined. You can sift the flour mixture into the eggs while you fold to avoid getting lumps or over-mixing the delicate batter.
- Drizzle the butter into the batter and gently mix until just combined.
- Cover and chill the batter as well as the buttered tins for 1 hour then scoop one tablespoon of batter into each scallop-shaped well. Bake at 350F 8-10 minutes.
- Serve with a light dusting of powdered sugar.
Notes
- Measure your flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake. The best, and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale. If you don't have one then fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and use a knife to level it off.
- The batter for these Madeleines is a Genoise, which gets most of it's lift from the tiny air bubbles beaten into the eggs. Be gentle with your delicate batter.
- These Madeleines are light and airy cakes, not cookies. They're best the day of but if you're storing leftovers make sure to seal in an airtight container.
- If your cakes are sticking in the pan after baking run a knife around the edge and gently press at the base to nudge the madeleine forward. It should release without loosing any crumbs.
- Your madeleines will still be scrumptious even if you don't have that characteristic hump on the backnso don't stress about it.
