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You are here: Home / Sweet baking / Madeleines : A Recipe that Works!

Madeleines : A Recipe that Works!

37 Comments Sweet baking, WKB projects cakes, Patisserie

Klik hier voor de Nederlandse versie
Ah, the madeleine, the illusive shell shaped petit cake from the French Loire region. Several recipes were made and resulted in a rather dry and dull confection. Nothing to shout about and not what Proust could have meant when he wrote those famous words:

No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin…. And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before mass), when I went to say good morning to her in her bedroom, my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane. The sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it. And all from my cup of tea.

—Marcel Proust (author 10-7-1871 – 18-11-1922), In Search of Lost Time

Madeleines - the non stick tins work best
Madeleines - different oven temps and times, searching for that sweet spot where colour and texture are just right.
Madeleines - from right to left higher humps with every bake
Madeleines
Madeleines - the inside revealed: soft slightly moist and bouncy, very pleasant  structure to bite in to.

The joy of creating the camel hump or ‘bosse de chameau’ as the French would say

Cakes, breads or cookies, the most important thing is finding that firm base of a good recipe. And we think we found it when we tried the one Mr Suas provides in his excellent book ‘Advanced Bread and Pastry’. Like with all these recipes aimed at professional bakers and pastry chefs you have to do some recalculation and tweaking with ingredients, methods and oven settings to make it work for the home baker.

We think our recalculated recipe and adjusted method is ready and worthy of sharing with you. It took us some bakes to hit that sweet spot where color and crumb are just right. We give you our exact times and temperatures, but remember that with these short baking times, a minute can make a lot of difference. So you might need a few turns too to get it right with your oven.

Let us know what you think!

IMG_2842

Ingredients for the Madeleines

makes about 30 madeleines, depending on size of shells in tin

175 g pastry flour / French type 45 flour

5 g baking powder

175 g butter, melted (or you can make ‘beurre noisette’)

140 g sugar

20 g soft brown sugar

30 g runny honey (flower /acacia)

4 small eggs with total weight of 190 g

0.7 g / 1/8 teaspoon salt

flavoring of choice: lemon, almond, vanilla…

Making the Madeleines
Start by sifting the flour with the baking powder. Set aside. Melt the butter over low heat and leave to cool slightly.
Combine sugar, soft brown sugar, honey, eggs, salt and optional flavoring. Just make sure you get a homogeneous batter, you do not need to mix. We use a Danish dough whisk for this.

Add the sifted flour to this mixture and make sure all the flour is incorporated by stirring gently. The flour does not have to be 100% percent incorporated at this point as you will stir some more while adding the melted butter. Now slowly add the melted butter and fold it in until everything is combined and all butter has been ‘absorbed’.

Store in the fridge for one to two hours. Mister Suas pipes the batter into the molds and puts the filled molds in the fridge, but we do it our way out of practicality. We do not have enough molds to fill and chill in one go, so we chill the batter, fill the molds and place the remaining batter back in the fridge for the second round of baking.

Preheat your oven at 235ºC / 455ºF conventional setting.

Brush the molds (we use a non-stick version) with butter, then lightly and evenly dust with flour. After chilling scoop your madeleine batter in a piping bag. Fill the molds to about 3/4 with batter.

You can use a (reusable) piping bag for filling the molds or alternatively scoop in the batter with the use of two spoons

Take the filled madeleine mold and place it in the oven on a baking rack, on a tier above the center. Bake the madeleines at 235ºC / 455ºF for 2.5 minutes. Now turn your oven back to 180ºC / 355ºF and bake for a further 7 minutes. Please note that this method produced the best madeleines for our oven. Like us, you probably have to bake a few batches to get the optimum result with your own oven.

We place a baking sheet under the madeleine mold to temper / deflect the heat from the bottom to prevent the bottoms of the madeleines from browning too quickly.

Take the tin out of the oven, immediately release the madeleines and place them on a flat surface for a few minutes. When they have firmed up, you can place them on a cooling rack. Please note that if you place them on a cooling rack too quickly the rack will leave prints on the cakes. We use the flat back of a bamboo chop stick to nudge them out of the mold.

You can give the cakes a lemon or orange glaze as an optional extra, but they do not really need anything added to them. Eat them as fresh as possible. Any leftovers can be stored in the freezer for a maximum of 3 to 4 weeks.

Bonne cuisson!

Sweet baking, WKB projects cakes, Patisserie

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Comments

  1. Audrey Lagarde says

    April 6, 2021 at 21:25

    I am French and this recipe is the best I’ve ever tried ! Thank you so much, you made my day 🙂

    Reply
  2. Lydia says

    October 24, 2020 at 14:42

    Do advise how to tweak this recipe to make them mocha flavoured? Cocoa powder or melted chocolate?

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      October 25, 2020 at 10:36

      With mocha, don’t you possibly mean coffee flavoured?

      Reply
      • Lydia says

        October 25, 2020 at 23:13

        Yes actually so chocolate and coffee!

        Reply
        • Weekend Bakers says

          October 27, 2020 at 14:57

          Hello Lydia,
          Please note that we never made this particular version so we cannot advice you based on experience. We would add cocoa powder (sifted with the flour or added to the wet ingredients) and use a little less pastry flour for this. Plus for a good coffee flavour we would use instant coffee / coffee powder that can be added to the wet ingredients or dissolved in just a tiny bit of water first (maybe for the best result you need to take away a bit of egg white to compensate again).

          Hope it will be good, the flavour combination is promising of course!

          Reply
  3. Michael says

    July 25, 2020 at 03:29

    This recipe is phenomenal. I made the batter two days ago and have baked some off each night and still have more for tomorrow. If anything, the batter has just gotten better in the refrigerator. I used American-made Gold Medal unbleached all-purpose flour to no apparent detriment. Don’t consider browning the butter optional; it takes them to the next level. If you’re after the “bump,” which, at least from what I’ve read, is a desired feature, the main factor in its formation is not overfilling the mold. Err on the side of it looking scant in the tin. While probably not traditional, spreading butter and honey on them while still warm is an idea I’m glad I had. God Bless.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      July 27, 2020 at 10:02

      Hello Michael,
      So glad to get your feedback. Wonderful! And yes we agree, browning the butter in this recipe works perfect and the task itself is never a punishment (the smell alone is worth it).
      For people who do not know how to make the brown butter we also use it in the financiers and explain how it works in this recipe:
      www.weekendbakery.com/posts…inanciers/

      Butter and honey you say…. :)) , never mind the traditions…

      Thank you for sharing and enjoy your baking!
      Ed & Marieke
      WKB

      Reply
  4. Carla says

    August 7, 2019 at 17:05

    I’m excited to try these after reading the comments. How many will this recipe yield?

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      August 11, 2019 at 13:26

      Hi Carla,

      This recipe yields about 30 madeleines, also depending on size of shells in the tin you use.

      Enjoy your baking!

      Reply
  5. Alki says

    January 2, 2019 at 07:47

    Wonderful recipe that works.
    One comment, from experience: use a metallic mold. With a silicon mold it’s impossible to get the coveted hump on the madeleine.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      January 4, 2019 at 11:58

      Hello Alki,
      Thank you for contributing your advice. Yes, silicon is a poor heat-conductor so you have to take this into account when using them and possibly adjust baking temp and times, but still expect a different result than with the use of a metal tin.

      Reply
  6. L. Burns says

    November 2, 2018 at 02:38

    “We use a disposable piping bag and snip off the end…”

    This is why the world is knee deep in plastic garbage. For God’s sake buy a decent cloth pastry bag ($6USD) or make one from parchment paper.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      November 2, 2018 at 08:06

      Yes you are right! We do use these bags but we agree that a reusable option is much better and will adjust this in recipes. We are aware of the plastic problem and all the plastic we use is collected separately and processed for possible recycling.

      Reply
  7. Nguyen Hoang Thao Minh says

    February 18, 2018 at 11:46

    I’ve been disappointed about my previous madeleines but today your recipe made my day!!!It’s turn out so much beautiful more than I expect. Thank you for your inspiration!

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      February 19, 2018 at 21:21

      Thank you very much for taking the time to let us know. We love this recipe and are glad it worked well for you too.

      Happy madeleines baking and sharing!

      Reply
  8. Hanna says

    August 14, 2017 at 21:32

    my first Madeleines are excellent. Very friendly receip. I cant wait for next once!!! Thank you for inspiration.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      August 22, 2017 at 14:08

      Hi Hanna,
      Thanks for sharing your results, very glad this recipe works for you too 🙂

      Reply
  9. Helen Simonson says

    February 13, 2015 at 12:14

    Hello Weekend Bakers,

    Do I use zeeuwse bloem – frans type 45 for both pastry i.e. quiches/apple tart , and cakes?
    I am confused! Thanks Helen

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      February 16, 2015 at 22:59

      Hello Helen, zeeuwse bloem is a Dutch word for ‘weak’ flour. All pastry, madeleines, cakes, cookies and sweet baking will be great with this flour. However you can not bake a great bread with this flour. For bread you need a ‘strong’ flour with lots of gluten.

      Reply
      • Helen Simonson says

        March 6, 2015 at 08:44

        Thank you for your reply! I had bought a huge bag of Zeeuwse bloem from the Zandhaas molen in Santpoort and was worried I could only use it for pastry i.e. shortcrust etc. Relief!

        Reply
  10. Tee says

    September 17, 2014 at 19:47

    I’ve always been a bit disappointed with previous madeleine attempts, so, what with my great esteem for your bread recipes, I thought I’d let you guide me through it — and they have come out absolutely beautifully. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      September 21, 2014 at 20:03

      Great feedback Tee, happy they turned out good for you too.

      Happy madeleines baking!

      Reply
  11. Joost den Ouden says

    June 4, 2014 at 21:22

    Voor een lichte hazelnoottoets kan de boter in het recept ook eerst nog tot beurre noisette gebrand worden. Ik vind dat persoonlijk nog lekkerder! Neemt niet weg dat deze er superlekker uitzien.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      June 9, 2014 at 13:51

      Hallo Joost,
      Dank voor je suggestie. Omdat we ook met financiers in de weer waren geweest rond kerst (waarin ook beurre noisette zit) hadden we een tijdje geleden deze ook toegevoegd aan de madeleines. Wat ons wel opviel is dat het beslag dan een heerlijk intense notensmaak heeft maar dat deze na het bakken nog maar heel licht aanwezig is. Een beetje jammer wel, maar nog geen idee hoe je de intensiteit zou kunnen opvoeren….

      Reply
  12. Edna Kaveza says

    April 9, 2014 at 12:05

    Hi weekend bakery kindly give measurements in other form apart from ml.i have to try this recipe

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      April 9, 2014 at 12:47

      All our recipe work best by carefully weighing all the ingredients. For conversion to other systems please consult our Baking conversion table with handy conversion for all main baking ingredients : www.weekendbakery.com/cooki…nversions/

      Happy baking!

      Reply
  13. elena says

    April 7, 2014 at 22:29

    Hello again 🙂
    This time was for madlene. And they are very good. One question thou: if i don’t want them as sweet as they result, where should i reduce the sugar from? (Less honey? Brown sugar or less white sugar?)
    Tx. Waiting for your reply.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      April 8, 2014 at 22:13

      Hi Elena,
      We have never done this, but would start with less white sugar or maybe use some more honey and less white sugar.

      Goof luck with it,

      Marieke

      Reply
  14. david says

    April 7, 2014 at 17:44

    Hello Ed & Marieke

    Your reciepe is very good, we loved it thank you very much.

    For the cooking i used the rofco oven at 180 dégrées celcius.
    Placed the mold directly on the stone.
    added a little bit of steam.

    For normal ovens i read we should put a baking plate while preheating to have the same effect as a deck oven.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      April 8, 2014 at 22:10

      Hi David,
      Great to hear you used the Rofco, we have never tried that with this recipe.

      Reply
  15. Elvira says

    September 15, 2013 at 11:50

    Hi Ed and Marieke,

    This is wonderful!
    For the soft brown sugar, Do you use bruin bastard suiker ?

    Elvira

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      September 16, 2013 at 11:06

      Hi Elvira,
      Because we have this option in Holland, we use the soft yellow sugar or ‘gele basterdsuiker’. It has a slight caramel flavor.

      Happy Baking!

      Marieke

      Reply
  16. Karin Anderson (Karin's Bäckerei) says

    August 31, 2013 at 04:14

    I’ll definitely try your recipe. I made madeleines twice before, but thought they could be better.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      September 1, 2013 at 18:38

      We had the same experience until we tried the above recipe so I hope it will be the same for you too.
      Let us know what you think!

      Happy baking,

      Marieke

      Reply
  17. freerk says

    August 25, 2013 at 19:32

    How wonderful! I’ve been planning to tackle these from Suas’ book, but haven’t gotten around to it! Thanks.

    Reply
    • Weekend Bakers says

      August 25, 2013 at 21:18

      Hi Freerk,
      Hope we gave you a little extra nudge to try them, having done some pre-baking recalculations . I’m sure they will turn out great, with your baking experience!

      Enjoy,

      Marieke

      Reply

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