Quintessential French Pastry
Our seventh recipe from our first cookbook; Nadiya Bakes is Molasses Madeleines on page 38.
This small cake has been favoured by kings and peasants since the 17th century.
Madeleines are a French tea cake with pale stripes on the one side and a typical “bump” on the other.
Tips before starting
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If using a scale to weigh your ingredients below are measurements- molasses: 20 grams/baking powder: 5 grams
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Eggs should be at room temperatue
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Butter: recipe calls for melting butter, I prefer to make beurre noisette (butter that has been browned to give it a nutty flavour)
- heat butter in a frying pan on medium heat until it starts to bubble and foam
- remove from heat immediately, it can turn from a beautiful caramel flavour to burnt quickly
- let it cool to room temperature
4. Recipe calls for resting batter for 20min, I highly recommend resting batter in fridge for 24hrs or even up to 3 days
Madeleine Baking Tray
- You don’t need the fancy Madeleine baking trays to make this little cakes but they are the signature shape. You can make in a muffin tin.
- If you plan to purchase Madeleine trays I suggest the metal one and not the silicone ones. The silicone ones will never give you a crispy edge.
- butter the inside groves of tray meticulously, you don’t want your cakes to stick
- KEY step that recipe does not include: Madeleine MUST go into oven very cold! After you have filled your tray place entire tray in fridge for minimum 24 hours
- when ready to bake, place in pre- heated oven directly from fridge
- If you want the elusive hump, which is the characteristic of a well-baked Madeleine, follow the above steps.
- Because the batter is chilled prior to baking, the temperature difference between the oven and the batter creates a burst of steam that results in a hump.
Baked Madeleines
You can finish off you Madeleines per recipe suggestions, but I actually just prefer a sprinkle of icing sugar.
The Results
I would rate this recipe 3 out of 5. If you like molasses, this flavour was hardly even noticeable. I love Madeleines, they are the perfect coffee break snack. I prefer a more traditional Madeleine, made with lemon zest.
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