Some time ago I bought a brand new French Madeleine Pan
Well, it’s been languishing in the cupboard for 6 months or more and I was reminded of it while watching the new BBC Food & Drink programme when the lovely Michel Roux made some. Inspired by the simplicity of the recipe I have dug out my madeleine tin and set to making these distinctive and delicate little sponge cakes and I am happy to say, they could not be easier to make!
French Madeleine Recipe
Ingredients
2 free range eggs
100g caster sugar
100g butter, melted and cooled
100g plain flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
grated zest of 1 lemon
Making French Madeleines
Start by preparing the tin. Brush each of the shells with melted butter and dust with flour to make sure that the cakes do not stick. Pre heat the oven to 200c (Gas 6)
Put the eggs and the caster sugar into a large mixing bowl and whisk together until they are pale and bubbly.
Slowly whisk in the melted and cooled butter, flour, baking powder and lemon zest.
When everything is well mixed, place a dessertspoon of the mixture into each of the shells on the madeleine tin (they should be about 3/4 full).
Bake at 200c gas mark 6 for about 10 minutes before putting them onto a wire rack to cool.
Eat them very fresh, still slightly warm to enjoy them at their best!
I have just made another batch of delicious madeleines, this time with a twist! I’ve flavoured the same mixture as above with orange and sultanas. To make them super moist and as orangey as possible I grated the zest from 1 orange and added it to 50g (2oz) of sultanas. I then added the juice from half of the orange and left it for a few hours until the sultanas had absorbed the juice. They were then stirred into the madeleine mixture before spooning into the tray and baking.
If you give any of the recipes on my blog a try, I’d love to know how they turn out!
They came out great! I too was impressed how easy they are to make. And eaten still warm – oh yum!