Sweet little madeleines. Cookie or cake?
Well, technically, they are little sponge cakes. From France, bien sur! I just love them. What’s not to love about a little cake the size of a cookie. (Sorry. My little cake is simply not big enough for me to share with you.) But I’ll give you the recipe!
Madeleines are simple, soft little cakes that can vary in flavor according to what you do with them. These brilliant little bites are from Rachel Khoo’s recipe. The lemon scented, honey flavored cakes have a fresh raspberry baked into the center. I would have been content with that, but sweet-tart lemon curd is piped into the raspberry once they have cooled! Sprinkle them with a bit of powdered sugar and you will have a wonderfully sweet, soft, creamy treat!
No need to feel intimidated. Madeleines are just about foolproof to make.
Start with some beautiful fresh raspberries. The simple batter needs to hang out in the fridge for a few hours. But once you are ready to bake, just spoon the batter into your madeleine tins and place a raspberry, open side up, into the middle of each cake.
They bake up quickly. 5 minutes in the oven. Then shut the oven off for a minute. Lower the temperature, and bake for another 5 minutes! (Shutting the oven off for a minute is said to help the cakes form that little distinctive mound).
Let the cakes cool. Pipe some lemon curd into the hole of the raspberry. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. And nothing left to do but enjoy!
These cakes have no vanilla in them. They are flavored with honey and a bit of zest. But you can really flavor them any way you’d like. Change the citrus curd you pipe in. Or how about some chocolate ganache in the center?! Such a sweet, easy and impressive little dessert!
You did not wake up today to be mediocre.
- 4½ ounces of granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 7 ounces of all purpose flour (plus extra for dusting the tins)
- 1½ teaspoons of baking powder
- the zest of 1 lemon
- 4½ teaspoons of honey
- 4 Tablespoons of milk
- 7 ounces of butter, melted and cooled (plus extra for buttering the tins)
- ½ cup of lemon curd; about 24 teaspoons (I used Stonewall Kitchen's lemon curd but the recipe for Ms. Khoo's lemon curd can be found by clicking on her link)
- Powdered sugar for sprinkling.
- Beat the sugar and eggs until pale and frothy.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder and then add the zest.
- In another bowl, combine the honey, melted butter and milk.
- Add the butter mixture to the sugar and egg mixture.
- In 2 additions, fold in the flour.
- Cover and let the bowl rest in the fridge for 2-3 hours.
- When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Butter and flour 2 (12 shell) madeleine tins.
- Spoon 1 Tablespoon of batter into each tin and smooth with a small offset spatula.
- Place a fresh raspberry, hole up, into the middle of each shell.
- Bake for 5 minutes.
- Turn the oven off for 1 minute.
- Reset the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Bake for another 5 minutes.
- Cool the cakes on a wire rack.
- Place the lemon curd into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip.
- Pipe about 1 teaspoon of curd into the center of each raspberry.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.
Support your local farmers!
They are gorgeous with raspberries!
Angie@Angie’s Recipes recently posted…Raspberry White Chocolate Tartlets with Mascarpone
I’ve made lemon madeleines, but adding a raspberry and lemon curd sure ups the ante!!! I bet the berry helps keep them moist longer—double bonus!
These are the fanciest and most decadent Madeleines I’ve ever seen!
Such a beautiful, um cookie, um cake… I mean Madeleine!
My sister gave me a Madeleine pan for Christmas that I have yet to use. Now I need to get that out and try it!