Mini Madeleines

Mini Madeleines and blue berries for breakfast.

Madeleines, small French cake that taste similar to sponge cake. The mould is special that gives them it’s unique shape, which I find to be very cute and hence I always wanted to bake them. The delay in attempting to make these beauties was because I never had the mould in my stock of baking utensils. This week I finally saw a mini madeleine Silicone mould in one of my favourite shop and immediately purchased it. Returning home I made my first batch of Madeleines following the recipe that was included with the packaging. It was a first attempt and I was hungrily waiting to taste the result of my efforts, I had never even tasted them before. The kiddos were delighted with the cute looking spongy madeleines and they were over in no time. I did manage to arrange them in a flower shape to click pictures before they all disappeared from the plate, and I liked the look. As the madeleines got finished, I made a second batch and the pictures taken are used here. As I had never tasted them before, I tried following the recipe steps mentioned. Refrigerating the batter before use makes them spongier, and gives a rise in the middle, and that is how they should be is what I read on some celebrity chefs sites. These cakes taste the best when freshly baked, I had made them for breakfast, and some left over blue berries were also served. I loved the fresh fruit and cake combination. They can be eaten as is or along with Nutella for the chocolate lovers or any types of fruit jams. These are just options that I am mentioning, but I liked them hot, straight out from the oven and without adding or spreading anything on top of it. Most of the recipes I browsed used 3 eggs, but I have used only two eggs as I do not like too much of the eggy taste. Little bit of milk could be used, though the recipe does not include that. Most of the time the recipes I mention are modified and as per my taste preferences.

INGREDIENTS:

Butter: 90 gm

Eggs: 2 or 3

Sugar: 90gm

Refined flour: 100gm

Baking Powder: 1/2 tsp

Vanilla Essence: 1Tsp

OPTIONAL:

Zest of Orange: 1Tsp

Tightly packed brown sugar: 2 Tbsp

(Note: I used 2 eggs and little milk as I do not like too much of egg taste in the cake. Use 3 eggs for more soft and fluffier cakes.)

Assemble all the ingredients needed for the recipe.

METHOD: All the ingredients used should be at room temperature. The refined flour and baking powder should be mixed and sieved together.The butter should be melted. The oven should be preheated to 190 degree Celsius. The mould should be greased with butter and dusted with flour so that the madeleines do not stick to the mould.

Greased and dusted madeleine mould ready for use

Take a bowl and crack the eggs in it. Beat the eggs using a hand mixer or stand mixer. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla essence and mix with the eggs and beat well to get a smoother mixture. This should be done for almost 4-5 minutes or till the mixture becomes very smooth.

Smooth mixture of eggs, sugar and essence.

Fold in the sifted refined flour and baking powder mix into the smooth egg and sugar mixture. Pour the melted butter from the side of the bowl and lightly fold into the batter.

Melted butter and flour mix batter.

Cover the bowl of the batter with a cling wrap and put in the fridge for an hour or two. Then, using a spoon, fill into the prepared mould. Put the mould inside the preheated oven and bake at 190 deg C for 10 min or until a slight golden colour is seen on the risen cakes.

Baked madeleines

I baked them a little longer than 10 minutes to get a more darker golden colour, but I felt some of them got over baked. The exact time for baking depends on the oven used, hence use self discretion for deciding when to remove or if it needs to be baked a little above 10 minutes. Mine were mini in size and the batter that was leftover went back to the fridge until I baked the second round. They take very little time to bake and if the batter is kept ready in the fridge then they can be freshly baked and served with hot cups of tea or coffee.

I find this to be an easy and handy bite size cake recipe that could become a favourite of the kids and hence would definitely ask my friends, readers, and fellow bloggers to give this dish a try.

I loved and enjoyed baking and eating them😊.

Happy baking!

ashu