Making Madeleines

I had been longing to make madeleines or small French Sponge Cake for quite some time. All this while, I postponed the idea of making madeleines because I could not find the shell shaped molds typically designed for madeleines. I thought I would not be exactly baking madeleines if I didn't bake the cake in pans with shell-shaped depressions. My husband and I searched high and low for these distinctive shell-shaped baking pans in town but to no avail. I gave up. Last night, I bought two mini unconventional muffin pans to replace the shell-shaped baking pans and baked madeleines this late morning.

I used this madeleines recipe and the madeleines I baked today, despite their shape, turned out fantastic - spongy, soft and delicious. After lunch, my (already full) eldest nephew ate almost half of the madeleines I made and all the mini cakes were gone not long after I served them.

Below is the Madeleines' recipe version that I used today. I omitted salt and lemon zest stated in the original recipe because I didn't have any lemons in the fridge. Also, I didn't decorate my madeleines with icing sugar because I found my madeleines' final results were sweet enough. I mixed half of the cake batter with a little bit green tea powder and my green tea madeleines were well accepted by both kids and adults too.

My first trial on making madeleines.

Madeleines

Ingredients:

Tutorials:

Preheat oven to 150 degree Celsius.

Generously grease the madeleines pans with butter then dust them with flour evenly. Set aside.

Melt butter and let it cool at room temperature. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs and vanilla extract by using high speed electric mixer for 5 minutes until light.

Beating the eggs constantly, gradually add sugar and continue beating at high speed until the mixture is thick and pale for another 5 minutes.

Gently fold flour into the egg mixture 1/3 at a time by using spatula.

Fold melted butter into the cake batter by using spatula.

Spoon the cake batter into the molds, but not too full.

Bake madeleines for 15-20 minutes or until the cakes are golden.

Release the madeleines from pans and dust them with icing sugar, as desired.

Serve madeleines warm. They are best eaten on the day they're baked.

I think the key in making good Madeleines would be the egg and sugar mixture - we need to ensure that this mixture is thick enough before folding flour into it. Beating the eggs and sugar mixture at high speed for at least 10 minutes in total would be the safe bet.

Last but not least, I believe my Madeleines would look so much better had they been baked in the shell-shaped molds. In the meantime, I will keep on hunting for Madeleines pans.

P/S: If any of you know any baking supplies shops or supermarkets which sell Madeleines pans around Kuala Lumpur or Seremban area, please let me know! Thank you.