Easy Madeleines Recipe with a Video

Today I will teach you an Easy Madeleines recipe, with simple steps, no complications, or difficult techniques. You will make these beautiful mini teacakes or, as others call them, cookie cakes with ease and in a short time!

Madeleines are mini-French cakes with tender crumbs. Watching my video, you will see how airy, light, and moist these mini cakes are. In this post, I will explain all the steps to make your first attempt to bake this delight a hit! You will love how these small cakes melt in your mouth, especially when dipped in coffee or milk. Keep on reading, and you’ll be surprised how easy it is to make Madeleines at home with simple ingredients available in every kitchen, plus learn how to get the signature bump perfectly baked madeleines have!

What are Madeleines, and is it challenging to make it?

Madeleines are mini-French cakes; some call them French cookies; this is because these small mini gems are a bit crispy from the outside like cookies and are crazy tender from the inside like cakes. The batter is poured into a shell-like mold. When you bake the madeleines right, a small bump will form in the middle.

The recipes online might look intimidating because of the steps and techniques, including beating the eggs for a long time and mixing part of the batter separately with melted butter. However, in the recipe I’m sharing with you, all the steps are straightforward, and you will get the same fantastic result.

Madeleines are flavored with vanilla, orange, or lemon. Nowadays, many add chocolate and other ingredients like pistachio and chocolate chips in the madeleines which I think is great. Madeleine tastes a little like butter cake but is much lighter. If you are interested in another popular French dessert, then try my Crème Brulée.

If you want to know more about Madeleines, read this short article about it and its origin.

What are the ingredients I need to make Madeleines?

Eggs – Use large eggs at room temperature. Substitutes are mentioned in the recipe card under notes!

All-purpose flour – Some use cake flour, but I don’t think it’s a must. These Madeleines come out fluffy and light using all-purpose flour.

Unsalted butter – I would advise to always use unsalted butter in your baking; some brands add a lot of salt in their butter, which spoils the taste of pastries.

Baking powder – In some old madeleine recipes, you won’t find baking powder. The cake rises because you have spent a long time beating the eggs. However, in this recipe, we are using baking powder to save time.

Sugar – Always use fine white sugar; the brown sugar brings in more moisture, making this cake dense.

Vanilla – I love the flavor of pure vanilla in these mini cakes, but you can replace it with lemon or orange zest.

How to make Madeleines the easy way?

This is a brief explanation to show you how simple it is to make these mini cakes, but a detailed explanation is mentioned in the recipe card below.

• Beat the eggs for three minutes, then add in the sugar. Continue to beat until well combined, add the vanilla, and beat for three minutes.
• Sift the flour with salt and baking powder; this step will make the madeleines fluffy, so do not skip it.
• Mix the dry with the wet ingredients using a whisk until well combined but make sure not to overmix. Then pour in the melted butter and mix for a few seconds.
• Cover the batter and leave it in the fridge to chill for 2 hours to 12 hours, but you can place the covered batter in the freezer for a few minutes and then use it if you don’t want to wait that long.
• Preheat the oven. Start the preheating while the batter is still in the fridge, do not take out the batter from the refrigerator, and then turn on the oven.
• Scoop the batter in the mold and bake on the middle shelf for 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
• Let the madeleines cool while in the mold for three minutes, and then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

How to make madeleines without a mold?

Madeleine’s batter is like butter cake batter, so you can make cupcakes from it or even pour the batter into an 8” or 9” baking pan. The cake will come out great but avoid overbaking it.

Madeleine’s bump and how to get it

It is well known that Madeleines are famous for their bumps, and you have it if you refrigerate the batter and immediately bake it in a hot oven. You get the bump because the batter is cold, and the shell mold does not have an even surface; it is narrow at the bottom and deeper in the middle. When the heat hits the cold batter, the moisture trapped in the batter escapes from the center where there is more batter; this is how you get the bump.

You can also place the covered batter in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes and then bake it instead of refrigerating it for hours and save time but be careful because some freezers freeze faster than others. The goal here is to chill the batter and not to freeze it!

When I bake the madeleines, some come out with bumps, and others come out a little flat, but the taste is impressive in all of them, and they are all light and fluffy. To me, the texture is more important than having a bump in madeleines.  

The best pan for madeleine

Before anything, let’s make one thing clear, we are not baking the madeleines to impress anyone except your family and friends; they don’t care much if your madeleines have bumps or were baked in a metal or a nonstick pan. So don’t stress if your madeleines had no bumps!

I found that a good pan for baking these Gems is heavy-duty nonstick madeleine pan it has many advantages, the madeleines won’t stick, the pan lasts for a long time, and you get to bake many mini cakes in one go.

But the best choice is Silicone Madeleine Pans which I use in my baking. With the silicone pans/molds, you don’t need to grease or flour them; you get even baking since the heat is distributed fairly. The madeleines come out easy, and you get a beautiful shell-like shape.

There is one disadvantage to Silicone pans, the smell sticks to them, but it’s not a big deal, and below I’ll teach you three easy ways to remove the odors from all your silicone bakeware.

How to remove odors from silicone bakeware?

With all the advantages silicone bakeware comes with, there is one disadvantage, The odors that the silicon bakeware and mats come with from the factory, it clings to what you bake.

HEAT

If you have just bought the silicone pan or sheets, remove the factory and plastic smell by heating them. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Place the silicone pans and sheets on a baking sheet and place them in the oven for 1 hour. This step should take care of the odor, and next time you use these pans, there won’t be any odor sticking to your food or pastry.

BAKING SODA AND LEMON OR VINEGAR

Soak the silicone in hot water for 5 minutes. Sprinkle two tablespoons of baking soda over the silicone and two to three tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice. Using a sponge, gently rub the two ingredients against the silicone. Keep the mixture of baking soda and lemon juice or vinegar on the silicone for 10 to 15 minutes. Rub the mixture off the silicone under running water and then wash it with soapy water and let it dry.

BAKING SODA AND SOAPY WATER

Sprinkle baking soda over the silicone, then soak it in warm soapy water for 15 minutes. Rub the silicone well and then rinse with water. Allow it to air dry.

These tips should work for you but do not use them to clean your silicone bakeware after each use. Use any of the methods above once or twice a month, depending on how many times you have used the silicone molds and sheets, and how much odor is coming from them.

Follow these tips for the best madeleines  

1. Preheat the oven while the batter is in the fridge. Only take out the batter when ready to fill the molds.
2. Place the batter in the freezer for a few minutes instead of refrigerating it for hours if you don’t have much time on hand and want to bake the madeleines quickly.
3. Don’t melt the butter until the milk solids turn brown, especially if you are melting the butter on the stove, this will take out a lot of moisture from the butter, and we won’t get that signature bump.
4. If you are using a nonstick pan or metal pan, make sure to grease it well and dust it with enough flour to cover the pan properly.
5. Place the madeleines pan over a baking sheet if you are using a silicone mold.
6. Replace the vanilla with orange or lemon zest.

How to store madeleines?

These delicious fluffy madeleines keep well if stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days. If your kitchen is hot, then refrigerate them the second day.

You can store the batter for two days in the refrigerator.

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Easy Madeleines Recipe

These light, airy Easy Madeleines, popular in France, are easy to make with this easy recipe. It turns out great every time. The how-to video walks you through the process.

Course Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine French

Dish: Madeleines

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes minutes

Resting time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 27 minutes minutes

Servings 27 Madeleines

Author Muna Kenny

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• ½ cup melted unsalted butter

Instructions

• In a large mixing bowl, add the three large eggs and beat until a little lighter in color, which will take around two minutes.
• Add the sugar to the beaten eggs and beat until well combined, will take three minutes to four.
• Now add the vanilla or any flavoring you wish to replace the vanilla with, like orange or lemon zest. Beat the mixture for a minute.
• Sift in the flour, salt, and baking powder. It is essential to sift the dry ingredients to prevent any lumps from the baking powder.
• Add the flour to the beaten eggs and sugar. Mix until combined, and if you see small lumps in the batter at this stage, do not panic; it will disappear after adding the melted butter.
• Pour the melted butter into the batter and mix until combined. Make sure the melted butter is not hot when adding it!
• Cover the batter and refrigerate for 1 hour but best to chill for 2 hours to 12 hours. You can also place the covered batter in the freezer for a few minutes if you don’t want to wait for 2 hours. Read more in the notes below.
• Preheat the oven to 350F/180C for at least 20 minutes before using it.
• Prepare the pan. If you use a regular pan or a nonstick one, it is best to grease and flour it. A pastry brush will help a lot in this step, so brush the pan with butter and then dust it with flour. Make sure to use enough flour to cover the shell shape properly. Flip the pan over the working surface, or better do this at the sink. Tap the pan one time over the working surface or the sink to get rid of excess flour.
• Do not mix the batter after taking it out of the fridge. Using an ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, scoop the batter in the center of the madeleine’s molds. Do not try to spread the batter.
• If using a silicone mold, place it over a baking sheet and then bake it in the oven.
• Bake on the middle shelf for 12 minutes, or until you insert a toothpick in the middle of the madeleine and if it comes out clean.
• After removing the mini cakes from the oven, allow them to cool while in the pan/mold for three minutes, then place them over a wire rack to cool completely.
• Dust with confectioner’s sugar before serving.

Video

Notes

– Preheat the oven 20 minutes before using it.

– Always use unsalted butter for this recipe.

– If you have medium eggs, keep the number the same; if you have small eggs, use 4.

– Cover the batter when chilling it to prevent other odors from the fridge from spoiling the taste.

– Use orange zest or lemon zest instead of vanilla.

– Make sure that the baking powder is not expired and is stored well.

– How to use silicone mold and metal mold is mentioned in the post above.

– Instead of refrigerating the batter, you can place it in the freezer for a few minutes.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 122kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 23mg