Sweet, sweet Madeleine

Earlier this year I splashed out on some madeleine moulds and I’m ashamed to say they sat in a kitchen cupboard waiting hopefully for me to put them to good use.

I need to be in the right mood to tackle experimental baking. There’s a world of difference between baking because one has to and baking because one really feels like it.

In the meantime I’d been doing my homework, sifting through various recipes I'd collected, even resurrecting my fairly rudimentary French and translating a couple.

I’d mentioned the madeleine project to a fellow Melbourne blogger, Thanh who spurred me on. The mood to bake grabbed me, I had all the ingredients on hand – for once there was enough butter in the house – and I was good to go.

Some recipes stress the need to refrigerate the batter for at least a couple of hours before baking. Others write this off as totally unnecessary. Some people put a thin layer of icing on their madeleines, or dip the ends in melted chocolate. Others flavour them with coffee, or cocoa. Some use baking powder, others don’t. I notice Stephane Reynaud in Ripailles uses yeast as leavening.

While many flavour their madeleines with lemon zest, I wanted a change so I settled on using orange flower water warmed up a fraction with a little freshly ground cardamom seeds which I whizzed up in the spice grinder.

My stab blender has a wire whisk attachment and this was perfect for whisking the eggs then incorporating the sugar followed by part of the melted butter. The remaining mixing was completed with the motor off – just a gentle whisk through. I gave the batter two hours in the refrigerator. Supposedly the idea behind this is to produce the traditional bump on top of the madeleine.

The first few minutes at a higher temperature produce the traditional bump on top

The madeleines cool on a rack

Mmmmm. Madeleines...

All went to plan and the results were delicious. Leftovers kept well in an airtight container till the next day.

Here’s my recipe. Anyone interested in reading a little further about madeleines can check out my latest newspaper article which is also published on my website.

Madeleines with orange flower water and cardamom

2 large eggs
120 g flour
100g salted butter
100 g castor sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon orange flower water
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 pinch of salt

Melt the butter in a small jug in the microwave. Sift the flour and baking powder and add the salt.
Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl with the cardamom and a pinch of salt until they are light and frothy. Add the sugar and whisk again until the sugar is well incorporated. Continue whisking and gently pour in about half of the butter. Now add half the flour. Stir together with the whisk. Pour in the remaining butter and the rest of the flour and the orange flower water. Give a final gentle whisk.

Place the batter in the refrigerator for at least two hours – or overnight if you wish.

Preheat the oven to 230C. If you are using metal madeleine moulds, butter them well and flour them, even if they are the nonstick variety. Chill them in the refrigerator.

Put a good teaspoon of batter into each compartment. Don’t overfill – the madeleines expand while cooking.

Bake for five minutes until the characteristic bump forms on the cakes. Turn the oven back to 180C and cook a further 5-7 minutes until the cakes are cooked through. You can test by poking a toothpick in the centre. It should emerge clean. Dark non-stick moulds will brown faster on the bottom.

Makes about 24.