"...presently my aunt would dip a little madeleine in the boiling infusion, whose taste of dead leaves or faded blossom she so relished, and hand me a piece when it was sufficiently soft."
Marcel Proust
‘Du cote de chez Swann’ (1913)
Marcel Proust
‘Du cote de chez Swann’ (1913)
For Tuesday with Dorie this week, we baked a French classic - madeleines. Madeleines are little sponge-like cakes baked in a shell shaped mould, with a hump on one side. They are so small and delicate that you could inhale them.
The trick with madeleines is not to overfill the moulds when baking them, as otherwise you get strange ugly barnacles instead of little shells.
Dorie said that we'd only get 12 madeleines out of her batter, but I had plenty of batter left over, so I baked 12 little heart shapes as well:
I have not always been a fan of madeleines, but I really enjoyed these. The madeleines were moist, tender and distinctly lemon-tangy, in contrast to some dry madeleines that I have tried. I took the time to glaze them with lemon glaze, as Dorie suggested.
These deceptively simple looking cakes take quite a while to make - you make the batter, wait an hour, put the batter in the tins, wait an hour and finally you bake them. It is quite a bit of fussing, so make sure you have plenty of time to do it.
To see what the other TWD bakers thought of these madeleines, visit the LYL section of the TWD website.
19 comments:
It looks like all the fussing was worth it. They look great and bet they're delicious. Like the plates too!
These look wonderful. I will have to look at your recipe and dig out the madeleine pans (which I had forgotten existed). Lovely and moist :)
How cute! I don't think I ever knew exactly what madeleines were - these are really delicate and sweet though.
I don't mind madeleines. They're certainly pretty but like financiers, they're not my first choice. These do look delightful though!
LOVE your glossy glaze! I used feel the same way about madeleines---maybe because they were never fresh from the oven :)
You achieved such a nice little "bump" on yours ;-) Very pretty!
Love your little heart shapes! This is my favorite madeleine that we've baked in our Dorie projects. I have a few left and I'm trying to restrain myself.
I just love the lemon flavor. So I absolutely love this post.
Kay of Pure & Complex
http://www.purecomplex.com
Cuties! I love your glaze and the plate, so sweet ;)
Your cookies turned out great! Mine grew to be behemouth sized!
These are lovely. You've convinced me that the glaze is worth it. I haven't made these yet, so I appreciate the warning on the timing.
I love your little heart-shaped cakes! The recipe is a little fiddly with all of that waiting time but I'm glad you enjoyed them nonetheless.
Barnacles, shells - as long as it tastes good, shape doesn't matter right?
Look delicious.
Perfectly beautiful madeleines, Gaye!! I loved this recipe and the wonderful lemon glaze! I felt as though I finally found the perfect madeleine!
awww...those hearts are so cute! and I agree that they're easy to gobble up.
These were really delicious weren't they? We
loved them.
Definitely a tad fussy...but still wayyyyy easier than the grapefruit tart! And tasty, for sure!
Even your hearts achieved the hump! Your glaze even looks lemony!
I love the heart shapes, those are adorable.
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