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CHOCOLATE MADELEINES

3/22/2021

We've tested a few chocolate madeleine recipes, and most were not very chocolately and tended to be dry. Until we found this recipe, and all we could say is ooh la la! It was partially because we baked these in our new, deeper shell molds. But these mads were tender and bursting with chocolate flavor. Our dark chocolate dip with flaky sea salt put them over the top. These decadent French-inspired treats are a chocolate lovers dream.

Some people think madeleines are tricky to make. They are time consuming, but if you follow good recipes and don't cut corners, anyone can make them.

This recipe is slightly adapted from one from Emma Duckworth and makes 12 of the deeper shell mads or 18-ish of the standard size madeleines. As with other madeleines, these don't have much of a shelf life. They're best the first day, pretty good the second day and "if there's nothing else I'll eat them" on the third. If you bake them in the shallow, traditional pans, we recommend you eat them the first day.

If you want to extend the life of your madeleines, dip them in a glaze. We offer recipes and a how-to video here.

INGREDIENTS

Madeleines

9 Tablespoons (115 g) butter, melted and at room temperature
Extra 1-2 Tablespoons of butter for brushing onto the pans.
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup (110 g) granulated
1 Tablespoon and 2 teaspoons (20 ml) whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup (95 g) all-purpose flour
rounded 1/4 cup (35 g) cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon fine salt

Dipping chocolate

1/2-3/4 cup (100g) dark chocolate, melted
½ teaspoon coconut oil (or butter)
1 teaspoon Maldon flaked sea salt, optional

DIRECTIONS

Heat your butter in a small saucepan over low heat until melted, or melt, covered, at 50% power in your microwave until melted. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the SideSwipe or your flat paddle, add the eggs and sugar and beat on high until increased in volume, pale and fluffy, approx four-five minutes. Reduce the speed to low, and add the milk and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt over and into your mixer bowl.
Mix on low until just combined.
With your stand mixer on its lowest speed, drizzle in the melted butter in 5 to 6 additions and allow SideSwipe to fold until combined. If you have a standard beater, you can remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in by hand.
Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour or overnight.
Brush the melted butter onto your madeleine molds, dust with cocoa powder and tap away excess. Refrigerate or freeze your pan at least 1 hour or until you are ready to fill pans and bake.
After pans and batter are cold, heat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
Scoop or spoon about 2 Tablespoons of batter into each of 12 large or 18 small/traditional shell pan cavity. If you have extra, divide it evenly between the cavities. DO NOT spread the batter. The oven will do the work for you.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until the cakes have risen and domed as it is fully cooked through. The "humps" will be cracked. That's OK. Mads are done when you touch the top and your finger impression bounces back. Check early and try not to overbake as this makes them dry.
Transfer immediately to a wire rack and leave to cool slightly.
Heat the chocolate and coconut oil in short bursts in the microwave until fully melted. You can also heat in a double boiler. Transfer melt to a small bowl.
Dip the madeleines into the milk chocolate and sprinkle with flaked salt.

NOTES AND TIPS

Carefully butter, dust and chill the madeleines pan. Melt a tablespoon of butter and using a pastry brush work that butter into all the nooks of the shell pans. Then dust lightly all over with cocoa powder and tap out the excess. This helps give the outside of the madeleines a crispy exterior but also stops them from sticking. (Dust with plain flour if the madeleines aren’t chocolate!)
Beat the eggs and sugar for a long time. Normally when making a sponge batter we beat the butter and sugar together to aerate the batter. But with madeleines you whip the eggs and sugar for a solid 5 minutes to really get some volume going. Then you add the milk and vanilla bean extract, and then sifted dry ingredients mixing carefully until just combined. It’s at this point, right at the end that we add the melted butter and mix it in.
Let the batter rest and chill. This is another important step. Once you have finished making the batter, cover your bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Between 1-2 hours is ideal but overnight if you want to have fresh madeleines for breakfast.
How to keep madeleines fresh. Mads are best served on the same day. Even in an airtight container, they can go become dry because they are so small. You freeze in a tightly sealed container if you have too many to eat. Some of our recipes include a dipping glaze, which extends the fresh taste a day or so more. You cannot freeze glazed mads.

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MANDARIN ORANGE MADELEINES

3/18/2021

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This recipe produced the most tender and delicious madeleines we have ever had. No dry and dusty little cakes here! The mandarin oranges gave these the most delightful flavor (you can use clementines as well) and are a great use for this common wintertime fruit. The glaze adds a burst of orangey sweetness and helps keep the mads from drying out too quickly.

Traditional madeleines rely on the whipping for loft. But we used baking powder to get a little oomph and to make sure we achieved the little "humps" on the back. If you use baking powder, they may take another minute or so to bake since the batter will rise higher. They’re done when the cakes feel just set if you poke them with your finger. Avoid overbaking them. There’s nothing better than a SOFT, fresh, buttery, citrusy madeleine.

Don't be tempted to speed the process on this recipe. The chilling of batter AND the pan are the key to perfect texture and shape. You need to be a little zen with these - or maybe channel your inner Parisienne.

If you like the tops of your mads more browned - we don't - bake them in the upper-third of your oven, so the tops get slightly-browned. You can also skip the glaze and eat the mads "naked" if you like.

Recipe makes 12 larger, deeper cakes. There are a lot of this style of goldish pan online.

Glazed madeleines are best left uncovered, or not tightly-wrapped; they’re best eaten the day they’re made. They can be kept in a container for up to three days after baking, if necessary. We don’t recommend freezing them since the glaze will melt. The recipe is adapted from a lemon version by David Lebovitz.

ingredients

Mads

3 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup (130g) granulated sugar
rounded 1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup (175g) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder (optional - but recommended)
zest of one small lemon
1 or two madeleine pans ( will take longer to re-chill with one pan)
9 tablespoons (120g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature, plus additional melted butter for preparing the molds OR baking spray with flour.

Glaze

3/4 cup (150g) powdered sugar
1 tablespoon freshly-squeezed mandarin orange juice

directions

Brush the indentations of a madeleine mold with melted butter. Dust with flour, tap off any excess, and place in the fridge or freezer. You can use cooking spray containing flour in a non-stick mold, but we think the outside is prettier if you use butter. If you have a traditional mold, use butter and flour. See comparison photo above.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with SideSwipe, whip the eggs, granulated sugar, and salt until frothy and thickened, about 3-5 minutes depending on your beater.
Spoon the flour and baking powder, if using, into a sifter or mesh strainer and use a spatula to fold in the flour as you sift it over the batter. (Rest the bowl on a damp towel to help steady it for you.)
Add the orange zest to the cooled butter, then dribble the butter into the batter, a few spoonfuls at a time, while simultaneously folding to incorporate the butter. Fold just until all the butter is incorporated.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (Batter can be chilled for up to 12 hours.)
To bake the madeleines, heat the oven to 425 degrees.
Plop enough chilled batter in the center of each indentation with enough batter which you think will fill it by 3/4’s (you’ll have to eyeball it - don’t worry if you’re not exact.) Do not spread it.
Bake for 11-14 minutes or until the cakes just feel set. We touched the top and watched for the slightest amount of bouncing back. Keep an eye on these as you don't want to overbake them.

glaze

While the cakes are baking, make a glaze in a small mixing bowl by stirring together the powdered sugar, orange juice, and water until smooth.
Remove from the oven and tilt the madeleines out onto a cooling rack. The moment they’re cool enough to handle, dip each cake in the glaze, turning them over to make sure both sides are coated and scrape off any excess with a dull knife. After dipping, rest each one back on the cooking rack, scalloped side up, until the cakes are cool and the glaze has firmed up.

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ORANGE OLIVE OIL CAKE

1/28/2021

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This rustic cake sings with flavors of a great and fruity (yet affordable) olive oil and fresh orange. It's no surprise to us it's the most saved Genius recipe from Food 52. It's also a recipe that can and IS often adapted from the original, which was developed at Maialino Restaurant in New York City. They serve it at breakfast in muffin form, and they've been known to turn it into a birthday cake, layered with mascarpone buttercream (OMG, sounds good.) We read through lots of bakers' reviews and decided to deviate a little from the original recipe to lighten it up a bit. Below is our version.

You'll notice that there are chopped, fresh cranberries dotting the top in our photos. We had intended to have them throughout the cake, but discovered in both cake and muffin versions they floated to the top of the bakes! It looks pretty on the cake, but was ridiculous on the muffins. We don't recommend that you try adding any fruit to our version of this cake.

We do recommend that you alter the flavors if you like. We skipped the alcohol and used all fresh orange juice (from a jug) and the zest of two oranges. Yum. This would be equally delicious as a lemon or even a lime cake. If you try it, let us know how it comes out!

We served this cake naked, but a sauce of macerated cherries, strawberries or sweetened blueberries would be decadent addition. The original recipe called for a roasted strawberry sauce that also sounded delish. A lovely vanilla ice cream might also we good. I should stop.

This is a great cake to bake the day before. We think the flavor is better after it sits overnight. The cake or muffins will keep at room temperature for several days. We didn't try to freeze them, but they would likely freeze well for several weeks or a month.

NOTES: This is a hefty cake. If you're not serving a crowd, you may want to divide this recipe in half. We made a 6-inch cake and about 16 small muffins from a full batch. The 6-inch cake will easily serve 6-8 people, depending on whether they wants seconds, of course!

INGREDIENTS & equipment

2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
1-3/4 cups (350g) sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup (160g) extra-virgin olive oil
1 -1/4 cups (305g) whole or 2% milk, room temperature
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 -1/2 tablespoons grated orange zest
1/4 cup (60g) fresh orange juice, room temperature
1/4 cup (55g) Grand Marnier (can substitute more orange juice)
9-inch pan that is at least 2 inches deep (or 2 standard 9-inch pans)
6-inch or 9-inch pan plus muffin tins to make a combination of muffins and cake

DIRECTIONS

Heat the oven to 350° F. Oil, butter, or spray pans with cooking spray and line the bottom(s) with parchment paper and/or muffin liners.
In a bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and powder. Set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer, separate the eggs into white and yolks. Drop the yolks into the bowl of your stand mixer. (If you prefer to skip separating the eggs, you can drop whole eggs and beat them slightly with SideSwipe or a whisk.)
In your stand mixer, fitted with SideSwipe, beat the olive oil and egg yolks on low to medium speed until yolks are well combined and emulsified. Add in milk, egg whites, orange zest and juice and Grand Marnier. Beat on low to medium speed until well combined.
Add the dry ingredients; beat on your mixer's lowest speed until just combined. The batter will be a little on the thin side.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake according to the times listed below. The cake is done when the top is golden and a cake tester comes out clean. Transfer the cake pan to a rack and let cool for 30 minutes in the pan.
Run a knife around the edge of the pan, invert the cake onto the rack and let cool completely, about 2 hours.

baking times

9-inch, 2-inch deep cake, about 60-70 minutes
2, 9-inch cakes, about 45-55 minutes
6-inch cake, 35-45 minutes
Standard size muffins, 16-19 minutes depending on how high you fill them

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GINGERBREAD

12/18/2020

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Not a big gingerbread fan? You should try this one! This tender, aromatic old-fashioned gingerbread cake is mild enough for children and people who don't love spicy. You'll love the lovely molasses flavor base and warm hints of ginger, cinnamon and a touch of clove. Feel free to play with the flavors and add your favorites if you like.

Designed as a 9x9 cake, we made this in a special gingerperson tin this year. You can make as a standard cake, as muffins, or in fun shapes as we did. This recipe, very slightly adapted from one by Once Upon a Chef, serves 16. The cake keeps for 4 or 5 days on the counter. Serve with a sprinkle of powdered sugar, whipped cream or ice cream for a fancier dessert.

We made this cake in the stand mixer with SideSwipe (naturally!), but it can made with a hand mixer or even by hand. We liked the mixer because it allowed us to get a smoother mix.

ingredients

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off with back edge of knife
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
2/3 cup mild-flavored molasses, such as Grandma's Original (not Robust or Blackstrap)
2/3 cup boiling water
1 large egg

directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-in square pan with nonstick cooking spray with flour. (Alternatively, grease the pan with butter and lightly coat with flour.)
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Set aside.
In your stand mixer fitted with SideSwipe or a large bowl: beat or whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, molasses, and boiling water. When the mixture is lukewarm, whisk in the egg. (Do not put egg in the hot mixture, as it will cook)
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined and there are no more lumps.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 35 minutes, or until the edges look dark and the middle feels firm to the touch. Set the pan on a rack to cool slightly, then cut into 16 squares and serve. This cake is best served warm out of the oven or reheated.

ALTERNATE SHAPES: You can also make this recipe as muffins. Lower baking time to around 18 minutes. We made our gingerbread people cakes in a shallow shaped tin (about 1 inch deep). We filled the cavities about 2/3 full then baked for 12 minutes. Allow to cool completely before removing from a shaped tin. And take your time - it can be a little tricky getting them out!

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CHOCOLATE MADELEINES

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

NOTES AND TIPS

MANDARIN ORANGE MADELEINES

ingredients

directions

glaze

ORANGE OLIVE OIL CAKE

INGREDIENTS & equipment

DIRECTIONS

baking times

GINGERBREAD

ingredients

directions

Recipes and mixing tips

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