Hi, here is the classic lemon Madeleine recipe. It’s quick and easy. It takes less than 30 minutes to enjoy this French butter cake. Madeleine is a classic French butter cake from Lorraine region of France. I learned how to make madeleines in the basic course of Le Cordon Bleu Paris. But I wanted madeleines in no time, so I chose the shortcut.
Madeleines are totally heavenly when it’s hot just out of oven. And I love the slight lemon flavor of them. Personally I prefer eating them with hot or cold milk rather than tea or coffee.
Here are three characteristics of my madeleine recipe:
1. You don’t have to incorporate air into the egg mixture because baking powder will do the job.
2. The madeleine pan in the freezer for 3 minutes.
3. No butter and flour on the non-stick pan. Why bother, if the madeleines come out clean anyway? I make madeleines regularly but never buttered and floured my pan.
Lemon Madeleines Recipe – Classic French Butter Cake
- Prep Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 0 hours
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar (65g)
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (65g)
- 1/4 cup + 2 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted (65g)
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 lemon for lemon zest
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla sugar (optional)
Instructions
- 1. In the bowl of lemon zest, add an egg, milk, confectioner’s sugar and a pinch of salt. Whisk all together and set aside.
- 2. In another bowl, add flour, baking powder and vanilla sugar. Whisk well, this eliminates the sifting process of flour.
- 3. Pour the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, and stir turning the bowl just until creamy. Add melted butter (cooled at room-temperture) into 3. Whisk for a while till thick ribbon is formed.
- 4. Fill 2/3 of madeleine molds with batter with two tablespoons. Only if you don’t have non-stick pan, butter and flour before filling. Then put the pan in the freezer for 3 mintues, which is to settle the melted butter in the batter.
- 5. Bake in the oven preheated at 375°F (190°C) for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let cool the madeleines in the pan for one minute. Then transfer madeleines to the wire rack. Madeleines should come out clean after one mintue of rest in the non-stick pan.
Notes
you want madeleines with perfect hunch, refrigerate the batter at least for one hour.
Cherish Tay says
Hi Eugenie, I follow the direction closely, but somehow, my madeleine doesnt even have a hunch after baked. What could I do wrong? Is it because I put too much batter to the madeleine pan? I noticed that my baked madeleines were kind of over-filed. I made this before and it came out perfectly, but the last 3 times I made this again, the hunch never appears. Please help! Thanks!
EugenieKitchen says
Hi Cherish, It means the baking powder wasn’t activated. yeah, fill only 2/3 of the molds with batter and make sure your oven temperature is high enough. And also it’s always good to bake just after making the batter (the moment baking powder was added into moisture). Better luck next time!
Phuong Pham says
Hi Eugenie, I was just wondering if I can skip the baking powder if I use a self-rising flour? Thank you!
EugenieKitchen says
Hi, Jamie! I’m the same, I am weak to madeleines. :) Orange, chocolate (with cocoa), and green tea (matcha) https://eugeniekitchen.com/orange-greentea-earlygrey-madeleines/ are also great. Thank you so much for your feedback. Happy cooking! :) xoxo