MAD FOR MADELEINES

When my daughter was little she had a book called Emma Quite Contrary, and my mum said it could have been written about me. Me? Contrary? Never! Yet this blog proves my mum had a point.  First I say I love raspberries and then proclaim my desire for a strawberry recipe.  Also, I have called this blog Cakes of Substance because that is the kind of cake I adore. Cakes that burst with flavours, be they cocoa, coffee, fruit or alcohol.  Strong, gutsy cakes that are more about taste than daintiness and prettiness. Except, I often have a yearning for a madeleine and a madeleine is very far from a cake of substance. The beautiful shell shaped madeleine is as light as a baby’s sigh and is so tender and moist, it practically dissolves in your mouth, just leaving a hint of a flavour.  But for of all this small cake’s apparent delicateness, eating one has a pretty powerful effect.  After all, Proust wrote all about the madeleine’s  impact on his memory in  his novel, “In Search Of Lost Time”. Many people like to dunk their madeleine in the tea. I never, ever do. Except on a rainy Thursday, sometimes. Contrary? Me!

The madeleine recipe I like to use is  Nigella Lawson’s Rosebud Madeleine recipe from How to be a domestic Goddess. The subtle taste and aroma of rose water just add to the absolutely beauty of these little treasures.  These are not hard to make, but I do try to use a lightness of hand that doesn’t come naturally to me.  I don’t have the petite madeleine tin (it’s on my wish list) that Nigella uses so I can get about 10 madeleines from my regular sized silicon mould tray and I  cook for 10 minutes instead of the 5 minutes she suggests.

So what you need is

50g unsalted butter, plus 1 tablespoon for greasing

1 large egg

45 g plain flour

1 tablespoon of rosewater

40g caster sugar

Pinch of salt

Icing sugar for dusting

24-bun petite-madeleine tin

or 12 bun regular madeleine tin

1.   Melt all the butter over a low heat, then leave to cool.

2.   Beat the egg, caster sugar and salt in a bowl until it’s as thick  as mayonnaise. I use my hand held electric whisk to do this.  

3.   Very, very gently and slowly, sieve  the flour into the mixture. 

4.   Fold in the flour with a wooden spoon. I really do try to do this with a light as hand as possible but I don’t really know why.

5.   Put one tablespoon of melted butter to one side and fold in the rest, along with the rosewater. Here, Nigella says fold well, but not too vigorously.

6.   Preheat the oven to 220℃/gas mark 7. Put the mixture into fridge for one hour.  Then take out and leave at room temperature for half an hour.

7.   Brush the insides of the madeleine tins with butter before  filling them with cake mixture

8.   Pop in the oven and bake mini madeleines for 5 minutes and 10 minutes for standard sized madeleines.

9.   Turn out and leave to cool on rack before plating up and dusting with icing sugar.

Perhaps I should have had a vase of roses next to the rosebud madeleines. But I picked tulips from our garden instead. Contrary? Me!