Preparation and Cooking time: 10-15 minutes

Dominique Ansel’s madeleines are served to order at his London bakery because they’re only soft for a few glorious minutes. When you bite into the hot cakes a puff of steam comes out “like the madeleine is taking its last breath.” says Chef Ansel. 

Get your own Proustian rush with these delectable miniature cakes.


Ingredients

  • 95g granulated sugar
  • 15g raw sugar
  • 10g honey
  • 2g salt
  • 120g all purpose flour
  • 4g baking powder
  • 140g whole eggs
  • 100g butter
  • Zest of 1 whole lemon
  • Powdered sugar (for serving)

Directions

1Melt the butter and add in the raw sugar and honey.

2Mix together the salt, granulated sugar, flour, baking powder in a bowl. Add in the eggs at room temperature.

3Add in the melted butter and raw sugar mixture and the lemon zest. Mix together everything until evenly incorporated.

4Leave the batter to rest for a few hours prior to usage.

5When ready for service, prepare the madeleine mould by spraying it liberally with a non-stick cooking oil. Pipe the madeleine batter into the mould and cook at 190 degrees centigrade until it is golden brown and puffed in the centre (approximately 4 minutes).

6To unmold, simply knock the madeleine pan against a table top.

7Sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar.

CHEF’S NOTES

  • Make the batter a day ahead to allow the baking powder to rest, resulting in a light and fluffy dessert. 

Mini madeleine recipe from his book Dominique Ansel: Secret Recipes

8 COMMENTS

    • Hi Jenny, using gluten free flour as a substitute for the all purpose flour stated in the recipe is fine 🙂

    • We really would recommend getting a set of scales which measure in grams for baking! It will improve the accuracy of your measurements and generally makes recipes a little more reliable.

  1. Are you supposed to bring the batter back up to room temperature prior to cooking? Or does it go in cold? We tried making these (prepared it yesterday and baked them today) but it took well over 4 minutes to cook. We left them in for 12 minutes and even then they’re weren’t quite done.

    • Hi Elisha,
      The batter should go into the tin cold. If you’re using a mini-madeleine tin they should cook in the specified time. Full-sized madeleines will need a while longer, we’d recommend up to 12 minutes. Remember that opening the oven will affect the oven’s temperature and may extend final cooking time!
      Happy baking,
      Elena

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