Baking – Madeleine attempts…

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January is the perfect time to bake. For Christmas, my daughter gave me a madeleine pan. I was excited to make them. Sadly, after two failed batches, I’ve given up, not forever, but for now.

If you know madeleines, you can tell from the photo that they aren’t right. I can hear the Chef’s critique now as he/she bangs the madeleine on the table and breaks it in half. Good, you got the hump, but they didn’t rise properly, too dense and too brown on the edges, turn the heat down. TRY AGAIN!

There are so many recipes out there, it was hard to choose one. For the first batch, I went with Martha Stewart’s recipe. As madeleines are tricky, I thought Martha’s recipe would be full proof. Maybe it is, but not for me, I got a fail!

I then tried “another” recipe. I don’t remember which one, I randomly chose one. Again, somewhat similar to this batch. This makes me think that “maybe” I’m not whipping the eggs/sugar enough. BUT I feel PROUD of myself for getting the hump. That’s a big deal with a madeleines. You have to have the hump!

If you haven’t tasted a madeleine. they are a nice cookie type cake. There is debate on what they are called. They are like individual cookies; however, the texture is clearly a cake.

So, stay tuned. I am determined to get them right. Maybe I’ll try again next week. It’s just painful in this tough economy (groceries so expensive) to waste ingredients, but baking takes practice.

Cheers to getting it right the NEXT time!

30 thoughts on “Baking – Madeleine attempts…”

    1. Thanks Aiva, your word “airy” explains what was wrong with my madeleines. They were not airy, they were hard inside. So, I think I need to whip eggs/sugar more and be careful when folding in the flour to keep the airiness of the batter. BINGO, thanks for that word, “airy!” With winter and cost of things rising, it’s good to make baked items at home, reminds me of my childhood. We had four kids in our family, my mother being Italian, liked having a simple cake. She would make a sheet cake, no frosting or anything, just simple for eating in the afternoon with tea. With four kids, eating a lot with friends over, this was perfect. 😉

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    1. That sounds good. They are a simple cake, they are meant to be light and fluffy. The texture inside was very hard, not like a cake at all, so not sure where I went wrong. I’m imagining Julia Child in the kitchen, you know how she always seemed messy, but loved cooking.

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      1. My grandma used to bake apple dumplings, and may or may not have had a recipe. So that’s the sentimental favorite. For a real challenge, I would like to become the master of the chocolate eclair! 😎

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  11. I wouldn’t have known the batch in the photo wasn’t perfect if you hadn’t gone into the details. I didn’t realize the consistency is so important to the character. I’m sure they taste like they should. Good on you for this baking adventure. Are there flavor varieties or simply a “traditional” set of ingredients. I remember thinking they didn’t taste very distinctive – maybe a hit of lemon. Also, I was thinking the author of “Madeline’s Rescue” should’ve written another story called “Madeline’s Madeleines” 🙂

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    1. You’re right, this would have been a perfect Madeline story, baking in the kitchen with the other kids and Miss Cleveland seeing flour flying around. I think what’s nice about the madeleines is that they are a simple, not sweet cake. Like the Germans, where they like a cake in the afternoon, except they like fancy cakes. These are more simple, almost like having a scone, I guess.

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