Bouchon Bakery Challenge: Traditional Madeleines

I have a confession to make: I don’t think I have ever had madeleines (before now, and except for these flavored ones I made a while back). I often see the packaged ones in grocery stores, and while I instinctively knew I would like madeleines, I also knew the packaged cakes would not be worth buying.

Madeleines are quite simple to make. I don’t know why I don’t make them more often! The hardest part is waiting overnight for the batter to rest before baking them.

I can now say with certainty that I like madeleines! They are very flavorful for not having any added flavoring (such as vanilla). I also like that the recipe only makes 12 little cakes, so you don’t end up with way too many.

If you are interesting in trying this recipe, you can check it out here at the USA Today site.

Recipe Note

While I did not test the theory, my sister informs me that letting the better rest overnight is important. Having an impatient 4 year old at home, she baked a few right after mixing the batter then baked the rest the next day. The ones baked the next day had a much better texture than the ones she baked right away.

Altitude Adjustments

I made a couple of adjustments: I reduced the amount of baking powder by 1/16 teaspoon and I used 103 grams of egg. The recipe calls for 83 grams of egg, which ends up being about 1 and 1/3 egg. I used two whole eggs to get my 103 grams.

The adjustments were close, but not quite right. While I got some of the “characteristic bump”, I think it could have been bigger. Also, the texture wasn’t quite right (though I am only guessing about this since my history with madeleines is limited). In the picture below, you can kind of see how the top the madeleine is a little “bubbly” looking on the cake in the upper-left.