The madeleine is a small sponge cake from Commercy in Lorraine, baked in a shell-shaped mold. Its documented history reaches to the eighteenth century; the name is attributed by tradition to a servant named Madeleine Paulmier, who baked them for the Duke of Lorraine, Stanislas, in the mid-eighteenth century. It became famous through Proust's In Search of Lost Time, where a madeleine dipped in tea unleashes the narrator's flood of involuntary memory.
A madeleine is a small, golden, shell-shaped sponge, the underside ridged, the top a smooth plump hump. The crumb is fine and elastic, light yet buttery; the flavor is of brown butter and lemon zest. Eaten warm, often dipped in tea.
The batter is a genoise-style whole-egg sponge with brown butter; the batter must be rested (traditionally overnight) so that the flour hydrates, producing the characteristic hump during baking. Baked in a hot, well-buttered shell mold, the outside sets while the center continues to rise, producing the plump hump.
Variations
Flavored with lemon zest, orange-flower water, or vanilla; the shell shape, the genoise base, and the brown butter are the constants.
On the Palate
Where Madeleine sits in the French flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 12How it's made
6 steps · 25 min
- 18 min
Melt butter and brown it lightly; cool.
- 210 min
Whisk whole eggs with sugar to the ribbon stage, then fold in flour and the brown butter.
Watch outWhisk the eggs and sugar to the ribbon stage — lift the whisk and the batter should fall in a slowly-dissolving ribbon; under-whipped and they bake flat with no hump.
- 35 min
Rest the batter, covered, in the refrigerator overnight.
Watch outRest the batter cold overnight — the chill is what gives the classic hump when the cold batter hits the hot mould.
- 45 min
Butter madeleine molds generously and pipe in the rested batter.
- 512 min
Bake in a hot oven until puffed, golden, and springy.
Watch outBake in a hot oven just until puffed, golden at the edges and springy to the touch — a moment too long and they dry out.
- 65 min
Unmold immediately and eat warm.
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