Monday 25 February 2013

English Madeleines



As you can tell, I've been on a bit of a baking spree lately! I decided to make another entry for this month's AlphaBakes. I looked through my books for 'E' inspiration and found this in my Mary Berry Ultimate Cake Book - English Madeleines.  I've made French madeleines before but never English Madeleines.  The main difference is their shape - the French ones are traditionally shell shaped whereas the English ones are made in dariole moulds and are covered in jam & dessicated coconut and topped with a cherry.

AlphaBakes is a monthly blogging challenge hosted this month by myself and co-hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes. Each month, we pick a random letter and the idea is to bake something with that letter as the main ingredient or name of bake. This month, the letter is "E".  Today is the deadline for Feb AlphaBakes so make sure you've emailed them across.




 I knew I'd get a chance to use my dariole mould one day.

 dessicated coconut, glace cherries and strawberry jam. 

 ready to go in the oven 

 Have everything ready to assemble your madeleines. 

 Use a fork to hold the cake, brush jam over it, roll it in coconut and top with half a cherry.

 Cute little cakes

Recipe from Mary Berry's Ultimate Cake Book 

Makes 12 madeleines

100g butter
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
100g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4-6 tablespoons strawberry jam, sieved
50g dessicated coconut
6 glace cherries, halved

  • Preheat the oven to 180C.
  • Place all the ingredients for the cake in a mixer and mix until smooth.
  • Fill the dariole moulds until 2/3 full.
  • Bake for about 20 minutes or until well risen and firm to the touch. 
  • Allow to cool completely.
  • Trim the bottom of the cakes so they stand independently. 
  • Warm the sieved jam in a pan and set aside. 
  • Use a fork to spear the base of the cake to hold them.
  • Brush them with the warm jam, then roll in the coconut to coat.
  • Add half a glace cherry on top to finish.




10 comments:

  1. i've never heard of these before but they look stunning, what a clever idea to roll them in jam and then coconut... they're simply so retro!... sadly I think i've run out of time to take part this month and i didn't want to show-horn another challenge into yours so i'll have to wait for my genius to be inspired by what you have in store for us in March x

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    1. I'm glad I'm not the only one that did not know about these before now. No worries about AlphaBakes, there's always next month :)

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  2. I've never come across these before either, they look quite funny! Good that you've tried something new and they do look tasty.

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    1. They do look quite funny! I'm glad I made them - I had mine without the coconut as I don't like it.

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  3. These are super retro looking, they look like little people! Really interesting and a new one for me as I've never heard of these either.

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    1. Now that you mention it, they do look like little people - perhaps I should have drawn a face on them lol.

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  4. 2 e bakes! Check you out...I struggled to even think of one! and then I found these Ecuadorian meringue things and their name also started with e and I was going to make them and then I ran out of time! Short months always sneak up on me! I spy some coconut in this bake!! I think you're moving over to the dark side, haha!

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    1. This was a last minute E bake - I'm glad I managed to participate as it wasn't looking likely at one point! I knew you'd pick up on the coconut - I had to make one without so I could eat it!

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  5. I remember these really well from when I was just a little person. I'm feeling deeply nostalgic all of a sudden. They look just right - although I confess that I never ate the cherry off the top when I was a kid for some reason I don't understand.

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    1. Ah finally someone who knows what these are! I hope they look like the real thing. Maybe the cherry was too cute to eat? :)

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