This vanilla cotton cake is a soft and moist sponge cake, made using the cooked…
Vanilla Madeleines
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Delicious and easy-to-make vanilla madeleines, with unique nutty fragrance from the ground almonds. Slightly denser madeleines with some bite to the texture. Best eaten while slightly warm, on the same day of baking.
I was so excited to finally use this heavy, metal madeleine mold that my friend bought from Japan a year ago. See how nicely browned these vanilla madeleines are!
Are you one who love madeleines too?
Madeleines may have this fancy appearance, and with their classy name, it can sound intimidating to make them! Don’t be surprised to find these small, delicate tea cakes surprisingly easy to make! Let’s read on to find out how.
What Are Madeleines?
Madeleines are petite traditional French tea cakes, and can also be considered as cookies by some. They are well-known in their scallop shell shapes, with a small signature hump on the other side.
You need just very simple ingredients to make them: eggs, butter, flour, sugar, baking powder.
There are a few methods to make madeleines, such as beating the eggs to ribbon stage or simply mixing the dry and wet ingredients together. For this recipe, we will just be using the simple mixing method in one bowl.
How Do These Vanilla Madeleines Taste Like?
These vanilla madeleines have an added nutty fragrance to them, due to the ground almond used in the recipe. It also provides some bite to the texture, which I really enjoy!
While they are a little sweeter in taste, try not to reduce the sugar too much. Enjoy them while dipping them into a cup of sugarless tea or coffee – heavenly!
If you have made madeleines without ground almond before, you will notice that this batch of madeleines dry out faster. I find them best tasting on the same day of baking, or just warm after cooling down slightly. They may turn a little harder or dry the next day.
If you prefer madeleines that keep well overnight, check out my black sesame madeleines!
>> MORE PETITE BAKE RECIPES:
- Peanut Butter Choc Chip Cookies
- Salted Egg Yolk Cookies
- Strawberry Daifuku
- Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcakes
Melted Butter
Melted butter is usually used in madeleine recipes. You can find some recipes calling for brown butter or just simple melted butter. Don’t skip the melted butter, as the buttery scent goes really well with the ground almond!
In this vanilla madeleine recipe, you can melt the butter over bain marie, over a bowl of hot water or in the microwave. Ensure that the butter melts fully, and there is no lump remaining. Leave it to cool slightly as you gather the rest of the ingredients and grease the madeleine pans.
Also, butter takes the center stage for madeleines, so be sure to choose a good one! For a quality French butter, I like to use Elle & Vire. For a more standard, daily bake, I like Paysan Breton for its pocket friendly price.
Can I Use Other Type of Mold?
Yes you can! If you do not have madeleine pan, you can try baking them in cupcake mold. Just take note to not fill each cavity with too much batter – probably just about 1/2 of the height of each cavity – so that the baking time stays relatively the same.
Can I Make Them In Advance?
Absolutely! It is recommended to make the madeleine batter at least 3 hours before baking. You can also prepare the batter the day before (chill in fridge), and bake the madeleines on the next day. That sounds quite convenient, isn’t it?
How Long Can The Madeleines Last?
These vanilla madeleines are best eaten on the same day of baking. You can eat it totally cooled down, or eat it slightly warm. Otherwise you can keep them in a container in normal room temperature overnight. Just note that the texture may change (a little drier) after keeping for 1 night. That’s when dunking them into coffee or tea tastes great!

Vanilla Madeleines
- Total Time: 28 minutes
- Yield: 8-12 Pcs 1x
Ingredients
Madeleines
- 55g Unsalted Butter
- 45g Caster Sugar
- 40g Cake or Top Flour
- 10g Ground Almond
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- Pinch of Salt
- 1 Egg (Medium, about 50–55g)
- 8g Honey
- 1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 tsp Milk
Greasing
- Butter, melted
Instructions
- Melt butter and set aside to cool down.
- Sift together cake flour, ground almond, baking powder, sugar and salt into a mixing bowl.
- In another mixing bowl, whisk together egg, honey, milk and vanilla extract.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients. Add in wet ingredients and whisk together till well combined.
- Add in melted butter in 2 batches. Mix gently with the whisk till well combined.
- Fill a piping bag with the batter. Let rest in fridge for at least 3 hours.
- When batter has rested, grease madeleine pan with melted butter. Preheat oven to 220C.
- Pipe batter into each cavity, filling about 85% full.
- Bake in preheated oven at 220C for 2 mins. Turn down temperature to 190c and bake for 3-4 mins. Turn down temperature again to 170C to bake for further 2-3 mins.
- Madeleines are baked when a skewer inserted in the middle of madeleine comes out clean.
- Let cool on cooling rack.
Notes
Take note to not overbake the madeleines; the timing serve as a guide, depending on the size of the madeleines. When you see the edges of the madeleines browning nicely, you can insert a skewer into the middle of 1 madeleine to check if they are done.
This recipe makes 8-12 pcs of madeleines, depending on the size.
You can melt the butter over a bowl of hot water, or in the microwave. Stir through to ensure there is no lump of butter before using.
You can also cut through the sweetness by adding lemon zest (about 1/2 to 1 lemon) after whisking in the melted butter. Use a spatula to fold the lemon zest in.
- Prep Time: 20 Mins
- Cook Time: 8 Mins
- Method: Mixing
Keywords: Madeleines
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