French Madeleines

A light and lemony flavored shell-shaped cake, delicious dipped in tea.
This recipe contains butter, eggs, sugar, flour (self-rising), baking powder, lemons, cooking spray,
24 cakes servings
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Ingredients:
- 5oz good european style butter
- 3 large eggs
- 5 oz sugar
- 5 oz self-rising flour
- 1/2 level tsp baking powder
- grated lemon zest
- baking spray with flour
- Madeleine Pan
Instructions:
- 1. Preheat oven to 425F. Generously spray Madeleine pan with baking spray with flour.
- 2. Melt the butter and allow to cool slightly.
- 3. Measure the eggs and sugar into a large bowl and whisk for 2 minutes if using a mixer and closer to 5 minutes if whisking by hand. The mixture should become pale and thick.
- 4. Using a fine mesh sieve, sieve half the flour mixture with the baking powder into the bowl.
- 5. Grate the lemon using a microplane into the mixture.
- 6. Fold gently into the mixture using a large figure-of-8 motion to preserve the air whipped into the sugar and egg mixture. This is best done by hand using a spatula which also help clean off the sides of the bowl as you fold. Then pour half of the melted butter around the edge of the bowl and fold in using the same motion. Repeat with the remaining flour and then the remaining butter.
- 7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared shapes. Do not overfill.
- 8. Bake for 8 minutes until golden brown – gently press in the middle to check if the cake springs back. If it doesn’t bounce back, return to the oven for two more minutes.
- 9. Using a palette knife, ease the cakes out of the pan and onto a cooling rack. Re-spray the pan and spoon the remaining mixture into the shapes and return to the oven.
- 10. Once cooled, dust with powdered sugar and serve with tea, or perhaps some fresh fruit and lightly sweetened whipped cream.