French Flavored Madeleine Butter Cakes – Celebrating Olympic Games 2024

Madelines are just little butter cakes. They have a beautiful scalloped shape and need nothing more than a sprinkle of icing sugar on top.

I made them and brought them to my Gym class to celebrate the opening of the Olympic Games 2024 and shared them with an amazing group of ladies. I think they were a hit!

Ingredients

190 grams butter coarsely chopped, plus extra melted for brushing

20 grams honey

finely grated lemon rind

finely grated rind of 1/2 orange

scraped seeds of 1/2 vanilla bean

1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

200 grams plain flour

190 grams caster sugar

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 teaspoons orange-blossom water or to taste.

Method

• Gently cook butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until light golden (3 to 4 minutes), remove from heat. Stir in the honey, lemon rind, orange rind and the vanillas and cool to room temperature.
• Meanwhile, whisk the sugar and eggs in a bowl until smooth and creamy this is a crucial step so you whip enough air in the mixture and then add the orange blossom water.
• Fold the flour gently using a spatula and mix well.

• Gradually add the cooled butter mixture, beat until smooth and just combined. Cover with the plastic wrap and set aside for 10 to 15 minutes.

• Preheat the oven to 180C. Lightly brush the Madeleine moulds with extra butter.
• Flour the Madeline moulds and mop up any excess flour in the bases of the mould.
• Then spoon a heaped tablespoon of the Madeline mixture into each mould.

• Bake until golden around the edges and humped in the middle (8-10 minutes), then remove from the trays.

Tips

• Cook Madelines in batches.
• You can give them a dunk in dark chocolate. They are very nice and they look beautiful.