Hot Honey Madeleines ~ #TheCakeSliceBakers

A classic madeleine is a small French butter cake that is light, delicate, and buttery, 

but has a little bit of a crisp from the shell-shaped pan they are baked in.

The Cake Slice Bakers continue to bake through - Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes by Aleksandra Crapanzano this year. Aleksandra, a James Beard Award–winning writer, shares her secrets of the cakes Parisians like to bake at home. Recipes such as a simple yogurt cake, a surprisingly easy Bûche De Noël, and Walnut Pear and Roquefort Madeleines will show you the surprising simplicity of a French 

cake.

The Cake Slice Bakers are a group of dedicated bakers who all love cake. Each year we choose a new cake-centric cookbook and bake our way through it. Every month we are given 3 choices and on the 20th day of each month we reveal what we have chosen on our blogs. This month's choices were Chile-Infused Honey Madeleines, Pierre Hermé's Half-Baked Chocolate Cake, and Gluten-Free Fig Cake. Choosing which one to bake was easy this month as I love madeleines.

The little Madeleine has quite the history, and a few theories as to how it came about. Madeleines originate from the Town of Commercy, in the Lorraine region of northeastern France. It seems that the most common one is that it is named after Madeleine Paulmier. Madeleine was a pastry chef in the mid-18th century for King of Poland Stanisław Leszczyński. There is also mention that they were made in the scallop-shell shape in homage to the pilgrims going to Santiago de Compostela.

I found these to be such an easy bake, but do make sure you make the batter in advance as it does need time to rest.  Allowing it to rest helps achieve that signature "bump" that is a classic in madeleines.  I did find that I needed to decrease the temperature of my oven as my first batch was a little browner than I liked.  So make sure you keep an eye on them and adjust accordingly. At first I was going to use a spicy maple syrup that I found at Target but holy cow, I am so glad that I tasted a little bit before putting it in the batter - it was so hot that I think it was made by the devil himself, so I changed my mind and used Hot Honey from Trader Joes and I loved the flavor.  I just mine with a little powdered sugar, which is the classic look for a madeleine, but next time I am going to try dipping them in a glaze of powdered sugar with a little hot honey mixed into it.

Hot Honey Madeleines

Printer Friendly Recipe

Ingredients

• 85g (6 tablespoons) butter
• 90g (¾ cup) cake flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
• grated zest of one orange
• 65g (½ cup) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons hot honey
• 2 teaspoons tequila or orange juice

Preparation

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and set aside to cool to room temperature.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the minced zest and the sugar and using your fingertips, rub them together a bit to release the citrus oil.
4. Add the eggs and beat until the mixture is quite pale and fluffy.
5. With the mixer still running, add the maple syrup and tequila and beat for another minute.
6. Fold the dry ingredients into the batter with a rubber spatula in quick and decisive but gentle strokes.
7. Pour in melted butter and stir to combine.
8. Now you have two options - you can refrigerate the batter in a sealed container for at least 6 hours and ideally overnight. Or you can first spoon the batter into prepared madeleine molds, cover them with plastic wrap, and refrigerate ready to pop into the oven. To prepare, thoroughly butter 12 metal madeleine molds, dust with flour, turn upside down and tap to get rid of excess flour. If using a silicone mold, simply place it on a baking tray.
9. Preheat oven to 200℃ (400℉), place madeleines in the oven, and immediately reduce the heat to 190℃ (375℉).
10. Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until they are golden.
11. Remove from their molds and serve immediately or, ideally, within 30 minutes.

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes by Aleksandra Crapanzano. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the links below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.

The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends. This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.

It is a new year and a new book - Gâteau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes - and our choices for Septmber 2023 were ~

Chile-Infused Honey Madeleines

• All That's left Are The Crumbs
• A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Amandie Bakes

Pierre Hermé's Half-Baked Chocolate Cake

• Karen's Kitchen Stories

Gluten-Free Fig Cake

• A Little Bit of All Right