Remarks: needs improvement.

If you browse my Bake & Munch posts, you'll know that when it comes to baking, I'm most comfortable making bars (like brownies and blondies), muffins/cupcakes, and quick cake loaves. They're easy to make and prep, have familiar flavors and textures, and can be easily shared with others. My weak spots are definitely with cookies (but I'm working on it!), breads that need to be kneaded, and pretty much every complicated desserts out there like choux pastries and the likes.  Oh, and piping frosting (which kinda explains why most of the things I feature here don't require frosting haha!).

Though I like baking the things I mentioned above, I sometimes like to make something different, something I've always wanted to do. And now, I tried making one of the things: madeleines! The first time I encountered homemade madeleines was with my sister. She baked, I watched, then a few years later, she gave me my own pan. A couple years after that, I'll be sharing with you how my first ever madeleine bake went!

Little intro: madeleines are traditional French small cakes that are baked on a pan with shell-shaped pockets. They're sponge cake-like in texture and well-baked ones usually have a hump on the middle of the smoother side.

Okay, so here's my first batch ever(!!) of madeleines. These are lemon and brown butter madeleines. From the looks of it, my madeleines definitely needs work so let's view this as a rough draft, shall we? To be honest, I didn't expect my madeleines to turn out perfectly on my first bake. Madeleines are technically sponge cakes so they still require a bit of skill and finesse, both things I need to work on. For starters, the uneven color of my madeleines just revealed to me one thing: that my oven has uneven heat! My oven is not a convectional one but the fact that it heats up unevenly was quite a revelation to me, considering my usual bakes turn out good!

Secondly, I messed up the prep on the mould itself. It was a bit late when I asked my sister about this haha! What I did was chill the mould then grease it with melted butter when I was about to bake; what I should've done was grease the pan first then chill it. Apparently the idea behind the grease then chill technique is so that the grease will form a crust first so that it won't mix with the batter immediately. When the madeleines bake, there'll be a thin layer or butter outside the madeleine, not in it. 

Lastly, I sort of messed up the batter itself. The madeleine batter should be airy and fluffy, thanks to the beating of the eggs and sugar. I think my batter would've remained fluffy if I didn't fold in the additional 1 tablespoon of lemon juice at the end. I found the original measurement lacking in zing so I added additional juice and all that folding perhaps lessened the airiness of my batter, resulting in quite dense cakes and non-existing humps. I'm also suspecting that my brown butter also has something to do with the dense outcome but I'm not 100% on this one. 

So yeah, that's my first go at madeleines. Not perfect, but they still made the best and really flavorful tea time snacks! I absolutely loved pairing it with my piping hot cup of earl grey tea. I also like topping them with blueberry preserves or strawberry jam. Can't wait to improve my madeleine skills! (But I have to improve my oven first, me thinks, haha!)

In case you want to have a go at madeleines, here's the recipe for the batch I made! Just do my revisions on the procedure and I think they'll turn out better than what I've done. :)

LEMON & BROWN BUTTER MADELEINES

Yield: 18

1/4 cup (abt 57 grams) butter, melted

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

2 eggs, room temp

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all purpose flour, sifted then measured

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons melted butter for greasing

For the madeleine pan:

Before you do the batter, evenly brush each pocket of the pan with melted butter then put in the freezer to chill. Take it out when you're about to bake.

For brown butter:

Learning how to make brown butter is visually better, so I'm sharing Sugar Geek Show's video about it! So yeah, head on to that video to know how to properly make brown butter!

For the batter:

1. In a bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until it becomes pale, thick, and somewhat fluffy.

2. Add in the lemon juice and zest, and vanilla. Whisk again until just combined.

3. To the same bow, add in flour, baking powder, and salt, making sure to spread out the last two ingredients. Fold until just mixed.

4. Fold in the brown butter and mix until fully incorporated.

5. Cover the bowl and let the batter rest and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

6. Preheat oven to 350F.

7. Take out mould pan and spoon 1 tablespoon of the batter onto the center of each pocket. 

8. Bake madeleines for 10-12 minutes, or until you see a golden brown color on the edges of the madeleines.

9. Invert madeleines onto a rack or plate and leave to cool. (Remember: don't let the madeleines cool in the pan!). Enjoy and good luck!