These adorable tea cakes are an English tea-time classic. These are individual light genoise-style sponge cakes coated with a thin layer of raspberry jam and rolled in sweetened coconut. Garnish with a glacé cherry for a perfect vintage look.
Unlike french madeleines, which are baked in seashell shaped tins, these cakes are baked in small tapered dariole molds, popover tins, or any small cylindrical molds. In a pinch, you can just make them in small ramekins or a muffin tin.
One of my earliest childhood memories is of these cakes my mother used to bake for us as a special birthday treat.
Vintage English Madeleines
Ingredients
For Sponges:
- 2 large Eggs at room temperature
- 115 g AP flour equal to the weight of 2 eggs
- 115 g Granulated sugar equal to the weight of 2 eggs
- 115 g Unsalted butter at room temperature equal to the weight of 2 eggs
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
- A pinch of salt
- Non-stick spray or melted butter to grease molds
- 2 tbsp Milk to use if batter is too thick
For Decoration
- 3/4 cup Seedless raspberry jam substitute with seedless strawberry, plum, or cherry jam
- 3/4 cup Shredded sweetened coconut
- 8 Glacé Cherries sliced in half. Optional, but recommended
Equipment
- Stand mixer or hand mixer with paddle and whisk attachments
- Dariole/Popover/cylindrical molds – 1/3 cup or 80 ml capacity
- 2 mixing bowls, to beat eggs and assemble batter
- 2 shallow bowls, for rolling in jam and coconut
Instructions
Make cakes
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Grease the molds thoroughly using melted butter or non-stick spray. I prefer non-stick spray for reliable release from the molds.
- Bring butter to room temperature. Make sure it is very soft (not melting) before you begin.
- Measure out all your ingredients and have them ready.
- Sift the dry ingredients together – AP flour, baking powder, and a tiny pinch of salt.
- Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk them until they are frothy.
- Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl, either with a stand mixer, hand mixer, or by hand, until they are light and fluffy. You are looking for a whipped frosting consistency.
- Add the vanilla extract and whip a couple more times until it is incorporated.
- Next, add the whisked eggs to the butter and mix gently to incorporate. You want to avoid knocking out all the air from the whisked eggs.
- Now add the sifted dry ingredients in three stages to the wet mixture. Gently fold the mixture to incorporate the flour into the batter. Again, take care not to mix very vigorously since that will knock out all the air from your batter.
- If the batter is thicker than dropping consistency, add a tbsp of milk at a time and fold gently until the batter is thin enough to be dropped from a spoon.
- Working quickly, spoon the batter into the greased molds up to 2/3rd full.
- Transfer immediately to the center rack of the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes. The cakes are done when they rise to fill the molds and a toothpick test comes out clean.
- Prepare the jam and coconut rolling station while the cakes are baking. See below.
- Do not open the oven door to check until the cakes are well risen and beginning to brown on top, or the cold air will deflate the cakes. Patience is key here!
- Remove the cakes from the oven and let cool in their tins for 5 minutes.
Decorate cakes
- When the tins are cool enough to handle with a tea towel, gently unmold the cakes by inverting the tins and giving a quick shake. Set the cakes on a rack to continue cooling.
- While the cakes are still warm, roll each one in the jam to coat the sides and top uniformly. You are looking for a thin even coating. If the jam is too thick and lumpy, dilute it with a tbsp of hot water.
- Roll each jam covered cake in the coconut until the sides and top are covered.
- Transfer to a plate and top each cake with half a glacé cherry.
- Let the jam and coconut set for an hour before serving.
Prepare decoration
- Heat the jam with 2 tbsp water in a small saucepan until it thins to a syrup consistency.
- Transfer the jam to a shallow bowl.
- Measure out the shredded coconut into another shallow bowl. For uniform coverage, you can pulse the coconut in a food processor until it looks like coarse crumbs. This is an optional step, but I find that it makes the coconut stick better to the jam.
- Slice the cherries in half and set aside
Notes
- The original recipe I have from my mother used shredded desiccated coconut. Having tried both desiccated coconut and sweetened coconut, I prefer to use the sweetened variety since it feels more fresh. If you plan to use desiccated coconut, just make sure it doesn’t taste dry and old.
- I personally don’t like the taste of glacé cherries. You could switch them for maraschino cherries (the dark kind with the stems attached), or skip them altogether.
- English madeleines can be stored at room temp for a day, and in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- You can prep the cakes a day ahead, then roll them in the jam and coconut. Make sure you warm the cakes at low temperature until they are just warm before finishing the decoration.
- An easy way to remember the proportions of this recipe is to remember that we use equal quantities of eggs, flour, butter and sugar. Two large eggs typically weigh 113-115 gms!
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