Madeleines

I think it is fair to say that most people know the connection between Marcel Proust and the humble madeleine, a cake the author described as “short, plump little cakes…which look as though they had been been moulded in the fluted scallop of a pilgrims shell”. It was a cake that, for him, immediately brought back happy memories of his aunt, who would feed him madeleines dipped in tea. It is the idea that one taste of something can transport us back to a past moment. Madeleines may not be my Proustian moment, I don’t even remember the first time I tried one, but I do have a soft spot for them.

Madeleines may look fancy and refined but thankfully the skill level required to make them is minimal, they’re straightforward and incredibly quick to pull together and because they require a refrigeration period they’re great if you like preparing ahead of time. With the classic hump shape there are a couple of tricks to help ensure it comes out pronounced and looks picture perfect. Firstly we need to chill the batter, for at least an hour but preferably overnight. We also want to chill the prepared Madeleine tin, again at least for an hour but longer also helps. Why all the chilling? Temperature difference. The oven the madeleines are baked in is hot and by chilling the batter the underside of the batter stays a little cooler meaning it takes a little longer to bake. The top of the madeleines however starts to bake a little quicker. This means that once the batter starts to set, the batter which is still raw and still rising has to force its way through the set crust on the top creating the distinctive hump.

Classic Lemon Madeleines
Makes 15-18 (depending on tin size)

Madeleines
125g caster sugar
Zest of 2 lemons
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
125g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of fine sea salt
125g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Lemon Glaze
100g icing sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice

To make the batter place the sugar and lemon zest into a bowl and using your fingertips rub together until the sugar resembles moist sand and there is a fragrant lemon smell. This step helps to release all the oils from the zest making for a more citrussy Madeleine. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk briefly just until the sugar has dissolved, you don’t need to incorporate any air in this stage.

Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into the batter and using the whisk stir together until a smooth and thick batter is formed. Pour in the melted butter and stir until a smooth batter is formed. Scrape the batter into a piping bag then seal either by tying the end in a not or using a sandwich bag clip. Refrigerate the batter for at least an hour but preferably overnight.

When ready to bake preheat the oven to 210ºC (190ºC Fan). Whilst the oven preheats lightly grease a 12-hole Madeleine pan (I prefer traditional metal tins without a non-stick coating) with softened butter and dust with a thin layer of flour. Tip out any excess flour so that you have a very thin coating. Place the tin into the freezer.

Humps - the humps on madeleines happen for a very simple reason but getting them to form, so they’re tall and have that classic look, can be tricky. As the batter bakes, like any other cake, it rises. Because the depression the batter sits in is shallow the cake cant rise very high before the edges set but as the batter is still rising it can only go straight up, creating he hump. To ensure this happens there is a couple things you need to bear in mind. Firstly, don’t add too much batter, if you do it will spill over the sides of the mould and create an unwanted crips edge and it will lessen the amount of hump. Secondly you want to use a chilled batter, chilled Madeleine pan and bake in a hot oven. This is the real secret to big beautiful humps. Because the oven is hot the top of the batter bakes and sets quickly, but because the batter itself and the tin was chilled, it takes a little longer for the bottom to bake and this means there is more batter that can push up and cause a big bolder hump.

Once the oven is preheated remove the batter from the fridge and snip off the end of the piping bag. Take the cold tin from the freezer and working quickly, pipe about a heaped tablespoon of batter into each of the Madeleine depressions. You don’t need to spread the batter out, it will conform to the shape of the mould as it bakes. Bake the madeleines in the oven for about 12 minutes or until the cakes are golden brown around the edges and a touch paler on the hump. Remove the tin from the oven and let the madeleines sit for a minute before carefully lifting the cakes from the tin. You don’t want the cakes to fully cool in the tin because as they cool the sugars in the cakes make them stick to the pan.

For the glaze whisk together the lemon juice and icing sugar, whisking until you have a smooth, lump free glaze. You may need to add a tsp or so more lemon juice to make the correct consistency, it needs to be runny but not thin, almost a double cream consistency.

Whilst the madeleines are still warm use a pastry brush to coat the madeleines in glaze, setting onto a parchment lined tray and allowing the glaze to set. I prefer brushing the glaze on instead of dipping them into the glaze because dipping will add a significantly larger amount of glaze make the Madeleine sweeter and less delicate.

If the madeleines will keep for a full 24-36 hours but if only coated on one side or not at all they need to be eaten within the hour to prevent them drying out.

Rainbow Craquelin - Pride Eclairs

Okay, strap in, this recipe has quite a few steps but if you perceiver and work your way through each element, step by step, you’ll be awarded by a batch of twelve stunning eclairs filled with strawberries, lemon and whipped cream. Not only will they be fruity, creamy and utterly delicious they’ll also be beautiful as they’re made with a layer of craquelin coloured to look like the lgbt+ Pride flag, in honour of Pride month.

If you’ve never made eclairs, or you have and they ended up looking a little ugly and misshapen, craquelin might seem like a lot of extra work but trust me, its worth it, the craquelin almost acts as insurance against user error. When choux, made without craquelin, rises in the oven the heat of the oven sets the choux. Sometimes the pastry on the outside will set before the inside is cooked and whilst it still has lots of moisture. This can cause cracking and misshapen choux. When you add a layer of craquelin it slows this process down, the outside of the choux sets slower because the heat of the oven has to get through the craquelin before it can dry out the choux. This means your choux pastry opens up more before it sets. This means better shaped choux and hollow choux, perfect if your making eclairs or really any time of choux bun. The rainbow colours obviously adds to the process and does make it more about intensive but if you make it without colouring, or maybe just with one or two colours, it really is very little extra work and absolutely worth trying.

The lemon cream is a French creation, I believe the original method comes from the famed pastry chef Pierre Herme. A type of lemon curd, Lemon Cream is made in a similar fashion but with two major differences. Firstly the cream has a higher butter content. Secondly, and most importantly, the butter is also added in a different manner. When making a classic lemon curd the butter is either added with all the other ingredients and cooked together or it is added as soon as the lemon custard has been made. Either way this leads to the butter melting into the curd. With this method the curd is cooled down for 15 minutes before the butter is slowly blended into the curd a piece at a time. This results in the butter never melting, instead it is emulsified into the curd and once chilled it becomes incredibly thick and luscious. It is perfect when you want a filling that is thicker than a traditional curd, and something that can hold it shape.

Lemon Cream
150ml lemon juice
zest of 3 lemons
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
150g caster sugar
225g unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature

Craquelin
150g unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature
150g caster sugar
150g plain flour
gel food colouring, in rainbow colours

Choux Pastry
70ml water
70ml whole milk
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 tsp caster sugar
70g unsalted butter, diced
70ml plain flour
2 large eggs

To Fill
250g strawberries, diced
2 tbsp strawberry jam
600ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

To make the lemon cream, add the lemon juice, lemon zest, eggs, egg yolks and caster sugar into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water and cook, stirring regularly until the mixture reaches 80ºC on an instant read thermometer. The temperature is key because it needs to be fully cooked like a custard so the finished cream holds the correct texture. I have said here to do this stage in a bain marie but half of the time I just place the ingredients directly into a saucepan and do this over a low heat stirring constantly. It is quicker than the bain marie method but it is also more prone to catching and overcooking so if you decide to do it this way be very careful and keep the heat down low. 

Once the custard is cooked pour it into a large jug, through a fine sieve to remove the lemon zest and any cooked egg bits, allowing to cool for 15 minutes, when it should be 60c or lower. Using some form of blender (traditional jug style or stick blender both work great) blend in the butter a piece at a time. If using a stick blender do this in the jug you cooled the curd, the depth of the jug means you wont end up incorporating too much air which you're trying to avoid (the same reason it is best not to use a food processor). Once all of the butter has been incorporated pour the cream into a container, press a sheet of clingfilm onto the surface of the custard and refrigerate for at least fours hours, until the mixture thickens up. 

At this point the cream can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.

To make the craquelin beat the butter in a bowl until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat until smooth and combined. Add the flour and mix to form a uniform dough. Divide the craquelin evenly between 6 small bowls. Add a little food colouring to each bowl, mix until the colouring is evenly mixed. When adding the colouring you’ll need to make the colours very vibrant as they will dull somewhat as the craquelin bakes. Place each piece of coloured dough between two sheets of parchment and roll out until about a couple mm thick. Place all of the sheets of craquelin onto a baking tray and freeze. Once the craquelin pieces are frozen remove them from the freezer and working quickly cut each colour into thin strips. On a fresh piece of parchment paper line up the strips in the order of a rainbow, repeating the pattern as many times as you can. Gently roll over the craquelin with a rolling pin to secure all the strips together to form one large piece of rainbow coloured craquelin. Place back into the freezer whilst you prepare the choux pastry.

Preheat the oven to 195ºC (175ºC Fan).

For the choux pastry place the water and milk into a saucepan and mix in the salt and sugar. Place over low/medium heat and cook until the butter has melted. Turn up the heat and bring the liquid to a rolling boil. Remove the pan from the heat and pour in the flour in one go, mixing immediately forming a soft dough. Place the pan back on the heat and cook for 1-2 minutes more until the dough leaves a fine film on the base of the pan. A tip I learnt from pastry chef Francisco Migoya is that you can also check the pastry is ready by checking its temperature. The point of cooking the choux pastry in this manner is to gelatinise the flour. This happens to the flour when the dough hits between 74-79ºC. At this point scrape the dough into a bowl and beat for a few minutes to cool enough that the dough wont cook the eggs. 

Add the eggs to a small bowl and whisk together to combine. Pour a little of the eggs into the pastry and beat together until fully combined. It may look a little separated or like cottage cheese but keep beating, it will eventually come together. Repeat adding more of the egg until the dough has a sheen and is silky and smooth. When lifted from the bowl using a wooden spoon or spatula the dough should easily fall from the spoon forming a v-shaped ribbon when it does.

Scrape the pastry into a piping bag fitted with a round French star tip.

Line two large baking trays with parchment paper and on the back of each piece of paper draw six 11cm long lines, spaced well apart. Using these lines as your guide pipe the pastry into 12 eclairs, trying to keep your piping as neat and even as possible. Remove the craquelin from the freezer and cut out twelve 11x2.5cm pieces. Lay these atop the eclairs. Bake the eclairs in the oven for 35 minutes. Turn off the oven, open the oven door briefly to allow any steam to escape before closing the door and allowing the eclair shells to cool down slowly in the oven. This helps dry out the eclairs and prevents them collapsing or going soft too quickly. Cool them in the oven for about 30-60 minutes.

Once cool use a serrated knife to carefully slice off the tops of each eclair.

For the filling stir the strawberry jam through the diced strawberries and scrape the lemon cream into a piping bag with the end snipped off. Divide the strawberry mixture between the twelve eclairs, spreading the strawberries out so there is a thin layer in the bottom of each eclair shell. Pipe a layer of lemon cream atop the strawberries and use an offset spatula to smooth into a flat even layer. Place the cream and vanilla into a large bowl and whisk until the mixture has thickened and just holding the barest of soft peaks. If you overwhisk the mixture here it will likely go grainy when piped. Scrape the cream into a piping bag fitted with a plain round piping tip and pipe four rounds of cream atop each eclair. Finish by placing the tops of the eclair atop the cream.

Once assembled the eclairs should be served the same day but all of the elements (except the strawberries and cream) can be made in advance and refrigerated/frozen for a few days ahead of time.

Platinum Jubilee Cake - Lemon and Almond Sponge

Sponsored by Doves Farm

It cannot have escaped your attention that the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee is fast approaching, it is in the news constantly and step outside (especially in London) and you’ll be inundated by the newly hung union jack flags everywhere you look. You also may know there has also been a competition to find a recipe to commemorate the occasion. The winner, Jenna Melvin, a copyrighter from Merseyside, created a new take on the classic British trifle, fit for a queen of course. She made the trifle with the classic elements of custard and jelly along with the addition of a lemon curd Swiss roll, a mandarin coulis and amaretti biscuits. A deliciously bright and summery take on the trifle.

Taking inspiration from this winning dessert I have come up with a simple cake that would be a perfect centre piece for any street or garden parties happening for the Jubilee, should you not want to make all the elements for the trifle. The cake element in my recipe is an amazing sponge cake made with Doves Farm Organic Oat Flour. The oat flour gives a wonderful warm and almost caramel like flavour and a perfect balance between a light sponge cake and a classic Victoria sponge. Doves Farm Organic Oat Flour also happens to be certified gluten free, making this cake a great option if you are also catering for anyone following a gluten free diet.

The cake is flavoured with lemon zest and a touch of almond extract and then layered with a lemon white chocolate buttercream and sandwiched together with zingy lemon curd. It is a simple but celebratory cake, sure to be a crowd pleaser. To decorate the cake some buttercream is piped atop the cake in a slightly random matter and then decorated with some edible flowers. It’s a perfect summer time centre piece.

You can buy Doves Farm Organic Oat Flour from www.dovesfarm.co.uk, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose & Partners

Oat Sponge Cake
150g Doves Farm Organic Oat Flour
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
200g caster sugar
6 large eggs
1/2 tsp almond extract
Zest of 2 lemons
65ml olive oil

Lemon Simple Syrup
Juice of 1 lemon
50g caster sugar

Lemon White Chocolate Buttercream
3 large egg whites
240g caster sugar
Zest of 2 lemons
360g unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature
150g white chocolate, melted and cooled

To Assemble
75g lemon curd
Edible flowers, to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC Fan). Line the base of a deep 8-inch round cake pan with parchment paper. You can grease the base of the tin to secure the parchment in place but do not grease the sides.

Add the oat flour and salt to a bowl and whisk together to combine. Place the sugar, eggs and lemon zest into a large bowl and using an electric mixer whisk together on high speed for about 5 minutes. When the beaters are lifted from the bowl the mixture should form a thick ribbon that slowly dissolves back into the batter. Sieve over a third of the oat flour mixture and gently fold together until the flour is combined. Repeat twice more until all the flour is combined and there are no pockets of flour in the batter. Scrape about a quarter of the batter into a separate bowl and mix together with the olive oil and almond extract until the mixture is emulsified. Pour this small amount batter back into the main batter and fold together as before until the two mixtures are uniformly combined. Keep these actions as light and brief as possible to retain as much of the lightness in the batter.

Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan. Swirl a skewer through the batter to burst any large bubbles to ensure the cake has an even texture. Bake in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes or until the cake has risen and domed but then settled into a flat top. A skewer inserted in the cake should also come out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and whilst the cake is still hot run a thin knife or spatula around the outside of the pan to separate the sides of the cake from the pan. Leave the cake to cool and then turn out and peel of the parchment paper.

For the syrup place the juice and sugar into a small saucepan and place over medium heat and cook until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has come to a boil. Remove from the heat and set aside until needed.

For the buttercream place the egg whites, sugar and lemon zest into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water and heat, whilst whisking gently, until the mixture is hot and the sugar is dissolved. If you rub the mixture between your fingers you shouldn’t feel any sugar grains and the mixture should be hot. Remove the bowl from the heat and using an electric mixture whisk on high speed until the mixture has formed a thick and glossy meringue that has cooled to room temperature, this should take about 7 minutes. Once cooled to room temperature add the butter a little at a time, whisking until combined before adding more. Once all the butter has been combined the mixture will have transformed to a buttercream texture. Switch the whisk for the beater attachment and mix on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Pour in the chocolate and mix briefly until combined.

To assemble, use a serrated cake slice the cake into two layers, using a cake board or similar to carefully remove the top layer of cake (this is a relatively delicate cake as it is gluten free and doesn’t contain any xanthan gum so lifting the cake layers without support is not advised). Drizzle the cake layer with some of the lemon syrup and top with a thin layer of buttercream. Spoon on the lemon curd and spread to cover most of the buttercream, leaving a border around the edge of the cake. Drizzle the cut side of the second layer of cake with some syrup and then carefully place cut side down onto the first layer. Spread the remaining buttercream, reserving a little for decoration, over the tops and sides of the cake. For decoration I take a little buttercream and pipe it in a slightly random manner over the top of the cake. To replicate the style I have done with my cake I used a small tear shaped piping tip and a small French star piping tip. Finish by decorating with a few edible flowers.

Once assembled the cake is best served within 1-2 days.

Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake

This post is sponsored by Alpro

You read the title of the post right, this is a vegan recipe. For the last few years the demand for vegan recipes has skyrocketed and I have never really felt confident in developing recipes without eggs and dairy, it wasn’t what I knew. Over the last year I have quietly been playing around with vegan baking, trying to teach myself how to use vegan alternatives and create recipes that work and are delicious. To kick off a new occasional series of vegan baking I have also just been named as an ambassador for Alpro and todays recipe is the first recipe developed for our new partnership.

When it comes to vegan baking the idea a lot of people have (myself included at one point) is that you will need all manner of strange ingredients that you’ll need to find online on some random website. Thankfully so much vegan baking is making simple swaps and for this recipe, a lemon poppy seed pound cake, it couldn’t be easier. The cake is made with oil instead of butter and Alpro Plain No Sugars, a plant based alternative to yoghurt, (available from …) and the eggs, well there are no eggs. 

Eggs are a key building block of so much baking, they add fat, they help bind ingredients together and they also help with the rise of a cake. Without them cakes need lots of adjustments to make them work. This cake is thankfully incredibly simple, using the muffin method where the wet ingredients are added to the dry and everything is mixed together. Because this method adds no air through creaming and there are no eggs to help it along, all the leavening is chemical, in this case baking soda. The acid in this recipe, from the lemon juice, also helps the baking soda react and create a nicely textured cake, moist but with a tight tender crumb, the perfect vegan pound cake.

For a lemon cake I want the lemon flavour unadorned, simple. The olive oil used in the recipe adds a subtle flavour but doesn’t overpower the citrus and the Alpro Plain No Sugars adds a little tang, and helps keep the cake moist but because it is made without sugar it also helps keep the cake from becoming overly sweet. For those who are also trying to reduce their levels of saturated fat, because this cake is made with olive oil and Alpro Plain No Sugars it has lower levels of saturated fat than a cake made with butter and the dairy traditionally used in this sort of cake. 

Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake

250g caster sugar
Zest of 3 lemons
4 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
375g plain flour
350ml Alpro Plain No Sugars
150ml olive oil
125ml lemon juice

Lemon Soak
75ml lemon juice
75g caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC Fan) and grease a 10-cup capacity bundt pan.

Add the caster sugar and lemon zest to a large bowl and use your fingers to rub together until the sugar resembles wet sand. Rubbing the zest into the sugar helps to bring out the oils from the zest and makes for a more flavourful cake. Add the poppy seeds, baking soda, salt and flour and whisk together until evenly combined. 

Add the Alpro Plain No Sugars and olive oil and whisk together to combine. Juice the lemons and pour 125ml juice into the oil mixture and whisk to combine. Make a well in the dry goods and pour in the liquid ingredients and mix gently together until a thick, smooth cake batter is formed. Scrape the batter into the prepared bundt tin and spread into an even layer. 

Bake in the preheated oven for about 55-60 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Whilst the cake is baking make the soak by adding the lemon juice and sugar to a small saucepan and place over medium heat and cook just until the sugar has dissolved. 

Remove the cake from the oven and cool for 10 minutes before turning the cake out onto a wire rack to cool. When the cake is unmoulded, brush over the syrup until all has been used.  

You can make a glaze or a frosting if you want but I love a pound cake served as it is, served on its own with nothing but a big mug of tea to go with it.