These Raspberry and Almond Madeleines make the most delicious sweet treat to enjoy with your morning and afternoon tea. The French Madeleines made with Almond Meal are super light and fluffy and topped with a Raspberry Glaze for a beautiful finish!
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Madeleines are such a Classic French Recipe. It's one of those treat that you simply cannot stop eating - they are usually gone way too fast! Today, I am sharing with you my latest madeleine experiment; these Raspberry and Almond Madeleines.
Tasting a freshly baked Madeleine for the first time is a moment you never forget. Nothing like the dry, store-bought bag of madeleines!
Fresh Madeleines are probably one of my favourite thing to eat - and make. Years ago, I became obsessed with making madeleines and tried dozens of recipes and combinations.
That's one of the best thing about Madeleines: there are so many flavours available!
What are Madeleines?
You may have heard the name before but have never tried one. Madeleines are small cakes made with a Genoise cake batter and baked in shell-shaped tins. A Genoise is a light sponge cake batter used in many French and Italian recipes.
The lightness of the sponge is created by whisking together the Eggs and Sugar until they have (at least) doubled in size. By doing so, a lot of air is incorporated into the batter making it light and fluffy.
Basic Madeleines Ingredients
Although you will find thousands of different recipes, the same basic ingredients are required to make a classic madeleine:
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Butter
- Flour
- Baking Powder
- Salt
Some recipes add a little bit of Lemon Juice and/or Zest, other just flavour the Madeleines with vanilla or chocolate; it is really up to you. You can even try to make a savoury version like these Semi-Dried Tomato Madeleines that are perfect as an appetiser!
Even though the ingredients are very basic - nothing you shouldn't have in your pantry - a special Madeleine Pan is needed to create the cute shell-like shape.
The most easily found ones are the small, elongated shells ones. I recommend using a metal pan like this one, but you can also try silicone ones that take less space and are easier to clean. If you want to try something a little bit different, you can also find super cute round shells pans.
Almond Madeleines Cakes
For this recipe, I substituted some of the Flour with Ground Almond or Almond Meal to make the Madeleine batter ever lighter and fluffier. If you have been following this blog, you will have already heard me rave about Almond Meal and how awesome it is to make super moist cakes.
But I will say it again: Almond Meal is awesome to make super moist cakes, on top of being a great Gluten Free alternative to Wheat Flour. Try this amazing Strawberry Almond Cake if you are curious!
Almond Flour Madeleines
Ok, back to the Madeleines... The Madeleines part of this recipe is - other than the Almond Meal - very classic. Like I explained above, you will simply need:
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Butter
- Flour
- Almond Meal
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Lemon Juice and Zest (optional)
You do not have to use the Lemon - the cakes will still be delicious - but it really brings out the taste of the other ingredients and add a little bit of freshness.
How to make Madeleines Cakes with Almond Flour
Whisking well the Sugar and Eggs is the most crucial step of the recipe. You DO want it to get airy and foamy. If you don't whisk them for long enough, your Madeleines will not rise properly and be heavier.
The temperatures are also very important. First, the temperature of your ingredients; they need to be at room temperature. Second, the temperature of the batter.
Make sure it has rested in the fridge for at least 15 to 20 minutes before baking. The madeleines will rise better if the dough is chilled.
Lastly, be careful with the temperature of your oven. You want to pre-heat it to a high temperature, but drop it as soon as your madeleines go in.
Raspberry Glaze
The Raspberry Glaze is really the fun element of this recipe. On top of adding an awesome pop of colour, the Raspberry Glaze will also bring a sharp freshness.
And it is really not complicated to make! You will need to reduce your Frozen Raspberries in a syrup, blend it with Coconut Cream and then boil it with Agar Agar Powder.
The Agar is the most important ingredient here; it helps the glaze stick together and stick to the madeleines. Dip your Madeleines in the Raspberry Glaze as soon as it is ready so that it hasn't had time to set yet.
More Tea Time Snack Ideas:
- Chocolate Caramel Slices
- Lemon and Blueberry Muffins
- Chocolate Brownie Bites
- No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies
- Lemon and Raspberry Muffins
- Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
- Double Chocolate Scones
- Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Blondie Bars
Raspberry Almond Madeleines Recipe:
Almond Madeleines with Raspberry Glaze
Ingredients
Almond Madeleines
- 1/3 cup (100 gr) Melted Butter
- 1/4 cup (50 gr) Caster Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 1/2 Lemon: Juice + Zest
- 1 cup (100 gr) Almond Meal
- 2/3 cups (110 gr) Plain Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 pinch Salt
Raspberry Glaze
- 1 cup (100gr) Frozen Raspberries
- 1/2 cup (120ml) Water
- 2 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon Powder
- 1 tbsp. Caster Sugar
- 1/2 cup (120ml) Coconut Cream
- 1/2 teaspoon Agar Agar Powder
Garnish
- 2 Dozen Raw Almonds
Instructions
Almond Madeleines
- Melt the butter in a small bowl and set aside to cool down.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the Sugar and Eggs for a few of minutes until it has doubled in size and foamy. Pour in the cooled melted Butter and stir well.
- Fold in the Almond Meal, Lemon Zest and Lemon Juice.
- In a separate bowl, combine the Flour, Baking Powder and Salt. Sift it in the batter, and once completely incorporated, place in the fridge to chill for about 15 minutes.
- Turn on the oven on 230’C.While the oven is heating up, spray your Madeleine Pan with Canola Oil or rub a little bit of butter in.
- Pour about a tablespoon of batter in each shell. They should be about 2/3 filled.When hot, put the Madeleines in the oven and directly reduce the temperature to 170’. Bake to 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer onto a cooling rack.
Raspberry Glaze
- Once the Madeleines have completely cooled down, start preparing the Raspberry Glaze. Put the Water, Frozen Raspberries, Lemon Juice, Cinnamon Powder and Caster Sugar in a pot, bring to a boil and let reduce into a Puree for about 10 minutes.
- Set aside to cool down for 5 minutes, then transfer the Raspberry Puree in the Blender. Add the Coconut Cream and blend until completely smooth.
- Pass the liquid through a sieve to remove all the seeds then pour it back into the pot. Bring to a boil.
- Once the liquid is boiling, add the Agar Agar Powder. Leave on the heat for about 2 minutes - constantly whisking - until the liquid starts thickening. Remove from the heat.
- Dip your Madeleines in the Raspberry Glaze and sprinkle with finely chopped Almonds. Let the Madeleines set for at least 20 minutes.
Notes
Hi Sylvie, help! I tried the Almond Madeleine recipe this morning, and followed it carefully. I am sure I didn’t do anything that wasn’t exactly as per instructions. Unfortunately my madeleines are like heavy lumps of dough. After I removed the mix from its little rest in the fridge, I observed that it had almost solidified, and certainly was too thick to spoon easily into my tins. I had to just put little balls of in and hope for the best. As the mix cooked it didn’t spread the way I expected, but more or less stayed in little round balls, although they did rise a bit. But the finished product is very solid, and nothing like the plain madeleines I’ve made in the past. What did I do wrong?
Hi Gail, I'm sorry to hear you had such issues with the recipe, they definitely shouldnt have been that solid! It is hard to say exactly what went wrong, but here are a few thoughts on what might have happened:
- you did not whisk the eggs and sugar for long enough, so not enough air was added to the batter.
- there was a problem with the dry ingredient measurements and you used too much flour or almond meal. Did you use a scale or measuring cups?
- you mixed the batter too much after the addition of the flour. That could have deflated the air incorporated into the batter during the first step, as well as developed a lot of gluten inside the batter which would have made the dough very tough and chewy.
My best guess would be the use of too much flour as the batter should not have been that stiff, and should have easily spread in the oven.
I hope that helps!
That glaze looks amazing, I love the sound of that flavour!
Thank you Amy!
I've never tried making madeleines before. These sound so delicious, especially with that raspberry glaze!
You so should try, madeleines are the best!
That raspberry glaze sounds like such a delicious and interesting addition to those madeleines! Might have to give them a try!
Thank you Bintu!
Almond and raspberry go so well together. These look amazing.
So agree!
Madeleines are one of my favourite treats – they are so delicate. Yours look beautiful and so perfect for this time of year. I can’t wait to make them!
They are one of mine too! Thanks Tatiana 🙂
I love madeleines, and these look so delicious! I've never tried using almond meal before, so will definitely give these a try!
Almond Meal is really an awesome ingredient to use in desserts, hope you try it 🙂
Yum! I love all things almond and these look delicious!
Almonds really make everything better!
This looks so so tempting, by just seeing your pics, I bookmarked this recipe. Awesome
So glad you enjoyed the recipe and hope you try it - these madeleines are seriously delicious 😉