These airy and soft madeleines are filled with a delicious chocolate ganache. With orange zest added to these little cakes, it’s the perfect combination for anyone who loves chocolate and citrus! The batter also comes together within minutes and this recipe is one of those rare ones that I don’t use my mixer. Indeed, all you need is just a whisk and a mixing bowl! This easy recipe is so delicious, it’s even French grandfather-in-law approved!
Madeleines are French tea cakes date back from the 17th century. They are known for their scallop-shaped and domed top, which is called “la perle” or “the pearl”. The pearl is formed during baking due to the shape of the madeleine pan and baking powder that allow the little cakes to rise in the middle. These cakes are so engrained in French culture that they represented France on Europe Day in 2006. Madeleines are enjoyed hot with a morning coffee or afternoon tea.
Ingredients you will need to make this recipe:
- Cake Flour: Cake flour comes from soft wheat and is finely milled. It has a lower gluten and protein content than regular all-purpose flour. Using it in this recipe will yield a very soft madeleine with a delicate texture, especially if you are planning to bake the whole batch and store it.
- Baking powder: Baking powder the leavening agent that helps your madeleines rise properly and have a domed top. Make sure your baking powder is not expired. Otherwise, it will not react during the baking and your cakes will be flat and dense.
- Orange zest and juice: Orange zest is seriously underated when it comes to using it in baked goods. It’s what gives madeleines that extra zing and it smells SO GOOD!
- Heavy cream and semi-sweet chocolate chips: You will need these two ingredients to make the ganache. Chocolate ganache is essentially an emulsification with chocolate and cream.
In addition to these ingredients, you will need a madeleine cake pan, which has scallop-shaped molds to make madeleines.
PRO TIPS FOR BAKING CHOCOLATE GANACHE-FILLED MADELEINES
Melting the butter
In a small saucepan on medium heat, melt butter until lightly golden brown. Turn off heat and let it cool. Melting the butter will give a light nutty taste that will be delicious in these little cakes. TIP: Make sure it is slightly cooled before adding it your egg and flour mixture to not cook those eggs!
Sifting the dry ingredients
In a mixing bowl, sift cake flour, baking powder and sugar. Add a pinch of salt. It’s important to sift your dry ingredients to prevent any lumps from forming in the batter. You want a smooth cake batter, which will give spongy and soft madeleines. Furthermore, sifting will give an even distribution that will help the madeleines to bake and rise properly.
Cake batter
Add one egg at a time into the flour mixture and whisk until the egg is mixed before adding the next. You can expect your first and second egg to be somewhat lumpy in the mixture. That’s ok, as long as the last mixed egg will give a smooth mixture. Add vanilla extract, orange zest, juice and continue to whisk until all combined. Slowly drizzle butter and whisk until the batter is emulsified.
TIP: Your eggs need to be at room temperature so that they can bind properly to the rest of the ingredients. Making the cake batter with cold eggs will also solidify your butter and you will end up with a lumpy batter.
You can expect your batter to be a wet cake type of batter. Let your batter rest at least for 4 hours to overnight, covered. This will allow the baking powder to work its magic in order to make your cakes spongy and soft.
Making your chocolate ganache
A chocolate ganache is a smooth and silky mixture of chocolate and cream that are melted together in a double boiler. Bring water to a simmer in a small saucepan filled halfway. In a heat resistant mixing bowl (ie: Pyrex), add chocolate chips and heavy cream. Place the mixing bowl on the saucepan (double boiler). Melt chocolate and whisk until the mixture is emulsified.
Baking your madeleines
Preheat your oven to 350°F. You should butter the madeleine cake pan even if it is non-stick. TIP: I recommend leaving your butter at room temperature the night before so that it greases more easily on the pan.
You can either use a small spoon or piping bag to add your batter into the cake pan. Add the batter into each shell by filling ⅔ of the way.
Add chocolate ganache in a piping bag and pipe it in the center of each shell. Avoid overfilling. Add madeleine batter just enough to cover the chocolate. The batter should fill ¾ of the shells.
Bake for 9-10 minutes. The madeleines will be baked when the bottom part is lightly golden brown and the topped is domed, slightly firm but still soft to touch. You can dust some confectioner’s sugar (optional) and serve your chocolate ganache-filled madeleines warm or hot.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Can I use all-purpose flour instead of cake flour? You can use all-purpose flour for this recipe, but your madeleines may be less soft, especially if you are storing the rest afterwards. I highly recommend using cake flour if you have it on hand.
Can I still use this recipe without a madeleine pan? You can use this cake batter in a loaf pan and make a pound cake out of it! You will have to increase the baking time and this also depends on the size of your loaf pan. For a 10×5 inch loaf pan, it needs to bake for 45 mins at 350°F.
How do I store madeleines? Madeleines are traditionally eaten hot, fresh out of the oven. However, with our busy lifestyles and schedules, it is not always feasible to bake as needed. You can either bake them all at once and store the remaining madeleines in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days. You can also refrigerate the leftover batter, sealed, up to 48 hours and bake them fresh the following day.
If you like my chocolate ganache-filled madeleines recipe, try my famous orange blossom olive oil cake!
If you’ve tried this Chocolate Ganache-Filled Madeleines recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can let me know how it went by commenting in the comments section below and don’t forget to leave a rating!
Equipment
- Madeleine cake pan
- Whisk
- Mixing bowl
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113g) butter unsalted
- 1 cup (120g) cake flour
- 1 tsp (4g) baking powder
- ½ cup (100g) white granulated sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 2 tsp (10ml) vanilla extract
- Zest of one orange
- 2 Tbsp (30ml) orange juice freshly squeezed
For the chocolate ganache
- ½ cup (120g) semi-sweet chocolate
- 3 Tbsp (45ml) heavy cream
- Confectioner’s sugar optional, for dusting
Instructions
- In a small saucepan on medium heat, melt butter until lightly golden brown. Turn off heat and let it cool.
- Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, sift cake flour, baking powder and sugar. Add pinch of salt.
- Add one egg at a time into the flour mixture and whisk until the egg is mixed before adding the next.
- Add vanilla extract, orange zest, juice and continue to whisk until all combined.
- Slowly drizzle butter and whisk until the batter is emulsified. Expect your madeleine batter to be a wet type of batter.
- Let batter rest for at least 4 hours to overnight, refrigerated.
Making the chocolate ganache:
- Bring water to a simmer in a small saucepan filled halfway. In a heat resistant mixing bowl (ie: Pyrex), add chocolate chips and heavy cream. Place the mixing bowl on the saucepan (double boiler). Melt chocolate and whisk until the mixture is emulsified.
Baking the madeleines:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Butter the madeleine cake pan even if it is non-stick.
- With a small spoon or in a piping bag, add batter into each shell by filling ⅔ of the way. Add chocolate ganache in a piping bag and pipe it in the center of each shell. Avoid overfilling. Add madeleine batter just enough to cover the chocolate. The batter should fill ¾ of the shells.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes.
- Dust some confectioner’s sugar (optional) and serve madeleines warm or hot.
