Madeleines with Lemon Curd, a delicious madeleine recipe from Rachel Khoo from The Little Paris Kitchen.
Madeleines with Lemon Curd
I am rather surprised that it has taken me this long to try this popular madeleine recipe from Rachel Khoo. In my defence, I already had a madeleine recipe to which I have been faithful to for many years, plus I felt that Rachel’s recipe was a bit fiddly for me.
And with a tiny tot distracting me whenever I am in the kitchen, I didn’t think I was safe around multi-step recipes.
But then a good friend produced these Madeleines with Lemon Curd at one of our playdates, and again recently at her son’s birthday party.
As I found myself secretly scoffing far too many of these madeleine cakes and ignoring the birthday cake, I realised that it was probably about time that I got myself out of my current one-pot/one-bowl cooking rut which plagues a lot of busy mothers.
As with most madeleine recipes, the batter needs to rest for a few hours for the gluten to swell and to produce a light and spongey cake.
And as the lemon curd benefits from overnight rest in the fridge, this means you can make the both the batter and lemon curd the night before, saving you preparation time on the actual day of serving.
The lemon curd recipe is relatively straightforward; the recipe produces very little curd, but it is still too much to fill all of the madeleines, so you should be able to enjoy any leftover curd with your toast at breakfast the next day.
At a pinch, you could instead use good, store-bought lemon curd.
I found Rachel Khoo’s recipe for madeleines to be a little unusual, in that they need to be baked first at a high temperature, before the oven is switched off for a minute, and then switched back on at a slightly cooler temperature. This seems to be Rachel Khoo’s method for making madeleines with their characteristic bump, although they were disappointingly absent from mine.
That said, it could have something to do with the fact that I didn’t bake the cakes with cold batter straight from the fridge, which is one of the secrets to achieving a big bump – one of the perils of food blogging is that much time is spent pfaffing around with the camera, letting the ingredients warm in the process.
Another thought is perhaps the addition of the raspberries might interfere with the formation of the bump?
But bump or no bump, these madeleines are incredibly delicious. The raspberries are a pretty touch and are piped with just enough lemon curd to tingle your taste buds. I regret waiting so long to try this recipe but I will certainly make up for lost time now!
More Madeleine Recipes
If you are looking for more madeleine recipes, you might also enjoy the following:
PrintMadeleines with Lemon Curd
- Prep Time: 40 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 55 mins
- Yield: 20-24 cakes
- Category: Cakes
- Cuisine: French
Madeleines with Lemon Curd, a delicious madeleine recipe from Rachel Khoo from The Little Paris Kitchen. Recipe adapted from The Little Paris Kitchen by Rachel Khoo
Print
Pin Recipe
RateIngredients
- 200g (1 3/4 stick) butter
- 3 eggs
- 130g (1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons) caster sugar
- 20g (3/4 oz) honey
- 60ml (4 tablespoons) milk
- 200g (1 1/3 cup) plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- zest of 1 lemon
- raspberries
- lemon curd (see Notes below)
- icing sugar for dusting
Instructions
For step-by-step photos on how to make madeleines, please see my recipe for Lamington Madeleines.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan and set aside to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the caster sugar until the mixture is pale and frothy.
- Add the honey and milk to the cooled butter, and gently whisk this into the egg mixture.
- Measure the plain flour and baking powder into a separate bowl, and zest the lemon into the flour mixture.
- Fold the flour into the egg mixture in 2 batches.
- Cover the batter and leave to rest in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F).
- Butter and flour a 12-hole madeleine tin.
- Transfer the batter to a large piping bag and pipe a small amount of batter into each shell of the madeleine tin, leaving a small border. If you don’t have a piping bag, you could simply spoon the batter into the tin.
- Press a raspberry into the middle of each shell with the hollow part of the raspberry facing up. Bake the madeleines for 5 minutes and then turn the oven off for 1 minute.
- Turn the oven back on to 160°C (325°F) and continue baking for a further 5 minutes, or until the madeleines are lightly golden.
- Carefully remove the madeleines to a wire rack and pipe a small amount of lemon curd into each raspberry.
- Dust with icing sugar before serving.
Kitchen Notes
If you don’t have a madeleine tin, a muffin tin is a good alternative.
The shape and size of madeleine tins vary greatly, so you may need to adjust the baking time.
You can use shop-bought or homemade lemon curd in this recipe.
HOMEMADE LEMON CURD
To make your own homemade lemon curd, place the zest and juice of 1 lemon into a small saucepan with a pinch of salt, 40 g (3 tablespoons) caster sugar, and 45 g (3 tablespoons) butter. Heat gently until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in 2 egg yolks. Return the saucepan to the stove over low-medium heat, and whisk constantly until the mixture starts to thicken to the consistency of a thick custard. Pass the lemon curd through a fine sieve into a small bowl. Cover the lemon curd by placing a sheet of cling film directly on the surface of the curd, and leave to rest in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight.
STORAGE TIPS
These madeleines are best eaten warm or on the same day they are made.
OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer’s handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly.
CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
Nutrition
- Calories: 124
- Sugar: 6.3g
- Sodium: 11.5mg
- Fat: 7.4g
- Carbohydrates: 12.8g
- Fiber: 0.2g
- Protein: 1.8g
- Cholesterol: 41.2mg
Looks delicious and so pretty – I love the pink and yellow popping through!
It’s always a bonus when the food tastes as good as it looks 😉
Such pretty pictures.I enjoy watching Ms. Khoo’s show and I definitely remember watching this on Youtube
Your pictures are so perfect.
Thanks, Anita! I am always watching re-runs of The Little Paris Kitchen – I never tire of that show and am looking forward to her next series.
These have got to be the prettiest madeleines. I just love them!
I agree! Plus they taste great 🙂
Yup, bump or no, I’d gladly devour all of these beautiful madeleines! You did a fabulous job, Thanh. And adding a raspberry and filling it with curd is deliciously brilliant.
Thanks, Nancy! I also think it’s a clever idea to add a raspberry filled with lemon curd – it gives just the right amount of tang to these little sweet cakes.
I’v been waiting for an excuse to go and buy another baking tin to add to my collection, now I’ve found one!!!
These look gorgeous, just want to pinch one off the screen! I’ve never baked these before but I hope mine turn out as pretty as yours have, (also thank you for the little tips you gave about trying to achieve a perfect bump) little things like that really help a novice like me 🙂
I think a madeleine tin is a must in any baker’s collection 😉 But then, that’s only because I make these cakes quite often. I hope you will enjoy this recipe!
Thanh, how have you been? Ooooh nice, another gorgeous madeline recipe. As always stunning pics. My madeline tin has been neglected these days as I’m very occupied with bibs but hoping to do a bit of serious baking soon and these will be on top of my list 😀 xxx
Hi Rushi!
I’ve been meaning to email you … I hope you and bubs and have been well 🙂 I don’t think I baked much in the early days of parenthood either, but when I did manage to bake something, I was always so happy! Probably because I managed to do something unrelated to feeding, nappy changing, laundry, etc. I didn’t think these madeleines were achievable until a friend of mine, who is a mother of two wee kids, kept producing batches of these at playdates. They were always so pretty and delicious that she inspired me to get a bit more motivated in the kitchen. As you will no doubt discover, being a mother means having to manage time better, and breaking down recipes and doing them in stages (such as over a few days) works best for me. I promise these madeleines are worth the effort 🙂
Thanh I’ve been meaning to email you too, will do so over the holidays…Hmmmm good tip on doing things in stages, I’m sure I’d get things done thatway…Haven’t attempted these ones yet but I got a jar of lemon curd so might do a cheats version first…Hope you are your family are well. 😀 xxx
I have those cups!!!!!! Sure, this doesn’t surprise you!!!
This is the first recipe I made when I bought the madeleines pan. Of course, they weren’t as nice and pretty, but they were delicious!!!!!
In fact, it surprises me that you haven’t tried before!!!
PD: I’ve been on holidays, so I’m going to update, you have made really cute things, Thanh!!
Do you have the same measuring cups? Ah, you have good taste 😉
I also can’t believe how long it took me to try this recipe, but I definitely have these in mind now everytime we have friends coming over for afternoon tea.
P.S. Hope you had a great holiday!
I just made a batch and they turned out looking lovely. Can’t wait to sink my teeth into them. Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★
Hope you enjoyed the recipe!
Looks very tasty! I want to try this with a cup of coffee or tea. Thank you!
★★★★★