I had so many lovely comments on these when I put them on Facebook that I thought I must share them with the rest of the world.
These beautiful little cakes would appear to be a reminder of childhood for people of a certain age (cough cough). They certainly bring back memories for me of coming home from school and seeing them standing like little soldiers on a plate in the kitchen and itching to eat one straight away. My mother used to make them regularly and, as with most things from my childhood, I didn’t appreciate them until I was much older.
I must have assumed my mother had nothing better to do all day apart from make cakes. Little did I know she was rushing about, juggling shopping, working, cleaning, looking after kids, making sure her family was fed and doing all the other chores that make up the day to day life for any parent. She probably didn’t mind standing in the kitchen fiddling about with plates of sieved jam and coconut just to make her children smile but I now realise she certainly had other more pressing things to do. That said, what is a better feeling in life than making your children happy? Not much probably, if anything at all.
One of my followers remembers cooking them at school and felt a wave of nostalgia after seeing the photograph, urging her to go and hunt out some dariole moulds to make these delicate little frivolities.
As a treat they probably fare better in the calorie stakes than a cup cake laden with buttercream icing, so I didn’t feel too guilty eating two with a cup of tea in the garden before my son came home from school.
They are simple to make, the cake being a basic Victoria sponge batter. The main obstacle to making them would not be having the dainty little moulds, called dariole moulds or castle moulds. In fact when I was little I used to call them coconut castles rather than their more sophisticated correct name.
If you are a regular reader you will know by now that my lovely mum, who used to be such a wonderful cook, is now in the later stages of dementia and sadly is no longer able to don her apron in the kitchen. These moulds once lived in her cupboards and came out to be used quite regularly, but since they have moved house to Suffolk they seem to have been relegated to the back of the drawer which is such a shame. When I found them the other day I felt quite guilty that I had never made English Madeleines for my son so I dug them out and I must say I enjoyed making them immensely and they really did make me smile.
To buy the moulds just to make these would work out quite expensive unless you were going to use them more than a few times. If, like me, you like buying pre-loved kitchenware, they are the sort of thing you see regularly at boot sales or charity shops which would be a much cheaper option and I was lucky enough to buy a set of 6 slightly larger ones for 75p a few weeks ago.
Although my moulds are over fifty years old, greased with a little butter and dusted with flour they were perfectly non-stick and came out without any traumas.
To be honest I’m not sure why the English Madeleine is made in a dariole mould and the French Madeleine looks like a flat shell. It it rather peculiar that cakes with the same names look so different, but hey ho that’s one of the beautiful little mysteries of the culinary world.
Coating them in the jam and coconut is a bit like coating a fish cake with bread crumbs. The first couple are easy peasy but after that things tend to get a bit messy with lumps of jam and sticky fingers laden with coconut. To make things easier have a few clean forks handy, it is much simpler to stick a fork in the bottom of the Madeleine, turn it round in the jam then again in the coconut than try to do it with your fingers.
- 100g Caster Sugar
- 100g Unsalted Butter, softened
- 100g Self Raising Flour
- 2 Eggs
- 3-4 drops of Vanilla Extract
- 6 Tablespoons Red Jam sieved (I prefer raspberry)
- 60g Desiccated Coconut (approx.)
- 5 Glace Cherries, halved
- Preheat oven to 170c 325F (fan)
- Using a mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, adding a little flour if necessary to stop the mixture curdling.
- Add the drops of vanilla extract.
- Add the rest of the flour and beat until the mixture is smooth.
- Add a tablespoon of milk if the mixture is too thick so you have a dropping consistency.
- Divide the mixture between the moulds, it doesn't need to come up more than half way.
- Put the moulds on a baking try and bake in the oven for 20 mins until golden and springy to the touch.
- Transfer to a cooling rack and when the moulds are cool enough to handle, run a thin palette knife around the edge of the mould and turn the little sponges out.
- You may need to slice a little of the sponge from the bottom so they stand upright. Somehow even if they lean a little they do not look right.
- With the sieved jam and coconut on separate plates. gently insert the tip of a fork into the bottom of a Madeleine, roll to coat with jam (not on the bottom) then roll again in the coconut.
- Decorate with half a glace cherry.
- Repeat with each Madeline.
Barrie Harwood says
Just ordered some Darioloe Moulds just for the pleasure of following this recipe. You make them sound scrummy.
Nada Rusich says
Hi. I make theses madelines quite often and my moulds are like 40 years old. I only have 6 so after baking 6 i wash them grease them and bake more. They r lovely to present and even better to eat. I now live in Canada and still make my english cakes which are far superior to the ones we see now. I will continue to make my madelines love them.
Michael Dickson says
Thank you. It’s always lovely to hear people’s stories, especially about English Madeleines! Sadly, the commercial varieties are only a shadow of the home-made varieties. Keep making them!
Sarah says
I recently bought some dariole moulds to make kulfis and looked up other recipes that calls for dariole moulds so I could use them more given the price – £15.98 for 8 at Lakeland. Then the beautiful pic of your English Madeleine caught my eye… I will try them for my son… thanks for sharing your recipe! I’ll let u know how it went…
Kate Leuenberger says
I can’t wait for my moulds to arrive.
My sister and I have so many fond memories of our nan making these and we were out shopping together yesterday and saw the moulds, didn’t pay them then as I want to surprise her when she visits next but also get the recipe right first.
I also made these at school.
Simon Harding says
I remember in the 1980’s a company use to supply my village shop with boxes of 6 apricot Madeleines. I assumed that they were made by Mr.Kipling, & as I have been craving them since my local shop closed in 1990 I emailed Mr.Kipling asking them where about they were stocked. To my dismay the reply stated that not only do Mr.Kipling not make such cake, they never have made them! . Can anyone else prove i’m not imagining my whole childhood & can remember buying boxes of Madeleines, & if so, who made them, & do they still make them, & if so, where can I buy them?. PLEASE HELP! I’M HUNGRY & LOVE APRICOT MADELEINES ROLLED IN COCONUT. I’VE BEEN WAITING 29 YEARS!!. Best wishes, Simon Harding
Hina Atkin says
You’re not imagining it, I too remember the lovely box of apricot madelines but sorry I also thought it was mr kipling. I came across this recipe looking to recreate those apricot madelines.
Carol Thompson says
Today I’ve just made two batches of English Madeleines for my line dancer friends. One batch traditional and one batch with lemon curd and grated white chocolate. Luckily I had the tins- all 24 of them -stored in the attic and the last time I used them was over 15 years ago when I was scheme manager for the elderly who loved them. I’m really hoping my friends will enjoy something very old and traditional xxx
Jan says
Where can I buy these tins please
Michael Dickson says
Here’s the search term to use Jan:’English Madeleine Dariole Tins’. We’ve had ours for years and cookware shops are now thin on the ground. Amazon or eBay are good bets if you can’t manage to find any shops near you locally. Thanks for the message and apologies for the delay!
Donna Jack says
Hi, I love these madeleines and usually use a muffin tin. Do you think I can use popover tins to bake these? Searched Amazon for darioles but only popover tins came up. I already own popover tins.
Michael Dickson says
Popover tins have a very similar profile to dariole moulds and I’m sure they may be substituted. I’d say give it a go and see what happens. Enjoy!
Christine Mullane says
Hi I found my Dariole moulds on Amazon, Im about to make them this afternoon for my son who remembers the from his childhood.
Michael Dickson says
Fantastic! We’d love to see the results!
Foon Lam says
I remember making these during my school days. We didnt have dariole moulds so we used to bake them in muffin pans. Whatever the shape they always taste delicious and always takes me down memory lane again.
Michael Dickson says
We make these in the summer for when the kids come around, they love them! Hopefully, 2021 will be a return to some form of normality. Happy New Year!
Michael Dickson says
Thank you!
Debra Lorraine says
English Madeleines, l haven’t had those since my childhood!
l have very fond memories of the weekly trip to the bakery with my Nan. She would buy her bread and treat us both to a delicious madeleine.
I cannot wait to make them for my grandchildren.
Shopping for the moulds is a tad confusing. I am finding everything from 4cm to 8cm.
What size would you recommend?
Thank you for sharing this recipe.