Classic French Madeleines

These Classic French Madeleines are buttery, tender, and perfectly sweet. With step-by-step instructions and lots of detailed information, you can easily make this French classic at home!

Updated 3/2024

Have you ever been to France? I have dream of going one day, and I’m determined to get there. While I’m there, I’m going to visit all the French bakeries and eat all the carbs. I’ll experience French baking first hand, maybe even take a class or two, and I’m sure to love every moment of it. But until then, I’ll work on my own French culinary skills and bake delicious French treats at home!

Starting with these Classic French Madeleines.

Oh madeleines. Mini, shell-shaped teacakes that are perfectly light and buttery. They’re impossibly delicious when they’re warm, fresh from the oven. These madeleines are flavored with vanilla bean paste, making them simple, yet absolutely delicious.

Now, you may be thinking, “No way can I make madeleines at home. They’re too technical.” Let’s talk! You can absolutely make madeleines at home. In fact, I’ve written this blog post for that very reason; because I know you can do it with the right encouragement and detailed information! So if you’re ready to tackle baking classic French madeleines at home, keep reading.

A quick pep-talk on baking madeleines. Madeleines are notorious for being finicky, and they do require a certain level of technical skill and precision. But with a little focus, determination, and the right help, you can absolutely do this! Now, there are tons of madeleine recipes out there and lots of posts that also walk you through how to make madeleines. What you’ll notice, is that everyone has their own way of doing it. So my way of making madeleines may look a little different than someone else’s and that’s okay! I tinkered and tested this recipe countless times, and I’m going to share with you all that I learned. In fact, I had to practice making these madeleines several times before they came out just right. But do you know what? Even when they didn’t come out perfectly, they were still delicious and 100% dunkable in some hot coffee. All to say, I believe in you and know you can successfully make madeleines! And if they don’t turn out the first time, dunk them in some coffee and try it again. Once you’ve successfully made madeleines, you’ll want to make them over and over again!

So let’s get started! If this is your first time making madeleines or your 100^th time, I do recommend reading though the whole post. These classic French madeleines are so worth it!

So what are madeleines?

Madeleines are petite French teacakes that are perfectly sweet and buttery with a lovely light texture. They are essentially miniature génoise sponge cakes baked in a specific madeleine molds, which gives them a signature shell shape. I especially love madeleines for their crisp edges and soft, fluffy interior!

I made these madeleines fairly simple by keeping them a classic vanilla flavor. I use vanilla bean extract to give a more pronounced vanilla flavor, but feel free to sub in vanilla extract if that’s what you have on hand. While these are simple in terms of flavor, they don’t lack flavor. Like I said, these are buttery, perfectly sweet, and honestly you can’t go wrong with vanilla. If you’re looking for a different take on the madeleine, check out my browned butter and orange madeleine recipe.

What do I need to make Classic French Madeleines?

Making madeleines requires only a few simple ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need:

Butter: Gently folding in melted butter to the madeleine batter makes these little cakes soft, buttery, and so flavorful. Be sure to melt the butter at the start of the recipe so that it has time to cool before incorporating into the batter.

Vanilla bean paste: Vanilla is mixed in with the hot melted butter for to add that wonderfully classic flavor. Feel free to use vanilla extract if that’s what you have on hand.

Flour: All-purpose flour is sifted and gently folded into the batter to give just the right amount of structure.

Baking powder: Although most of the rise comes from whipping air into the eggs, a little baking powder gives some extra leavening power.

Sugar: Granulated sugar is whipped with the eggs to aerate the batter and, of course, makes these madeleines perfectly sweet and tender.

Eggs: Eggs are the workhorse of madeleines! By whipping air into the eggs and sugar, madeleines get their light and fluffy texture. Make sure that the eggs are at room temperature, otherwise they won’t achieve full volume when whipped.

Kosher salt: For balance.

Whole milk: a little bit of whole milk adds richness to the batter.

Powdered sugar for dusting (optional).

You will also need a few specific tools:

Madeleine pans: The only way to get that scalloped sea-shell shape that is unique to madeleines is to buy a madeleine pan. I really like the GoldTouch Madeleine pan from William Sonoma, but I’ve also used this madeleine pan from USA Bakeware and have had great results! I do recommend buying 2 non-stick pans as most recipes, including this one, call for prepping two pans. If you only have one madeleine pan, see my recipe notes for recommendations.

Whisk attachment: One of the most important steps in making light and fluffy madeleines is properly aerating the eggs by whipping them at high speed with the sugar. Using a balloon whisk attachment on your stand mixer is the easiest and most effective way to do this!

How to make Classic French Madeleines:

First, melt the butter over the stovetop and pour it into a heatproof bowl. Set aside a tablespoon of the melted butter (you’ll use this to grease the madeleine molds). To the bowl of hot, melted butter, stir in the vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract). Set this aside for now to cool slightly.

Next, you’ll prep your madeleine pans. To do this, add 1 1/2 teaspoons of flour to the 1 tablespoon of melted butter that you set aside, and stir that together to form a paste. Using a pastry brush, brush 20 to 24 madeleine molds with the butter/ flour mixture, being sure to get into every nook and cranny. We don’t want these to stick! Pop the pans in the fridge to chill until you’re ready to bake. Cold pans help the madeleines rise in the oven.

Now, we’ll begin to prepare the batter. Start by sifting together the flour and baking powder in a small bowl; set that aside for now.

Now for the most important step in making light and fluffy madeleines: whipping the eggs! Add the eggs, sugar, and kosher salt to the bowl, and fit your stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Turn the mixer to medium-high speed and whip the eggs/sugar for 5 to 7 minutes, until the mixture is pale and thickened. You’ll know you’ve whipped enough air into the eggs if you can draw a “figure 8” with the batter falling off the whisk and the shape briefly sits on top of the batter before sinking back in.

Now that we’ve whipped all that precious air into the eggs, it’s all about handling the batter gently so as not to knock all that air out! Beginning and ending with the sifted flour mixture, alternate gently folding in the flour and melted butter to the batter, stopping just when the ingredients are incorporated and being careful not to overmix or knock out too much air.

When you’re finished,  the batter should have a glossy sheen to it with no pockets of flour or pools of butter remaining.

The batter should look like this! Glossy with no pools of butter.

Gently press a piece of plastic wrap over the surface of the batter and up the sides of the bowl. Place in the fridge to chill for at least 5 hours, up to overnight. The longer your batter chills, you’re more likely to get light, fluffy, madeleines with that signature “hump”.

Let’s bake these madeleines! About 30 to 60 minutes before you’re ready to bake, place a large baking sheet in the center rack of your oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set that aside.

Now grab your chilled batter and one chilled madeleine pan. Spoon a tablespoon of batter into the deepest part of each mold (I use a #60 cookie scoop for this). Avoid smoothing out or leveling off the batter; just plop it right in there! Cover any unused batter and place it back in the fridge for now.

Take the filled madeleine pan and place it directly onto the preheated baking sheet in the oven (the cold pan coming in contact with the hot baking sheet creates a thermal shock reaction, which in turn makes your madeleines rise more!). Immediately reduce the oven temperature to 375°F and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges of the mads are golden brown and the tops are springy to touch.

Remove from the oven and let sit for 1 minute before tipping them out onto the rimmed baking sheet. If some stick, that’s okay, just carefully nudge them out with a dull knife or offset spatula. I like to arrange the madeleines with their “shell-side” down, so as not to deflate the humped side.

Increase your oven temperature back up to 400°F and repeat with the other chilled pan and remaining batter.

How to serve and store madeleines:

Serving madeleines: Madeleines are best served immediately warm from the oven or within an hour of baking. You definitely want to serve them the same day they are baked. Because they are basically mini génoise sponge cakes, they tend to dry out quickly.

My favorite way to serve madeleines is fresh from the oven! Because the batter needs to be chilled for at least 5 hours, you can make the batter ahead of time and bake them up for your guests as a freshly  baked treat! Not only will they be impressed, but they will get to taste the madeleines when they’re at their best. There is nothing better than a warm, freshly baked madeleine! The exterior is nice and crisp and the interior is soft, fluffy, and moist.

Storing madeleines: If you do have any leftovers, keep the madeleines in an airtight container for 1 day. They will likely dry out a bit, but nothing a dunk in a cup of hot coffee or tea can’t fix! You can also gently rewarm in the microwave to soften a bit.

Tips for success:

Read through the whole recipe before starting. This will help you better understand what the recipe is asking of you. Being prepared and understanding the details is the first step in successfully making delicious madeleines!

Weigh your ingredients. I always recommend measuring ingredients by weight, but it’s especially helpful when it comes to madeleines. Precision is key, and using the correct amount of each ingredient is really important to successfully baking madeleines at home! I use this scale.

Be patient, be gentle, and focus on technique. When it comes to making madeleine batter, the key is to be patient and gentle. The success of madeleines hinges on maintaining the air that you’ve whipped into the eggs at the beginning of the recipe. If you knock the air out, you’ll end up with flat, dense madeleines. It’s important to work gently with the batter, particularly when folding in the flour and browned butter. When folding, be sure to use a flexible rubber spatula. Gently move the spatula in a “J” motion, running the spatula down the middle and around the side of the bowl, being sure to get down to the bottom of the bowl. Rotate the bowl 1/4 turn after each pass.

Keep things cold (and hot). In addition to aerating the eggs, another way to get that signature “hump” and light texture is by keeping certain things really cold and other things really hot. Let me explain. When really cold batter inside a really cold pan hits a really hot oven, this creates a thermal shock reaction. This state of thermal shock promotes a quick rise, which creates a light and fluffy interior. It also makes the exterior of the madeleines nice and crisp. I also suggest placing a baking sheet in the oven while its preheating. Placing the cold madeleine pan on top of the hot baking sheet promotes this thermal shock reaction even more, creating a better chance for well-risen, perfectly fluffy madeleines.

Chill, chill, chill. Chilling the madeleine batter for a minimum of 5 hours and up to overnight will improve your madeleines on several fronts. First, it allows the gluten to relax, creating a softer, more tender madeleine. It also improves the likelihood that you will achieve that coveted “hump” and your madeleines will rise in the oven. For best results, I prefer to chill madeleine batter overnight.

If you only have 1 madeleine pan, prep and chill the pan as directed in the recipe. After baking the first batch of madeleines, wipe out the molds and allow the pan to cool completely. Grease the molds again by brushing on a mixture of 1 tablespoon melted butter + 1 ½ teaspoons flour, then place in the freezer for 5 minutes before filling with batter and baking.

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