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February 21, 2023 BASICS

How To Make Perfect Lemon Madeleines (+VIDEO)

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In this post, I'm sharing how to make very simple yet authentic lemon madeleines from scratch. Follow along step-by-step with clear tips, images, and a video!

Jump to Recipe Video Print

🧡 I love this lemon madeleine because:

  • It's very soft inside while the outside is slightly crispy.
  • It is so moist and has a perfect bounciness & density.
  • The flavor...! Buttery and perfectly citrusy.
  • The best part is: It is so easy to make!

Madeleine is one of my favorite french desserts including cream puffs, crème brûlée, opera cake, etc!

In this post, you'll learn essential baking tips such as:

  • Tips to make them rise more in the oven
  • How to create the cute signature bumps on madeleines
  • Tips to prevent them from getting dry
  • How to store it & the shelf life ... and so on!
Jump to:
  • 📌 What's in Lemon Madeleines?
  • 📌 How To Make Lemon Madeleines
  • 📌 Tips For Making Lemon Madeleines
  • 📌 Uses for Lemon Madeleine
  • 📌 Frequently Asked Questions
  • 📌 VIDEO: Lemon Madeleine
  • 📌 Printable Recipe
  • Lemon Madeleines

📌 What's in Lemon Madeleines?

The 10 ingredients:

The madeleine batter

  • Unsalted butter
    • Butter adds rich flavor and moist texture.
  • Lemon zest
    • The aroma of lemon gets enhanced by adding the zest.
  • Granulated sugar
  • Salt
    • It gives more depth in flavor.
  • Honey
    • It helps to keep madeleine moist. It also helps to caramelize the surface more.
  • Whole eggs
  • Cake flour
    • It gives a more delicate, soft texture.
  • Baking powder
    • Baking powder is needed since we do not whip eggs for this recipe.
  • Lemon juice
    • Preferably use fresh lemon juice.

Lemon Icing

  • Powdered sugar
  • Lemon juice
  • Water

📌 How To Make Lemon Madeleines

The 11 Simple Steps

The madeleine batter

  1. Mix zested lemon, sugar, and salt.
  2. Add eggs and honey. Mix well.
  3. Add sifted cake flour and baking powder. Mix until it looks smooth.
  4. Add melted butter (very warm). Mix well.
  5. Add lemon juice and mix. Clean a bowl and spatula to check if it's even.
  6. Let it rest in the fridge for more than one hour. Meanwhile, Grease your pan with a thin layer of butter, dust all-purpose flour, and toss to remove the excess. Also, chill it in a fridge until right before use.
  7. Pipe the batter onto a mold up to about 85% of the capacity.
  8. 🔥 Preheat oven to 395 F | 201 C. And bake at 365 F | 185 C for 8 - 10 minutes.

Lemon Icing

  1. Mix powdered sugar, lemon juice, and water until it looks smooth.
  2. Coat it on top of the madeleines (or both sides) thinly.
  3. 🔥 Bake at 302 F | 150 C for 1 minute to let the surface dry completely. Enjoy!

📍 The printable recipe is at the very end of this post.

Jump to Recipe

📌 Tips For Making Lemon Madeleines

Now, let me share detailed tips on each step that are crucial for making lemon madeleine successfully.

Step 1: Mix zested lemon, sugar, and salt.

zesting lemon

💬 Do not zest lemon too deep: The white part below the yellow skin is very bitter!

zested lemon in a bowl
mixing lemon zest and sugar

👩🏻‍🍳 I like to do this as a very first thing so that the flavor of lemon gets transferred to sugar more.

Step 2: Add eggs and honey. Mix well.

adding eggs and honey in sugar

💬 Honey helps to keep madeleines moist. It also caramelizes the surface more.

egg mixture to make lemon madeleines

Step 3: Add sifted cake flour and baking powder. Mix until it looks smooth.

sifted flour to make lemon madeleines

💬 Cake flour gets lumpy easier than all-purpose flour and bread flour. I recommend sifting it!

adding dry ingredients to wet ingredients to make lemon madeleines
the batter to make madeleines
nice and smooth.

Step 4: Add melted butter (very warm) and mix well.

adding butter to the batter to make madeleines

💬 It's important to use warm, melted butter so that it does not start getting hardened as you mix since butter turns into a solid as it cools down. Warm it up to 40 - 50 C | 104 - 122 F.

mixing the batter to make madeleines

Step 5: Add lemon juice and mix. Clean a bowl and spatula to check if it's even.

adding lemon juice to the batter to make lemon madeleines
the complete batter to make lemon madeleines

💬 Clean a bowl and spatula at the end to make sure the batter is completely even.

Step 6: Let it rest in the fridge for more than one hour.

(Meanwhile, Grease your pan with a thin layer of butter, dust all-purpose flour, and toss to remove the excess. Also, chill it in a fridge until right before use.)

resting the batter for madeleines in a fridge

💡 Chilling it for enough time here is SO important. By doing it, the gluten in flour gets rested and weakened and it helps the batter to rise more in the oven.

Also by using the cold batter, the center rises creating cute bumps on top due to the temperature gap.

greasing soft butter in a madeleine pan.

Grease soft butter thinly all over the surface. This is the pan I used.

dusting flour on a madeleine pan

Dust all-purpose flour. (You can also use cake flour or bread flour. It gets crunchier with bread flour.)

a prepared madeleine pan

And toss to remove the excess flour.

👩🏻‍🍳 By chilling the pan until right before use, the surface gets more evenly caramelized.

Step 7: Pipe the batter onto a mold up to about 85% of the capacity.

rested madeleine batter
madeleine batter in a pastry bag
piping madeleine batter in a madeleine pan

You can pipe with ease using a pastry bag. (You can also use a spoon or something else if you can not get it.)

piping lemon madeleine batter in a madeleine pan

Dividing the rest on top so that each of them gets the same amount.

madeleine batter in a madeleine pan

💬 This is the perfect amount. The bumps get smaller when you fill less, and they spread widely when you fill more than this.

Step 8: Preheat oven to 395 F | 201 C. And bake at 365 F | 185 C for 8-10 minutes.

Adjust the time and temperature depending on your oven.

madeleines rising in the oven

It is so fun to look at them rising in the oven. The bumps are so cute!

lemon madeleines cooling on top of a pan

Let them cool completely on a pan like this. Be careful not to burn yourself!

Step 9: Mix powdered sugar, lemon juice, and water until it looks smooth.

mixing powdered sugar, lemon juice and water
lemon icing for lemon madeleines

Step 10: Coat it on top of the madeleines (or both sides) thinly.

coating lemon icing on lemon madeleines

Coat it very thinly.

iced lemon madeleines

Step 11: 🔥 Bake at 302 F | 150 C for 1 minute to let the surface dry completely.

lemon madeleines in the oven

👩🏻‍🍳 It'll eventually get dry even if you don't bake the surface but baking it creates more crispiness. It's very subtly crispy since it is very thin.

lots of lemon madeleines lined up on a table with fresh lemons

📌 Uses for Lemon Madeleine

These little snacks are amazing on every occasion but here is how I often bake them for:

  • As an afternoon tea snack
    • Maybe you have a visitor or your family is asking for snacks; This is a perfect fancy dessert to make quickly and still can impress your family and friends.
  • As a morning treat
    • There is something about the morning with freshly baked madeleines and a cup of coffee or tea. The start of a great day is guaranteed.
  • As a gift
    • This is a great dessert to bring to someone as a gift since it does not break easily and can do pretty well at room temperature compared to other pastries. I sometimes bake them for Rei's friends and teachers and they absolutely loved them!
2 lemon madeleines with a tea on a table
2 lemon madeleines on a gray plate

📌 Frequently Asked Questions

How should I store madeleines?

To maintain the best condition, bag or wrap them individually if you are not eating them within 24 hours. Or when you are consuming them sooner, bag/box them in an air-tight bag/container (without leaving much space between them).

What is the shelf-life of madeleines?

* At room temperature: for up to a few days
(in a shaded, cooling place).
* In the fridge: for up to 5 days (I recommend it the most)
*In the freezer: for up to about a month

Can I make them without the icing?

You can but I recommend taking the time to coat them with the icing since it helps to prevent them from getting dry quickly. And it makes the madeleines A LOT more delicious! It tastes perfect to each other. If you can, please try it once and I think you'll know what I'm talking about!

Why didn't my madeleines rise much in the oven?

Check these things when it does not rise:
* Rest the batter enough before using it as I mentioned in the post. It helps to let them rise more in the oven.
* Is the heat of your oven stronger or weaker than normal? Pay attention to it and see if you need to adjust the temperature.
* Make sure the quantities of ingredients are very precise.

📌 VIDEO: Lemon Madeleine

To learn how to make the madeleines visually and have a deeper understanding of all, watch this video.

Don't forget to subscribe if you liked it😉

💬 If you loved this recipe, please share your feedback on this post! I always love to hear how you enjoyed it at home with your friends and family.

📌 Printable Recipe

lemon madeleines on a cloth

Lemon Madeleines

ayacaliva
Enjoy your special break with this soft, moist, and perfectly citrusy lemon madeleine.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Share on Facebook Share by Email
Total Time 30 mins
Course basics, cake, classics
Cuisine Baking
Servings 15 pieces
Calories 108 kcal

Equipment

  • Bowl
  • Sieve
  • Whisk
  • Spatula
  • Madeleine pan
  • Brush to grease butter and coat icing
  • Pastry bag optional

Ingredients
 
 

The batter

  • 3.5 oz Unsalted butter (melted)
  • Lemon zest
  • 2.8 oz Granulated sugar
  • Salt
  • 0.7 oz Honey
  • 3.9 oz Whole eggs about 2 large eggs
  • 3.5 oz Cake flour
  • 0.12 oz Baking powder
  • Lemon juice

Lemon Icing *Make the half amount of icing if you want to coat only the top surface.

  • 3.5 oz Powdered sugar
  • Lemon juice
  • Water

Instructions
 

  • Mix zested lemon, sugar, and salt.
    Lemon zest, 2.8 oz Granulated sugar, Salt
    mixing lemon zest and sugar
  • Add sifted cake flour and baking powder. Mix until it looks smooth.
    3.5 oz Cake flour, 0.12 oz Baking powder
    adding dry ingredients to wet ingredients to make lemon madeleines
  • Add eggs and honey. Mix well.
    0.7 oz Honey, 3.9 oz Whole eggs
    adding eggs and honey in sugar
  • Add melted butter (very warm). Mix well.
    3.5 oz Unsalted butter (melted)
    adding butter to the batter to make madeleines
  • Add lemon juice and mix. Clean a bowl and spatula to check if it's even.
    Lemon juice
    adding lemon juice to the batter to make lemon madeleines
  • Let it rest in the fridge for more than one hour. Meanwhile, Grease your pan with a thin layer of butter, dust all-purpose flour, and toss to remove the excess. Also, chill it in a fridge until right before use.
    resting the batter for madeleines in a fridge
  • Pipe the batter onto a mold up to about 85% of the capacity.
    madeleine batter in a madeleine pan
  • 🔥 Preheat oven to 395 F | 201 C. And bake at 365 F | 185 C for 8 - 10 minutes.
    madeleines rising in the oven
  • Mix powdered sugar, lemon juice, and water until it looks smooth.
    3.5 oz Powdered sugar, Lemon juice, Water
    lemon icing for lemon madeleines
  • Coat it on top of the madeleines (or both sides) thinly.
    iced lemon madeleines
  • 🔥 Bake at 302 F | 150 C for 1 minute to let the surface dry completely. Enjoy!
    lemon madeleines in the oven

Video

Notes

One batch of this recipe makes about 15 madeleines.

Nutrition

Calories: 108kcalCarbohydrates: 18gProtein: 2gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.4gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 42mgSodium: 42mgPotassium: 22mgFiber: 0.2gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 207IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 21mgIron: 0.2mg
Keyword lemon dessert, lemon madeleine, lemon madeleines, madeleine, madeleines
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

If you like simple and delicious french pastries like this madeleine, also check out my crème brûlée recipe. It is so easy to make yet tastes & looks incredible.

creme brulee with berries on top

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Welcome To Pastry Living

Welcome to Pastry Living!

Hi, I'm Aya. I’m the pastry chef behind the blog.

I started my career in the baking world in 2009 and now opened up my blog so that you can get trusted recipes with detailed explanations anytime, anywhere for your special occasions!

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