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–+ servings
lemon madeleines on a cloth

Lemon Madeleines

Enjoy your special break with this soft, moist, and perfectly citrusy lemon madeleine.
Author ayacaliva
Total Time 30 minutes
Course basics, cake, classics
Servings 16 pieces
5 from 3 votes
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Equipment

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

Ingredients

Madeleines

  • 3.5 oz Unsalted butter (melted) 7 Tbsp
  • 1 medium lemon Lemon zest
  • 2.8 oz Granulated sugar ⅖ US cup
  • ¼ teaspoon Salt
  • 0.7 oz Honey 1 Tbsp
  • 3.9 oz Whole eggs about 2 large eggs
  • 3.5 oz Cake flour ⅚ US cup
  • 0.12 oz Baking powder ¾ tsp
  • 1 teaspoon Lemon juice

Lemon Icing

  • 1.75 oz Powdered sugar ⅜ US cup
  • ½ tablespoon Lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon Water

Instructions
 

Madeleine batter

  • Mix lemon zest, sugar, and salt in a large bowl with a whisk.
    1 medium lemon Lemon zest, 2.8 oz Granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon Salt
    mixing lemon zest and sugar
  • Add eggs and honey. Mix well. There is no need to beat eggs - Mix well until evenly incorporated.
    0.7 oz Honey, 3.9 oz Whole eggs
    adding eggs and honey in sugar
  • Add sifted cake flour and baking powder. Mix until smooth. Continue mixing until you don't see any lumps of flour.
    3.5 oz Cake flour, 0.12 oz Baking powder
    adding dry ingredients to wet ingredients to make lemon madeleines
  • Add warm melted butter. Mix well.
    3.5 oz Unsalted butter (melted)
    adding butter to the batter to make madeleines
  • Add lemon juice and mix. Switch to a rubber spatula at the end and scrape off the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure the batter is evenly mixed.
    1 teaspoon Lemon juice
    adding lemon juice to the batter to make lemon madeleines
  • Let the batter rest in the fridge for a few hours (or at least one hour. Longer is better to create bigger humps on top of madeleines).
    Meanwhile, Grease the pan with a thin layer of soft butter, dust all-purpose flour on top, ensure all the surface is covered with flour, flip the pan, and toss it on the counter to remove the excess flour. Chill the pan in the fridge until right before use.
    Preheat the oven to 395ºF (201ºC).
    resting the batter for madeleines in a fridge
  • Pipe the batter into the prepared molds using a piping bag. Fill up to about 85% of the capacity of the shell.
    madeleine batter in a madeleine pan
  • Turn the oven temperature down to 365ºF (185ºC) and bake them for 8 - 10 minutes until the bumps bounce back very gently when touching them. Remove the cakes from the pan while they are hot. Touch them gently since they are very soft. Let them cool before coating the lemon icing. 
    madeleines rising in the oven

Lemon Icing

  • Mix powdered sugar, lemon juice, and water in a small bowl until smooth.
    1.75 oz Powdered sugar, ½ tablespoon Lemon juice, ½ teaspoon Water
    lemon icing for lemon madeleines
  • Coat it on top of the madeleines thinly with a pastry brush.
    iced lemon madeleines
  • Line them on a baking sheet and bake them at 302ºF (150ºC) for 1 minute to let the surface dry and add a slightly crispier texture. 
    lemon madeleines in the oven

Video

Notes

📌 Expert Tips

  • Butter: It's essential to use warm, melted butter to prevent it from hardening as you mix since butter turns into a solid as it cools down. It should feel very warm when you touch it. (104 - 122ºF | 40 - 50ºC) 
  • Madeleine Batter: By chilling this madeleine batter, the glutens in the flour get rested more and weakened, which helps the cake to rise more in the oven. The cold batter also creates bigger bumps on top of Madeleines in the oven due to the temperature gap. - They get much smaller when the batter is at room temperature. The batter gets slightly firmer after it's chilled due to the butter inside, but it is still pipeable. 
  • Madeleine Pan: By chilling the prepared pan until right before use, the coated butter gets hard and sets nicely, which creates more even, beautiful golden brown caramelization on the surface of the madeleines. 
  • How to pipe: Use a pastry bag to divide the batter easily and equally. (Not a must, though!) Pipe right after the pan is taken out from the fridge and bake them right away before the greased butter gets soft. The madeleine humps get smaller when it's not filled enough, and the cake spreads widely when it's filled too much.
  • Baking: One batch of the recipe makes about 16 Madeleines. * It may vary slightly depending on the capacity of the madeleine pan you use. Be careful not to overbake them to prevent them from getting dry.

 

How to store it:

When you are not eating them within that day, wrap them with plastic wrap or bag each of them in small plastic gift bags. (Put them in an airtight container or ziplock for double protection!
Store them at room temperature or in the fridge, whichever you like:
  • At room temperature: for up to a few days (in a shaded, cooling place).
  • In the fridge: for up to 5 days
 
** For best results, measure ingredients with a scale. All recipes are designed with weighed ingredients using grams/ounces. Cup measurements are provided for your convenience. **

Nutrition

Calories: 100kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 39mg | Sodium: 70mg | Potassium: 19mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 192IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 19mg | Iron: 0.2mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!