February 15, 2021

Vegan Lemon Madeleines

Fluffy vegan lemon madeleines that are so light and moist you could eat the whole batch with your cup of tea. Or maybe that’s just me. They’re really simple to make and you’ll finally be able to make use of that pan you bought for this one specific dessert. And then make them over and over and over…

And once you’re sick of them, you can change up the flavour. Orange zest instead of lemon, add spices or herbs (lemon and thyme!), dip half of it in chocolate, drizzle some glaze on them, etc.

How to make vegan madeleines

Technically, a traditional madeleine needs 4 basic ingredients. Flour, eggs, butter and sugar. Then there’s obviously flavourings like lemon or vanilla, some added salt and such. Then some recipes use baking powder, some say it’s blasphemous, some beat the eggs and sugar to ribbon stage, some just mix everything together, some brown the butter, some add honey, etc. Basically there’s a few ways to make it, but we’re doing it the vegan way.

As I mentioned, this recipe is really easy and simple to make, but, there’s a but. The thing most recipes have in common is the chilling of the batter. Because, among other factors, the cold batter going into the hot oven helps in creating the characteristic hump/bump of madeleines. It also relaxes the gluten in the batter which results in tender and fluffy madeleines.

So the batter for these vegan lemon madeleines does need to be chilled at least 2 hours until cold, or overnight. Besides that, all there is to it is mixing the dry ingredients together, then the wet, then adding them to the dry and whisking until smooth.

Once you’re ready to bake, make sure to lightly but evenly grease your pan with softened refined coconut oil and evenly dust it with flour, making sure to tap out the excess. If there’s too much coconut oil and flour, the flour will clump or will create a chalky finish on your madeleines.

Then you can either pipe or spoon the batter into the cavitites. Once the madeleines are baked, let them sit for about 1 minute before turning each one on their side in the pan to prevent their bump from collapsing slightly. As I do that, I also like to take the liberty of tasting one. You know, for quality control.

How do I get a hump/bump on my madeleines?

The recipe itself, chilling the batter, filling the pan with just enough batter, starting the baking at a high temperature and the shape of the pan all play a role in it. Most important will be the temperature of your batter and oven.

A recipe without enough leavening won’t rise sufficiently, and with too much leavening the madeleines will collapse as they cool.

A cold batter will have more time to rise in the oven before it starts to set.

Not filling the pan enough will result in overbaked edges, but overfilling the pans will result in madeleines spreading over the edge of the cavities which takes away from them expanding upward (from what I’ve experienced).

Giving the batter an initial burst of high heat makes it rise very quickly and as the outside sets faster, the batter in the center will rise higher. Which is why the shape of the cavities helps, because the middle has more batter than the edges, it won’t set as fast and has to bake upward.

Although in theory, the same would happen if you baked a cake that way, the edges would set faster and you would get a peak in the center.

If you make this recipe please let me know in the comments! All feedback is very much appreciated and I would love to hear from you! You can also tag me on instagram @the.quaint.kitchen or use the hashtag #thequaintkitchen to share your creations!