March 22, 2009
Hunger Management
Watch out for humps
Madeleines - those buttery shell-shaped cakes with a bump at the bottom - are deliciously, dangerously addictive
By Tan Hsueh Yun
Anyone who has ever bought anything on the spur of the moment will tell you that impulse buys can be dangerous.
I am sure wardrobes all over the world are filled with disastrous shoes, bags and outfits that will never see the light of day, although they probably seemed nice enough at point of purchase.
Since I am no fashionista but am greedy, my impulse buys usually involve food.
The most recent one was a yuzu. It led to a full-blown madeleine madness that I am just recovering from.
It all began innocently enough.
I saw piles of the Japanese citrus fruit at Isetan supermarket recently and decided to buy one. I cannot resist its beguiling fragrance and it is only available at certain times of the year. Those specimens were big and gorgeous and I really, really wanted to have one.
Of course, it sat in my fridge for days as I tried to figure out how to use it. Ponzu sauce? Salad dressing? Jelly?
I don't know why, but madeleines popped into my head.
These small, shell-shaped cakes are from Commercy in France and are apparently named after an 18th- or 19th-century pastry cook, Madeleine Paulmier, who came up with them.
They also made the writer Marcel Proust quiver with pleasure so memorably in Remembrance Of Things Past.
I thought the buttery cakes would be a good way to enjoy yuzu and I was right. What I didn't bargain for was that I would go a bit stir crazy.
In the days that followed, I found myself making madeleine batter late at night and waking up early to bake them off. Then I foisted them on unsuspecting family members, friends and colleagues.
From yuzu, I moved on to making chocolate madeleines, which were even better than the yuzu ones. Other variations followed - lemon zest, orange zest and I began looking speculatively at everything in my pantry. Sambal belacan madeleines?
Along the way, I learnt some lessons about baking these cakes.
The most important one is that madeleines lose their magic about 30 minutes after they are baked. The crisp crust is gone, the cake is a little clammy and flabby.
Eat them at their peak, maybe 10 to 15 minutes out of the oven and the cakes are crisp on the outside, fluffy inside.
The kind of pan is also important. Silicone moulds yield strange, shiny cakes but don't need greasing. Metal is best as it promotes even browning. But the moulds have to be buttered very thoroughly.
Kitchenware shops such as Sia Huat in Temple Street and larger outlets of the Phoon Huat chain stock these pans.
I use a non-stick one I bought in Sydney last year. It works a treat, although it doesn't brown as evenly as a metal pan.
The next lesson involves humps. Properly made madeleines develop a swelling on the back.
Google 'madeleines' and you soon realise humps are a major preoccupation with bakers. The easiest way to ensure your madeleines hump, I have found, is to make the batter some hours before serving and keep it cold until just before baking.
Because the batter has to be made ahead and keeps in the fridge for some time, it is easy to just make a few at a time so you can enjoy them fresh out of the oven.
I cannot promise the kind of madeleine ecstasy that Proust wrote about, but these cakes are good for a lazy afternoon with a bottomless pot of tea and a stack of books.
MAKE IT YOURSELF: MADELEINES
Adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book
INGREDIENTS
140g salted butter
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
100g sugar
1 Tbs vanilla extract (below)
113g cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
softened butter for greasing pan
finely grated zest of 1 lemon, orange (right) or yuzu
METHOD
1. Make the batter the night before you plan to serve the madeleines. Start by melting the butter in the microwave or over low heat on the stove. Set aside to cool.
2. Place the eggs and yolk in a large mixing bowl and beat till foamy with a hand-held mixer about 3 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla and beat until the mixture becomes very thick, another 3 minutes.
3. Sift cake flour and salt into the bowl. Using a large spatula or a metal spoon, gently fold both into the mixture. It will look curdled at some point but continue folding gently until all the flour has been incorporated.
4. Pour in the cooled melted butter and fold that into the batter gently.
5. Transfer the batter to a glass measuring jug or bowl, cover with cling film and refrigerate at least eight hours. Batter will keep in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 180 deg C. Grease the madeleine moulds with the softened butter.
7. Get batter out of the fridge, stir in the freshly grated zest and mix well. Fill the moulds almost to the brim. Bake 10 to 11 minutes until the cakes are browned at the edges.
8. Remove from oven, place pan on a rack, let sit 10 minutes before removing the cakes with the tip of a knife. Serve immediately. Cool pan thoroughly before making another batch.
9. To make Chocolate Madeleines, use 85g cake flour and 28g cocoa powder (instead of the 113g cake flour). Omit the zest but add 2 tsp instant coffee granules to the batter.
Makes 16-20, depending on the size of your moulds.
The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book (2008, $59.50) is available at 25 degree Celsius, 25 Keong Saik Road, 01-01.
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