Black Sesame Madeleine

When you think of madeleine cookies, usually what is its shape? How does it look like? I guess you would most probably answer —- “shell shape”. Madeleines are classic French small sponge cake with a distinctive shell-like shape. And most madeleine baking pans come in different sizes of shell-shape cavities, some “shells” cavities are more elongated, while some are round that look almost like a hemisphere. Interestingly, in recent years, bakeware stores start to offer more creatively shaped madeleine pans, for example heart shape, cow head shape etc. And I got a fish-shape madeleine pan, which really excites me!

Fish-shape madeleine pan It is a non-stick madeleine pan. So, I just need to apply softened butter in order to properly grease the pan.

To try out this exotic looking madeleine pan, I baked some black sesame madeleines with it. My verdict? These fish-shaped madeleines had certainly brightened up my day. In fact, they reminded me of Taiyaki, a Japanese fish-shaped pancake with red bean filling. The baking pan was not only of decent quality, but the final products were also baked perfectly and evenly browned.

Ingredients: (about 11 pieces)

Eggs 2 no. Brown sugar 75g Honey 10g Cake flour 75g Black sesame powder (unsweetened) 20g Baking powder 4g Butter, melted 85g

Method:

To prepare the batter: In a mixing bowl, mix eggs, brown sugar and honey together. Sift the dry ingredients, i.e. cake flour, black sesame powder and baking powder. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the egg mixture and mix well.Add warm melted butter (around 40 degrees Celsius) and mix well.Cover and chill the madeleine batter in refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or overnight.To bake: Preheat oven 200 degree Celsius. Brush madeleine pan with softened butter. Some madeleine pan may need to be dusted with flour as well, depending on the type and quality of your madeleine pan or mould.Transfer chilled madeleine batter to a piping bag.Pipe madeleine batter into each cavity, about 90% full.Bake at 200C for 12 – 13 minutes, depending on the size of your madeleines. To test the doneness, gently touch the top of madeleines. If they are firm to touch and bounce back, the madeleines are done. However, if the centre is soft and wet, extend the baking time by 1-2 minutes and check the doneness again.Once madeleines are out from the oven, remove them from baking pan. Let cool on a cooling rack. Serve warm. I was really happy with these madeleines. Look at the hump in the centre of madeleines! Aren’t these little “fishes” beautiful? They remind me of Japanese Taiyaki, a fish-shaped pancake with red bean filling.