Vegan Madeleines
These Vegan Madeleines are a plant based twist on a classic French treat. Find out how to make them with plant based substitutes. Get the recipe below.
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Classic French patisserie made vegan
Madeleines are a class French patisserie treat that are well known for their distinctive shell shape complete with “hump”.
Sadly the traditional recipe is not vegan so to make these Vegan Madeleines, we need to make a few substitutes. But, do not fear! We don’t require any weird and wonderful substitutes for this recipe. Everything can easily be bought in your local supermarket.
In this post, I’ll show you how to make classic madeleines with a vegan twist, without compromising on flavour or texture. So, if you follow a plant based diet you too can enjoy madeleines that are just as delicious as their traditional counterpart.
What are madeleines?
Madeleines are little cakes baked in the shape of a shell. They are known for the spongy interior and crispy outside. They also have a “hump” or “nipple” on the back.
You’ll usually find them flavoured with vanilla or lemon. In this recipe I’ve decided to use lemon but you could swap this for a tsp of vanilla paste instead, should you wish.
Apparently they’re meant to be served “hump” side up because it’s like a little pearl in the centre of the shell. Personally I like to see the shell indentations dusted with a little icing sugar. If we’re making them vegan why not break the rules and serve them upside down too!
How to get the perfect madeleine shell shape
You’re going to need some specialist kit to make vegan madeleines – that kit is a madeleine pan. You can easily get these online from specialist kitchenware stores like Lakeland or simply from Amazon.
The trick to making sure they don’t stick and come out with the perfect shell shape is to grease the pan first. I do this by melting some vegan butter then brushing it over the pan using a pastry brush. That way you make sure it’s evenly coated with the melted butter.
The way that we cook them on a high temperature before turning them down also helps us get the crispy outside which also means they come away from the tin more easily.
How to get the perfect madeleine hump
The hump is created as a result of the baking powder, resting the batter and temperature of the oven.
It may sound like a lot of baking powder but it is needed!
The recipe also asks you to chill the batter in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Do not skip this step!
Last but not least, it may be tempting to cook the vegan madeleines at one constant temperature but it’s important that we turn the heat down halfway through. That way the bump forms in the first half of cooking.
The recipe
Making madeleines does take a little bit of practice but if you follow the recipe carefully then you’ll be a success! With this recipe I don’t recommend using the cups conversion. It’s a bit of an exact science and cups just aren’t accurate enough.
Happy baking!
Vegan Madeleines
Ingredients
- 150 g plain flour
- 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 110 g vegan butter melted
- 100 g caster sugar
- 100 g soy yogurt
- 50 ml soy milk
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 220C / 428 F / gas mark 7.
- Sift together the flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the 100 g of melted butter, caster sugar, soy yogurt, soy milk, and lemon juice and lemon zest making sure the sugar is well mixed with the other ingredients.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold until combined.
- Cover the bowl and place it in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Melt the remaining 10 g of vegan butter and brush the madeleine tray with it.
- Once the batter has chilled, spoon a tbsp of batter into each of the madeleine holes.
- Gently make sure the batter is in the shape of a shell though don’t flatten out or this will prevent the hump forming.
- Bake the madeleines in the hot oven for about 4 minutes, until they have formed their humps and are golden around the edges; then turn the oven down to 180 C / 350 F/gas mark 4 and bake for another 4 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
- Let them cool for 5 – 10 minutes in the tray. Removing them too soon and placing them on a wire rack may leave indentations on the madeleine.
- Repeat with any extra batter that you have.
- Enjoy on the same day.
Nutrition
More French vegan cakes and bakes
For the full range of French recipes on the blog check out my French recipe archive.