Our January started off with plenty of sweetness, thanks in part to a cake-filled extravaganza at The Peninsula Hotel to sample new Executive Pastry Chef Frank Haasnoot’s exquisite creations.
Winner of the prestigious World Chocolate Masters competition in 2011, with two decades of experience in top-class patisseries around the world, it’s obvious that Frank knows a thing or two about desserts.
We donned our chef whites and spent a morning with the patisserie chef to learn how to bake a quintessentially French classic – the madeleine. Despite its somewhat intimidating appearance, we realised that baking these shell-shaped beauties was, well, a piece of cake!
Follow this very simple recipe, and you’ll dazzle everyone with perfect madeleines, every time!
Raspberry Madeleines
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Makes approx 15 madeleines
Ingredients
- 5 eggs
- 1.3 cups sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1.5 tbls honey
- 1.5 tsp lemon zest
- 4 tsp corn oil
- 2.5 cups flour
- 2.5 tsp baking powder
- 270 grams butter
- 6 tbls milk
- 0.5 tsp vanilla bean
- 15 raspberries (optional)
Raspberry Glaze
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp raspberry puree
- 6 tbls icing sugar
How To:
Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.
1) Beat together the eggs, sugar, salt, honey, and lemon zest. Add in oil and milk. Stir well.
2) Melt butter with vanilla and add this to the batter.
3) Sift together the flour and baking powder. Fold this into the batter a little at a time until you get a smooth mixture.
4) Use a piping bag to squeeze the mixture into buttered pans.
5) Add in fresh raspberries. Bake for 14 minutes until golden on the outside.
Raspberry glaze:
1) Mix together lemon juice, raspberry puree, and icing sugar.
2) Coat each baked madeleine with the glaze and bake for 5 minutes in a 60 degrees celsius oven.
Going along with the red theme, we also made raspberry marshmallow lollipops!
Pastry Chef Frank Haasnoot’s creations can be found at The Peninsula boutique as well as their restaurants.
