Pierre Hermé's Madeleine Ispahan

ahh, just in time for some valentines day baking! i recently acquired yet another pierre herme's cookbook 'le livre des fours secs et moelleux de pierre herme'. its a chinese-translated japanese book which features some of the baked goods like madeleines, financiers and gateaux de voyages. of course, being a fan of the lychee, raspberry and rose combo, it goes without saying this would be the 1st thing i was gonna make from the book.

i wonder why pierre herme calls this the ispahan since the lychee part is missing - it is technically just rose and raspberry. original recipe uses freeze-dried raspberries but i didn't have any so i substituted with fresh. i added some finely chopped ones into the batter for the color and then studded the piped batter with some raspberry halves. as you can see, the characteristic hump is not very pronounced, much to my dismay as the recipe calls for the batter to just be refrigerated for 10-15 mins but i don't think it affected the outcome very much. it was really really good! soft, buttery and full of rose aroma. definitely making these again and i would freeze the batter overnight next time.

these are just so good i swear i could eat rose-scented cakes everyday!



recipe source : le livre des fours secs et moelleux de pierre herme

ingredients : (makes abt 15)

120g caster sugar

20g trimoline / glucose syrup

130g cake flour

130g eggs

4g baking powder (abt 1 tsp)

20ml milk

2 tsps vanilla extract

10ml rose essence

130g clarified butter (melted butter with foam skimmed off from the top)

30g freeze-dried raspberries

directions :

1. in a bowl sift together cake flour & baking powder.

2. in another bowl add together sugar, trimoline/glucose, vanilla extract, eggs & mix well lightly until just combined. do not whisk.

3. fold in flour until well incorporated followed by milk, rose essence, clarified butter & raspberries.

4. freeze mixture for 10-15 mins.

5. brush madeleine molds with melted butter then dust lightly with cake flour. pipe mixture into molds until 2/3 full then bake in preheated oven of 190C for 11-13 mins until golden. knock the mold on the counter top to remove the madeleines and let cool on wire rack.