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Dessert

Brioches or Madeleines

A small cake made with eggs, sugar, butter or oil, flour, and vanilla or lemon peel, baked in small pans.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Brioches or Madeleines

Ovenmedium heat

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Mix the eggs with the sugar and vanilla, add oil and mix until the cream starts to thicken.

  2. Add flour and mix very well.

Prepare and bake

  1. Have ready brioche or tart pans. Oil them.

  2. Fill each pan about 3/4 full.

  3. Bake at medium heat.

  4. When done, remove immediately from the pans.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

827Calories
20 gProtein
32 gFat
112 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whisked with sugar, they trap air and give the madeleine its light structure.
Sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps the eggs hold a thickened, creamy base.
Butter or oil
Adds fat for moisture and a tender crumb.
Flour
Provides the starch and gluten that set the batter into a firm sponge.

The step that matters

Remove immediately from the pans when done. Madeleines keep cooking from residual heat in the hot pan, so leaving them in can overbake and dry the bottoms and edges.

Swap the vanilla

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, flour):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillathe original
  3. Figfits less well
  4. Lemonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More madeleine recipes

Cake 7Cakes 4Pudding 4Puddings 4 See all 3 →

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