Week Four: Neapolitan Madeleines

This week has been choc-a-block full of cycles of coughs, attempting to study, and babysitting. Oh, and emergency group meetings. Nevertheless, Jennifer and I made the Neapolitan Madeleines on Monday, along with a Carrot Cake with cream cheese filling. Not bad for students with upcoming exams (and a sick person). 

Firstly, we made the Madeleines:

Beginnings of the Madeleines

The spread of bakingness on our kitchen bench

The naked Madeleines!!

Quick, let's cover them with chocolate ganache and sprinkle!!

The ganache.

I was multi-tasking here, so while Jennifer was making the ganache I made the batter for the carrot cake. I didnt have a spare bowl, so I made it in my largest saucepan :D 

Carrot cake batter

Sophie came and helped us put the sprinkles on top of  the ganache.

The sprinkles looks so perfectly sprinkled!! Awesome job Sophie :D

There was a chain here, teamwork!! Jennifer covered the madeleines with chocolate ganache, and Sophie sprinkled them with hundreds and thousands, and I took photos ;)

Teamwork!!

My carrot cake!! Here I cut it in half to line the cake with the cream cheese filling. 

The carrot cake turned out well, and unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the final product. I think it actually got better the longer you left it in the fridge ;) 

The Madeleines were great!! And, again. Forgot to take a photo of the final product ;) haha

Till next time,

The Baking Students xx

Week Three: Madeleines

When I saw that we were going to be making Madeleines, I instantly thought of the movie about the girls with straw hats who always walked in rows ;) That was the Madeleine I knew, not this French cake called Madeleine. 

So to begin with, both Jennifer and I knew that because we are students we would not buy the tin that you are supposed to get when making Madeleines. We decided to get creative, and make them in a muffin tin. Not really authentic, but anyways ...

The dough was pretty straight forward. To begin with Jennifer mixed the sugar with the eggs, oil and later the vanilla bean paste (which has stronger taste than vanilla extract) until it was pale brown. It was quite hard for us to tell when it was ready, because I don't think it really changed in colour. Luckily Martha had also put in the cookbook to keep mixing until the dough from the mixer dissolved back into the mixture in 3 seconds. That was a handy piece of knowledge right there ;) 

Jennifer mixing the mixture in her innovative saucepan/mixing bowl ;) 

After folding in the dry ingredients we placed the mixture into the fridge to set, and in 15 mins (Martha said it should take around 30 mins, but anyways) we brought it out and scooped it into cupcake cups. 

Our awesome Madeleine cupcake ready for a growth-spurt in the oven

While the Madeleines were in the oven I got onto the glaze mixture. I added icing sugar, milk and vanilla bean paste to a bowl, and whisked all the bubbles out ferociously. 

When the madeleines came out of their growth spurt in the oven, we dipped them all completely (fully-immersed baptism) in the glaze. 

The final product!!

They were amazing, tasted just like Yum Yums. 

We had to request to drop some off at the LRC (Learning Resource Centre aka. Library) to a friend who was doing her dissertation, which felt like we had a proper job, and so we dropped them off on the way to the shops. She said they were amazing, so big praise!! 

Please give these ones a go!! Very easy, and they have an awesome kicker of a taste :D 

Next week we are making Neapolitan Madeleines (Monday) and Raspberry and Pistachio Friands :D Super excited!! If you have baked any of these, and have any tips, please let us know in the comments below!!! We really want to hear from you guys :D So don't be shy ...

Till next time,

The Baking Students xx