English Madeleines (and some photos from June)

These are coconut English madeleines. They are made in a cake mould or tin called a DARIOLE. It's originally a French design and a dariole was used to make an old fashioned type of cream horn. Nowadays, they are far more commonly used for English Madeleines such as these, set custards, castle puddings and many other sweet desserts and savoury starters.

French madeleines are made in a scalloped edge shell shaped mould or tin, and are typically a plain, golden sponge. English madeleines are sponge cakes covered in lurid red jam and rolled in coconut.

They are actually really easy to make and taste yummy too !

RECIPE - STANDARD SPONGE MIX

175g caster sugar

175g  butter (soft)

175g self raising flour

3 eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

seedless jam, or jam with a lower fruit content so no big lumps in it

dessicated coconut

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add sifted flour and beat in until mix is smooth and combined..

Lightly grease (I like to use butter) the inside of an 8 cell large dariole silicone cake mould. Give it a good dusting with flour and tap out any excess over the sink before filling with the cake mix. You will need to put the mould on top of a baking tray for support before filling with mix.

 Each cell wants to be approx 3/4 full. This recipe is enough to fill approx 10 cells.

Bake at around 160deg C Fan oven for 18 mins until a cake tester comes out clean

Allow your cakes to cool when they come out the oven until they are hand hot. Carefully release from the moulds one at a time. Releasing when still a bit warm but not too hot generally is easiest. I then like to pop these back in the moulds until properly cooled so they don't dry out.

Once cooled, cut the tops of the cakes off level with the top of the mould and then turn out again.

Melt the jam in a pan over a low heat. You may wish to add some red food colouring (seriously !) to enhance the colour of the jam. We do want a really bright red..... 

I used my finger spatula to spread the hot jam on to my sponge towers. To allow me to coat them properly in jam, I put a fork in the bottom and used the finger spatula in the other hand to coat with the jam.

After coating with jam, immediately roll your english madeleine in dessicated coconut and then place a cherry on top.

These store nicely for about 3 days in a tupperware box.

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I know - I promised you guys some more photos and it's taken me a while to get them sorted.

After the show, I took a few days off with my husband and Oliver. It's been at least 5 years since we even had a couple of days away. I needed the break. No cell phone, no laptop. Lots of sleep !

I'll admit now that I missed out on a lot. We had a holiday cottage in the Yorkshire Moors for a few days. I saw little of the scenery whilst we travelled around the surrounding areas as most of the time I was asleep. Unfortunately, I was a really rubbish co-driver. No point in asking me to look at a map. I simply couldn't keep my eyes open. It was only then that I realised sheer exhaustion had taken over.....

However, I did have a few days of rest and took a few photos when I was awake :-P

I love this one of Oliver running through Ravenscar. Ravenscar was a town built during Victorian times - meant to rival local seaside towns Whitby and Scarborough. Roads and drains were laid. Some plots were sold (I believe they were very expensive) but only ONE house was ever built. It simply never took off. There are loads of cliffs but no beaches and tourists had no interest in the area.

It's odd to see the overgrown kirb stones and drain covers. You can see where the road lies underneath, though now all grown over with grass. Very strange place !

This is a picture of some of the Yorkshire Moors. Vast expanses of fields with drystone dyke walls (stone walls constructed by placing stones without mortar). The walls weave their way through the countryside.

Where the walls stop, the wilderness of the moors begins. Bracken and heather covered moors as far as your eye can see and beyond. Such a beautiful and peaceful area of the UK.

We took a trip to the seaside town of Whitby. Known for fresh crabs, seafood and sandy shores. I longed to try out some of the tearooms / coffee shops or eat fresh crab by the beach... This was not to be so. We all have a lovely wander around the town, but Oliver is not one for sitting still for more than two minutes and Steve (my husband) would really rather not be in an environment busy with people.

The town was FULL of pretty little tearooms and coffee shops... The picture above is the little teashop at the bottom of the 199 steps leading up to Whitby Abbey. That's one way to tire Oliver out !

A lovely looking laid back kind of place where time just drifts away...

Fortune's is one of the most well known places in Whitby. Renowned for it's smoked kippers and fish, smoked on the premises for almost 140years in the same location.

Unfortunately, they were shut when we walked by, but they had fish smoking and you could smell it all the way up the street ! Do have a look at their website http://www.fortuneskippers.co.uk/

Whitby has two lighthouses and two piers. We took a walk down the old pier to the old lighthouse.

Yes - guess who had to climb the steps and knock the door. Honestly Oliver - there is no one there...

Oliver, on the pier with Daddy....

We were really lucky - the weather was good almost all the time.

This picture is from the old city of York. York is a lovely place. Somewhere else I could happily waste an afternoon window shopping or browsing around. Unfortunately, this is the only photo I have from York as my camera battery went flat. Sorry !

We had a picnic with some sandwiches from a local deli in the shade of a big oak tree in the museum park after walking all round the top of the wall that surrounds the city http://www.york360.co.uk/photos-of-york.htm

Oliver "met" this poodle called Abbey when we called in at a pub in the moors (middle of nowhere) and fell totally in love. He wanted to bring her home with us, but I don't think the lady who owned her would have liked that !

Oliver looking at bugs in the grass with Daddy....

Coming home. Before driving over it, we took a walk under The Humber Bridge. The Humber Bridge is the fifth longest single span suspension bridge in the world.

It was lovely to have a few days away - but it's nice to be home too !

Sarah-Jane Nash, June 2011 - silicone bakeware cook shop. www.siliconemoulds.com