Cannelés from Bordeaux to London

Michel Majerus exhibition in Bordeaux modern art Gallery

Cannelés or Canelés, dainty little caramelised puddings, are all the rage in France – and not just in Bordeaux! Having visited this town in the summer, I took the opportunity to research the recipe extensively, children in tow, through many a patisserie, and -on Camille’s- advice to purchase a set of the special mini pans they are baked in.

If you have never tasted them, they make lovely ‘petits fours’ after a meal and are delicious with coffee or tea in the morning.

They should have a nice toffee colour and burnt smell so they might benefit to slightly longer than the indicated time in the oven.

Ingredients list

• Vanilla pod, split and scraped
• Full fat milk 200 ml
• Soft butter 20g
• Caster sugar 90g
• Egg 1
• Rum 1 Tbsp
• Flour 45g
• Pinch of salt

The iconic Cannelé from Bordeaux

Heat the milk to just below boiling point with the vanilla pod scraped in: Leave pod and seeds in it to suffuse. Let it cool down a little while.

Cream the soft butter and sugar in a bowl. Add the beaten egg and whip up. Add the rum, mix in the flour and salt. Slowly add the warm milk. Mix all the ingredients until you get a pancake style batter.

Let it rest in the fridge overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 240 degrees. Give the mix a light whipping to awaken the batter! Remove the pod.

Then pour your batter into small pans, generously buttered up, leaving a little room to rise.

Bake at 240° for 10 min. on the bottom rack ; then lower to 210° for another 35 minutes.

Serve with coffee.

With special thanks to Isabelle and Camille who in London and Bordeaux, introduced me to these little gems…

The original recipe in French

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