White Chocolate Sakura Madeleines Recipe

This white chocolate sakura madeleines recipe makes the most delicate, gorgeous little spring-themed madeleine cakes that are perfect with a cup of tea.

To make these sakura madeleines, I used three different types of sakura products: soluble sakura leaf powder, picked cherry blossoms, and sakura crunch flakes (all sourced from Anything From Japan). So not only are the cakes decorated with cherry blossoms, but it's also within the batter of the cake itself, making them extra-fragrant.

Sakura madeleines are easy to make, and the cakes themselves are quite quick too. You'll just need a little patience to temper the chocolate to decorate at the end, but the results are worth it.

You can also watch me make these on my YouTube channel:

Ready? Let's go.

(Makes about 28 large sakura madeleines.)

Ingredients for Madeleines:

28–30 pickled cherry blossoms
3 eggs
120g caster sugar
1 tbsp soluble sakura leaf powder
170g self-raising flour
120g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Ingredients for Decoration:

200g white chocolate
Pink food colouring
An extra 70g white chocolate
Crunchy sakura flakes / pink sugar sprinkles

Method:

1. To prepare the pickled cherry blossoms, gently rinse the coarse salt off them in one bowl of cold water, and soak them in another bowl of cold water for about 30 minutes (up to an hour). Drain and discard the water, and place them on some kitchen paper to dry.

2. To make the madeleines, preheat the oven to 180°C, and lightly grease an 18-cavity madeleine pan (and sprinkle a little flour over it too if it's a metal pan).

3. Whisk the eggs, sugar and sakura leaf powder together until light and fluffy, almost like a mousse. Gently fold in the flour, and then fold in the melted butter.

4. Drop dessertspoonfuls of the batter into each cavity, taking care not to overfill them (this will make two batches).

5. Pop a cherry blossom on top of each cake, not pressing down too hard on each blossom, and bake for 8–10 minutes, or until risen and starting to go golden.

6. Leave to cool completely before unmoulding the cakes. Give the pan a wipe and a little more oil, and repeat with the second batch, until the madeleine batter and pickled cherry blossoms are used up. Clean and dry the mould to be used for decoration.

7. To make the tempered chocolate coating, half-melt 100g of your 200g of white chocolate in a heatproof bowl, either in short bursts in the microwave or over a pan of barely simmering water. Take off the heat and stir to completely melt, and stir in the pink food colouring. Gradually add the second lot of 100g bit by bit, stirring until each chunk has melted, until no more will melt – now your chocolate is tempered.

8. Place a teaspoonful of pink chocolate in one of the cavities of the mould, spreading it around gently, and press a madeleine in blossom-side-up. Repeat with all the cakes, and pop in the fridge for a minute or two to set.

9. While the chocolate is setting on the cakes, temper the remaining 70g white chocolate in the same way (first half-melting half of it / 35g, then gradually adding the rest until no more melts). Place in a small piping bag.

10. Unmould your cakes, and set them chocolate-side-up. Drizzle your small batch of melted white chocolate on top, and sprinkle over some crunchy sakura flakes. Leave to set for another minute or two before serving.

Enjoy, and have fun.