Lemon and vanilla madeleine tea cakes

Ingredients

• 200g plain flour
• 10g baking powder
• 4 eggs
• 180g caster sugar
• Zest of ½ organic lemon
• 1 vanilla pod, split lengthwise
• 20g oil
• 200g unsalted butter
• 85g cold milk 

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220°C
2. Gently melt the butter with the oil, split vanilla pod, lemon zest and a pinch of salt in a saucepan
3. Scrape the vanilla pod to extract all the grains
4. Add the grains to the mixture and dispose of the pod
5. Add the milk and beat for approximately one minute to modify the consistency (a very important step to the recipe!)
6. Beat the eggs and sugar using an electric whisk, then mix in the flour and baking powder
7. Add the milk/butter mixture and whisk for a further 2 minutes
8. Lightly butter and flour the madeleine baking tin (unless in silicone) and fill the moulds by two-thirds only
9. Place in the oven, lower the heat immediately to 190°C for 4 minutes then to 150°C for 9 minutes

NB: it is important to turn up the oven temperature between each batch, and to put the mixture in the moulds just before baking