French Canneles

Cannelés are golden and crispy cakes with a custardy centre, flavoured with a hint of rum and/or vanilla.

If you have ever travelled to France, you may have come across these little specialty cakes called cannelés (also called canelés or cannelés Bordelais).

What are Cannelés?

Cannelés are little scalloped cakes which have a crisp, caramelised coating with a slightly chewy and soft, custardy centre. The contrast in texture between the crunchy exterior and sweet interior make these cakes, in a word, addictive. In France, you can find cannelés at many bakeries and pâtisserie shops, including Paul, but the best are perhaps sold by Baillardran. Although the shop-bough cannelés are delicious, once you have tasted freshly baked and still warm cannelés, you will realise that homemade cannelés are by far the best.

Recipe for Canneles

Some foodie friends were recently discussing recipes for canneles, when it dawned on me that I actually owned a frightfully expensive set of copper cannelés moulds, purchased during a trip to Paris with good intentions but, 10 years later, still remained bright and shiny in their unused condition. Although, when I first bought the moulds, I was rather dismayed to later find that recipes for cannelés were rare; none of my cookbooks on French cuisine (both in English and French) had a recipe for these cakes, whilst most online recipes were not so inviting.

Easy Canneles

Fast forward a few years, and I was happy to find a recipe for canneles in Rachel Khoo’s cookbook, My Little French Kitchen. Rachel Khoo claimed to have a foolproof recipe for canneles using … cheap silicone moulds. So when presented with the opportunity to use my long-forgotten copper canneles moulds, I was anxious to conduct a little experiment of my own. Despite my hesitation towards silicone cake moulds in general, I picked up a cheap silicone cannelés mould when we were in France over Christmas. Upon arriving back in Zurich, I proceeded to attempt Rachel Khoo’s recipe for canneles, first using the silicone moulds as per her recipe, and then with the copper moulds. And without intending to, I suddenly fell into an addiction.

 

Making Canneles with Silicone Moulds

The first batch of canneles made using silicone moulds turned out exceedingly well. They were crisp and caramelised on the outside, with the right amount of burnish and with the requisite soft, custardy interior. The contrast in taste and texture between the sweet, crunchy crust and squidgy inside made them moreish and plainly addictive. Rachel Khoo’s recipe is straightforward with no fuss – no beeswax, no freezing. You do have to make the batter up to 2 days ahead of time to allow the gluten to relax and swell, but this happens to be an advantage if, for example, you plan on serving these to guests and want to get some of the preparation done in advance. I was so surprised by how well my first batch turned out with the silicone mould that I was actually somewhat nervous to use the copper moulds, lest they turned out to be inferior and a waste of money.

 

Making Cannelés with Copper Moulds

But I forged ahead with my experiment, and the second batch made with copper moulds disappeared so quickly that I didn’t even have a chance to photograph them. Nor did I get a chance with the third and fourth batch. But the cannelés made using copper moulds were more crisp on the outside and tasted just as divine. Due to the butter which is used to grease the copper moulds, this batch did have a slightly buttery aftertaste compared to the batch made using the silicone mould but, overall, it was hard to judge which was better. As the copper cannelé moulds conduct heat much better than their silicone counterpart, the cannelés have a crispier coating and also remain crisp for longer. However, I found (over many batches) that, if you heat the silicone mould until it is quite hot (i.e. to the point where it is almost smoking), you can achieve a similar crispy exterior.

 

Silicon Cannelés Moulds

Perhaps the best way to conclude is that you can absolutely make delicious cannelés using silicone moulds. Indeed, if you plan to make a large batch, it would be more economical to use silicone moulds, rather than purchase the individual copper moulds which can cost up to $30 each. I purchased a relatively cheap silicone mould in France by Guy Degrenne and would highly recommend this one.

The regular-sized silicon cannelés moulds tend to have 8 holes; if they have more or less than 8 holes, the cakes will be bigger or smaller than what is usual, so you will have to adjust the baking time accordingly.

How to Make Cannelés

To make mini cannelés, follow the same recipe and instructions below.

However, after the initial 15 minutes at 240°C/460°F, continue baking the cannelés at 190°C/375°F for 30 to 45 minutes. The timing will vary depending on the size of your mini cannelé mould. I use a mini cannelé mould from De Buyer with a capacity of approximately 30 ml or 2.5 tablespoons per cake. With my mini cannelé mould, I found that the cakes around the edges of the mould browned nicely after 30 minutes, but that the cakes towards the centre were still pale and needed more time in the oven.

 

 Ingredients:

• 500 ml (2 cups) full cream milk
• 50 g (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 vanilla pod
• 100 g (2/3 cup) plain flour (all-purpose flour)
• 250 g (1 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon) icing sugar (powdered sugar)
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 60 ml (1/4 cup) rum

 

Instructions:

• Place the milk, butter and vanilla pod in a small saucepan and bring to the boil.
• Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool a little.
• Place the flour, icing sugar (powdered sugar) and salt into a large mixing bowl.
• Place the eggs and egg yolks into a separate bowl and beat lightly.
• Pour the warm milk and eggs into the bowl with the dry ingredients.
• Whisk everything together gently until you have a smooth batter.
• Strain the batter into a clean bowl, and press through any lumps in the sieve.
• Stir through the rum.
• Return the used vanilla pod to the bowl.
• Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for 2 days or longer to rest.

 

 

If using silicone moulds:

• Preheat the oven to 240°C (460°F) (without fan).
• Place the moulds on a baking tray and heat it in the oven for 4-5 minutes.
• Remove the batter from the fridge and give it a gentle mix.
• Pour the batter into the moulds, leaving a 1 cm border from the top.
• Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven to 190°C (375°F) (without fan).
• Bake for a further 1 hour until the cakes have achieved a golden, bronze colour.
• Remove the cakes immediately from the mould and leave them to cool on a wire rack.

 

 

If using copper moulds:

• Preheat the oven to 240°C (460°F) (without fan).
• Place the moulds on a baking tray and heat the moulds in the oven for 4-5 minutes.
• Generously grease the moulds with melted butter (use an oven mit to hold each mould).
• Remove the batter from the fridge and give it a gentle mix.
• Pour the batter into the mould, leaving a 1 cm border from the top.
• Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven to 190°C (375°F) (without fan).
• Bake for a further 45 minutes until the cakes have achieved a golden, bronze colour.
• Remove the cakes immediately from the moulds and leave them to cool on a wire rack.