Classic canelés
- Published: 13 Jul 18
- Updated: 26 May 25
Philippe Moulin’s traditional French canelés are golden-brown with a crisp, shiny exterior and soft, custardy centre.
A canelé is a rich, sweet little cake from France’s Bordeaux region, flavoured with rum and vanilla, then baked in fluted moulds (cannelé, the original spelling of the cake, means ‘fluted’). The cakes’ origin is linked to the region’s wine industry – egg whites were used to clarify wine and the leftover egg yolks were used to make these celebrated delicacies.
Use Philippe’s step-by-step recipe guide to get them right every time. His most important tip? Never forget to include a touch of love when you make your canelés.
Why not serve as part as a French-inspired afternoon tea with these elegant miso caramel banoffee éclairs?
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Makes 16 -
Hands-on 20 min, oven 65 minutes, plus chilling and cooling
Nutrition
- Calories
- 174kcals
- Fat
- 7.7g (4.4g saturated)
- Protein
- 3g
- Carbohydrates
- 21.8g (17.1g sugars)
- Fibre
- 0.2g
- Salt
- 0.1g
delicious. tips
The mixture is best made 12 or up to 48 hours ahead. If you’re short of time, you can use the mixture after chilling for at least an hour. If you have 2 canelé moulds, bake all 16 canelés at the same time (heat 2 baking sheets in step 5 and swap them round in the oven halfway through). If you have one mould, wait until the first batch cools before turning them out and baking the next.
Philippe’s tips for success
Traditionally canelés were made in beautiful copper moulds but silicone moulds are much more practical (and much less expensive), and provide a more even shape. They’re also easier to clean and not as heavy as the copper moulds.You only need to butter silicone moulds the first time you use them. Always wash silicone moulds carefully by hand, never in the dishwasher.
The secret to perfectly cooked canelés is an initial blast of heat followed by a long bake at a lower temperature afterwards.
As with any recipe, it’s important to remember that each oven cooks differently, so you need to know your oven well and do trials until you get canelés that are cooked exactly right – crisp and caramelly on the outside; soft and custardy on the inside.
Leave the canelés until they’re completely cool before unmoulding them from the silicone moulds. When they’re warm the cakes are softer and more liable to break.
The most important tip: never forget to include a touch of love when you make your canelés.
The unbaked mixture will keep, covered in the fridge, for up to 3 days. Cooked, cooled canelés freeze well in a sealed container. Heat from frozen in the oven (200°C/180°C fan/gas 6) for 4-5 minutes. Let them cool to room temperature, then put in the fridge for 5 minutes to re-set the crust before eating.