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Classic canelés

By: Philippe Moulin

Published: 13 Jul 18
Updated: 18 Mar 24

Philippe Moulin’s traditional French canelés are golden-brown with a crisp, shiny exterior and soft, custardy centre. Why not serve as part as a French-inspired afternoon tea with these elegant miso caramel banoffee éclairs?

Medium
April 2017

Test kitchen approved

Makes 16
Hands-on 20 min, oven 65 minutes, plus chilling and cooling

Nutrition: per serving

Calories: 174kcals
Fat: 7.7g (4.4g saturated)
Protein: 3g
Carbohydrates: 21.8g (17.1g sugars)
Fibre: 0.2g
Salt: 0.1g

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Ingredients

500ml whole milk
100g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra to grease (optional)
½ vanilla pod, split
250g caster sugar
2 medium free-range eggs, plus 2 yolks
100g plain flour
2 tbsp dark rum

You will also need…

8 x 70ml silicone canelé moulds (we used the Lékué Gourmet Cannelé Bordelais Mould, £9.99)

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Method

Put the milk, butter and vanilla pod in a medium pan. Bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat and cool slightly.
In a mixing bowl, whisk the sugar, eggs and egg yolks with a balloon whisk until paler and creamy, then whisk in the flour until smooth.
Discard the vanilla pod from the pan, then pour in a third of the milk mixture. Whisk to combine. Pour in the remaining mixture, stirring with the whisk, until combined into a pancake batter-like consistency.

Whisk in the rum, then chill the canelé mixture in the fridge for about 12 hours.
Butter the canelé mould(s) with plenty of butter, making sure the flutes are well greased. Heat the oven to 250°C/ 230°C fan/gas 10) and put a baking sheet on the middle rack to heat up.
Stir the chilled mixture, then pour into the moulds to just below the rim. Bake on the sheet in the middle of the oven for 5 minutes, then turn the oven down to 180°C/160°C fan/ gas 4 and bake for 60 minutes more.
Leave the canelés to cool completely (for at least an hour) before turning out of the moulds. Repeat the process with the rest of the batter. They’re now ready to eat or to be given as a gift.

Recipe from April 2017 Issue

Nutrition

Nutrition: per serving

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.
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.
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.