In the Kitchen: Canele de Bordeaux

Yesterday, I wrote about this book I've had for several years now:

My Little French Kitchen is written by Rachel Khoo where she travels all over France while sharing recipes along the way.

She's your girl next door, always up for trying something new. She likes to paint and she has a cute collection of vintage dresses.  

The book showcases beautiful shapshots of food and France.

How lucky was she to make Christmas cookies with a French grandmother. 

She even went to a flea market in Bordeaux and shopped for plates.

Of all the recipes, the Canele was the first one I wanted to try. Whenever I see these at a patisserie, it has to come home with me. A Canele is a small cake that's soft and custardy on the inside, crisp with the taste of caramel on the outside.

It's traditionally made with copper molds that need to be lined with beeswax. Copper molds and beeswax are way beyond my budget, and this entire process was too tedious and intimidating for me.

But Rachel encourages the use of silicone molds (I got this for about $10).

The batter has to sit for 48 hours or up to 5 days, resulting in tender cakes (it can be spelled "Canele" or "Cannele"...I checked! Regardless of how you spell it, the pronounciation is "ca-neh-lay").

Ladle the batter in the silicone mold, four-fifths full. Bake these in an oven pre-heated to 475 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and continue to bake for 1 hour. 

After an hour, I flipped the mold and removed the caneles.

And here they are. TADA! 

Light inside with a nice sugar crust formed on outside. Not bad for my first try!

Thank you Rachel for this! You'll find the recipe here.

I also can't wait to dive into her more recent cookbook, The Little Swedish Kitchen.