"I think careful cooking is love, don't you? The loveliest thing you can cook for someone who's close to you is about as nice a valentine as you can give." Julia Child
There are so many recipes out there for the caneles, yet the good ones are difficult to make. This little French cake carries a rich story behind it and one can definitely agree that it happens rarely that a piece of pastry or a dessert would be so linked to a city. The home of the caneles is Bordeaux. A good canelé has a thin, dark golden crust with slight but definite crunch. Its interior is densely spongy, flavored with rum and vanilla.
This little cake represents a certain part of the city's history, dating back to the 18th century. The prosperity of the city owes a lot to its location. It’s a port on the Garonne river, further from the Atlantic and situated in the land of great wine area of the Medoc. Bordeaux is best known for its wines, but in the 18th century, fortunes were made by sugar and slaves. Canelés depend on sugar and wine-making and by-products of both. The recipe requires egg yolks and rum, flour, sugar, whole eggs and vanilla. Eggs used to be plentiful at the time in wine areas because egg whites were used to fine (clarify) wine. As well as rum is essentially distilled fermented sugar cane. One of the other ingredients crucial to the flavor of the caneles is vanilla - another part of the story of slavery and sugar. Slaves were brought from Africa to cultivate sugar. Nowadays sugar, rum and vanilla are among the main exports.
Quite recently the caneles became very popular in Lithuania - many places to buy from. In search of the perfect caneles, I decided to challenge myself and make them at home. Wasn't as difficult as I thought. The only "issue" I had - it takes a lot of time, since I have only one set of silicon molds and those are meant for the small caneles. Oh but what a treat!
* 0,5 Litre milk
* 2 eggs
* 2 egg yolks
* 3 tablespoons of vanilla (I used bourbon vanilla)
* 2 tablespoons of rum (preferably dark)
* 250g sugar
* 50 g butter
* 100 g flour
* a pinch of salt
* butter and brown sugar - for buttering and sprinkling the molds of the caneles
The easiest part - preparation of the batter:
First of all mix all the dry ingredients together - flour, sugar and salt. Add the eggs and the egg yolks and mix everything well. Heat the milk, vanilla and rum in a pan close to boiling. In a separate pan melt the butter and add to the batter, mixing till well incorporated. Once done, add the milk and once again mix well. Cover the bowl with the batter and refrigerate overnight (at least 12 hours).
Preparation for the baking:
Prior to baking the caneles, mix the batter once again. Heat the oven to 250C degrees. Butter the molds and sprinkle each one of them with a bit of brown sugar. Fill the molds with the batter, leaving a little bit of space for rising - up to 0,5 cm.
The baking:
Bake the caneles at 250C degrees for the first 10-15 minutes (if the molds are smaller - 10 min). Then reduce to 180C degree and bake for 50-60 minutes (once again - for the smaller molds - less time).
Et voila! Let them cool for 5 minutes, take those beauties out and enjoy! Best served fresh - moist on the inside, crispy on the outside!
Bon appetit!
