These Vegan Madeleines are soft and fluffy French mini cakes that are easy to make and so delicious – It’s the perfect recipe to serve for dessert or as a simple snack but it also makes a lovely homemade gift idea for Valentine’s or Mother’s Day!
Fall in love with these airy, light, and absolutely adorable Vegan Madeleines! With a mix of comforting vanilla and zesty citrus flavors, these French sponge teacakes will have your taste buds riveted- from the golden crisp edges, moist and tender center, and the pretty pink cherry glaze!
They are elegantly shaped and sweetly decorated to be the perfect Valentine’s or Mother’s day treat that will surely impress your loved ones! Not only are they gorgeous to look at, but they are also undeniably delicious as well! What better way to express love and care than a thoughtfully made batch of these goodies, right?
What are Vegan Madeleines?
While many think that Madeleines are French cookies, they are actually small spongy cakes characterized by their shell-like shape. The traditional way of making these is by using a genoise cake batter that is baked in a madeleine baking tin pan. However, this type of French-Italian batter uses butter and eggs – lots of it. So today I am sharing this egg-less and dairy-free vegan Madeleines recipe using 100% plant-based ingredients only.
Aside from the madeleine tin pan, making these does not require any other special tools or equipment. The ingredients are readily available in the market and are probably in your pantry already. It is surprisingly easy to make too!
Ingredients used and possible alternatives
- All-purpose flour: You can also use spelt flour or a gluten-free flour blend if you are avoiding gluten in your diet.
- Baking powder
- Sugar: Use any type of organic or unrefined or regular white sugar.
- Salt
- Non-dairy milk: you can use almond milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk, or rice milk.
- Canola or sunflower oil: if you do not have these, you can also use olive oil or other vegetable oil.
- Lemon juice: replace with any citrus juice like orange or lime.
- Vanilla extract: for flavor.
For the glaze, I simply mixed powdered sugar with cherry juice to achieve the pink glaze that I wanted. If you want to make these in different colors or flavors, you can use other fruit juices to do so. Like blueberry, cranberry, strawberry, or orange.
How to make Vegan Madeleines
As always I recommend watching the recipe video and checking out this step-by-step guide first. Then you’ll find the full recipe with exact measurements in the recipe card below!
Step 1: Making the batter.
Start by sifting the flour into a bowl. Then add the sugar, salt, and baking powder and whisk everything together. In a separate bowl whisk together the non-dairy milk, oil, and lemon juice. Then stir the wet mixture into the flour mixture until just combined.
Step 2: Add batter into the pan and bake.
Now use a tablespoon to divide the batter into each mold of a lightly greased madeleine pan. Then bake in a preheated oven at 347°F (175°C) for about 12-15 minutes until they turn golden brown.
Step 3: Cool and garnish.
Finally, let them cool completely, then either sprinkle them with powdered sugar or prepare the pink glaze. For this, mix powdered sugar and cherry juice in a bowl until smooth. Then dip the tops of the madeleines in it. Enjoy!
Tips when making Vegan Madeleines
- Always grease your pan with vegan butter or coconut oil. You want to make sure that they easily separate from the pan after baking without breaking.
- Do not over-mix the batter. Just stir it together until the dry and wet ingredients are well-combined. An over-mixed batter will result in a dense and tough cake.
- Sift the flour. You don’t necessarily have to sift the flour beforehand, but sifting reduces flour lumps. Having lump-free flour prevents over-mixing, which will result in softer cakes.
- Do a toothpick test. A good indicator that the small madeleine cakes are done baking is when they rise and turn golden. You can also check by inserting a toothpick in the middle. If it comes out clean, then they are good to go.
Can I make this gluten-free?
As long as you use gluten-free flour, then yes you can make this vegan madeleines recipe gluten-free! Also, make sure that the rest of the ingredients are in their natural form. Some products may contain gluten when processed.
What if I don’t have a madeleine tin pan/mold?
I highly suggest getting one especially if you see yourself making these yummy teacakes in the future. Aside from giving the mini cakes an aesthetic finish, it also ensures that the Madeleines are crispy on the outside and moist inside. Alternatively, you can use silicone muffin molds or just regular round or oval molds.
Garnish it the way you like it!
I decorated these goodies with the idea of a perfect treat for Valentine’s or Mother’s day in mind. However, feel free to garnish it with whatever you desire! You can dip them in melted vegan dark or white chocolates and decorate them with chopped nuts, sprinkles, coconut or chocolate shavings, and fresh or dried berries. Use this recipe as a template and let your creativity guide you.
You can also just omit the glaze and simply dust them with confectioners’ sugar after baking. Serve them with dalgona coffee or matcha latte tea! Yum!
Storing and freezing instructions
French Madeleines are best served and eaten right after they cool down from baking. However, if you do have some left-overs though, store them in an airtight container for up to 5 days. To prevent them from sticking to each other, I recommend placing a piece of parchment paper between each mini cake.
You can also freeze them in freezer-safe bags for up to a month or two. Then remove and thaw whenever you want!
This Vegan Madeleines Recipe is:
- Dairy-free
- Egg-less
- Light and airy
- Gluten-free possible
- Easy to make
- Highly customizable
- Super cute and adorable
- Completely delish!
- Perfect as a thoughtful and sweet gift!
More easy vegan dessert recipes to try:
Looking for more simple sweet snack recipes to impress your beloved ones? Here are some suggestions:
- Vegan Raffello Coconut Balls
- Homemade Vegan Ferrero Rocher
- Vegan Snickers (Peanut Caramel Chocolate Bars)
- Apple Hand Pies
- Vegan Linzer Cookies
- Vanille Crescent Cookies
- Mini Apple Pies
- Pecan Pie Bars
- Apple Pie Turnovers
- Vegan Nut Bars (Cookie Crunch Corners)
- Homemade Granola Bars
- Almond Horns (Vegan Marzipan Cookies)
If you try this Vegan French Madeleines recipe, feel free to leave a comment and a rating! And if you take a picture of your mini cakes and share it on Instagram, please tag me @biancazapatka and use the hashtag #biancazapatka because I love seeing your remakes! Happy baking!
Vegan Madeleines
Author:You do not have a fitting cake pan at hand right now? Try my Cake Pan Conversion Calculator!
Ingredients
For the cake batter:
- 1 cup (120 g) all-purpose or spelt flour or gluten-free flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ⅓ cup (75 g) sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup (120 ml) non-dairy milk
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) canola or sunflower oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the glaze:
- 1 cup (100 g) powdered sugar
- 2-3 tbsp cherry juice or other fruit juice in the desired color
Instructions
*Note: Be sure to watch the recipe video + check out the step-by-step photos above!
- Preheat the oven to 347°F (175°C) and lightly grease the molds of a madeleine pan with vegan butter or coconut oil.
- Sift the flour into a bowl (*see notes). Add the sugar, salt, and baking powder and whisk together. In a separate bowl whisk together the non-dairy milk, oil, and lemon juice. Then stir it into the flour mixture until just combined.
- Use a tablespoon to divide the batter into each mold of the greased pan (but do not make them completely full as they'll rise). Bake for about 12-15 minutes until they turn golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let them cool completely, then either sprinkle them with powdered sugar or prepare the pink glaze. For this, mix powdered sugar and cherry juice in a bowl until smooth. Then dip the tops of the madeleines in it. If you like, you can also dip them in melted chocolate and decorate them with chopped nuts, sprinkles, coconut, or chocolate shavings.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- You don't necessarily have to sift the flour beforehand, but sifting reduces flour lumps. Having lump-free flour prevents over-mixing, which results in softer cakes.
- More tips and helpful information regarding ingredient notes, storing, freezing, etc. can be found in the blog post above!
- The nutritional information is calculated for 1 madeleine of 18 without the glaze.
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While these were just O.K. for me, my husband really enjoyed them. They rose nicely and had a good texture, but they didn’t have enough flavor for me. I even added the zest of a lemon. Maybe it’s because I didn’t use the glaze. But I think if I were to make them again, I’d up the vanilla or maybe try another extract. 🙂
I’m glad your husband enjoyed them. Thanks for your feedback! 🙂
Made them today (without the icing) and they were really good! Mu daughter is allergic to cow’s milk and eggs so it’s always nice to find an alternative to famous cake and biscuit recipes . I will keep the recipe 🙂
I am glad you liked them! Thanks a lot for your feedback! 🙂
Just made these exactly to the recipe; the batter is nothing like the video; it’s thick and almost doughy so the madeleines are dense and don’t look anything like the pictures.
I highly recommend measuring the ingredients in grams and ml to be sure the batter will have the right consistency!
Do you have the recipe in grams? Most ingredients are in cups
You can find both measurements in the recipe! 😉
Which spelt can I substitute 1:1 – whole spelt or white spelt?
White spelt! 🙂
Great! Thanks! Does white spelt require lesser liquid than all purpose flour? Since the gluten content is lesser??
You can use the same amount of liquid. The gluten content is quite similar.
These came out amazing, was surprised out they had the perfect hump to say they were vegan. I added cardamom and mixed spice in the batter, decorated with chocolate and pistachios, they were so light and fluffy!!
Awesome! 🙂 Glad you liked this recipe! Thanks for your feedback! ❤️
Hi Bianca! I would like to ask you if I can change the flour for almond flour? Thank you 🙂
Hi Lea,
I don’t think that the texture would be the same, to be honest. 🙁
I made these for a baby shower and they were a huge success. So easy to make yet tasty. People couldn’t believe they were vegan. My kids loved them too! My son asked me to make a big batch for him to take to school for last day of term. They lived them even the teachers. This will be a recipe I will make on a regular bases. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing such a wonderful recipe! Sal
Perfect, I’m glad to hear you all enjoyed them! 🙂