Pretty Little English Madeleine Cakes ( Low Carb & Gluten Free)

These English madeleine cakes make perfect little low carb treats.  This recipe combines moist buttery vanilla cake, the flavour of tart raspberry jelly, and flakey bits of creamy coconut. 

Right?  I mean how can you possibly go wrong with this one?

These make a great sweet breakfast option to have with a spot of tea or a cup of joe.  I only say this because it was my breakfast for the last three days.  Since these raspberry jam coated cakes are low carb, sugar-free, and gluten-free, it’s a breakfast pastry option without guilt.  

For those of you who cannot have dairy, I have an easy solution.  You can make them dairy-free by replacing the heavy cream with coconut milk and the butter with coconut oil.  This is one recipe where the coconut flavours enhance the dish and the dairy-free option shines all on its own.   

English Madeleine Tea Cakes 

You know, I never set out to make these English madeleine cakes.  I was actually looking for a French madeleine baking pan and stumbled on a photo for these pretty little cakes. 

They are like a long lost dessert from my childhood.  Although I cannot remember my mom specifically baking them, I remember the flavour and texture vividly.  

The weird thing is my husband said the exact same thing.  He immediately recognized them, and remembered the taste, but cannot remember from where. 

I have a feeling these were once a packaged pastry from my youth, like a Twinkie, or a Ding Dong.   

A bit about the sweeteners

~This post may contain affiliate links.  If you click one and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. 

I only ever recommend what ingredient or tools I use for my recipes.  You can read more about our disclosure policy here ~

Use your favorite 1:1 sugar substitute.  

Powered is preferred over granular, as it blends better and has a nicer texture.  Erythritol and xylitol also tend to get grainy when cold, but I found the powdered versions to do it much less.   

If you don’t have powdered erythritol or xylitol and only have granular, go ahead and give it a blast with a high-speed blender, or food processor.  My favorite powdered sweetener by far is So Nourished Monk Fruit Blend, I find it has almost no aftertaste at all.   

Swerve and stevia will work perfectly fine here as well as does any powdered erythritol or xylitol brand. 

Just remember, xylitol is poisonous to dogs and cats, so if that’s your choice and you have little furry friends running around, be aware that it can be deadly for them. 

A few tips for baking the batter

Ok, so traditionally these cakes are made in dariole moulds.  But you do not need to go out and buy special moulds for this recipe.  I used a simple pop-over baking pan, but you could use a muffin pan too, the only thing that changes is the size. 

This recipe makes six decent sized cakes. If you used a muffin pan I would wager it would make twelve smaller cakes.  Keep this in consideration when you are checking out the nutritional information. 

Whichever pan you use, you have to make sure the batter doesn’t bake up over the rim.  Only fill your moulds half-way, regardless of what pan you use.  If the cake bakes up over the rim, it makes it more difficult to get the cakes to roll in the raspberry jam, the flatter the sides are the better. 

The other trick I use for cakes when I want a perfectly flat surface is to flatten them with a tea towel.  When the cakes come out of the oven, use a clean tea towel and cover the cake and gently press down to flatten the tops.   This ensures the cakes don’t look wonky or wobbly when you turn them over. 

A few tips for the raspberry jam coating

I made a quick raspberry jelly for these English madeleine cakes.   

You have a few options here for the jelly.  You can make your own quick jam by cooking raspberries and adding a few chia seeds.  Or you could buy a pre-made no sugar added raspberry jam, or make your own shelf-stable sugar free raspberry jam to keep on hand for recipes just like this one.

It doesn’t really matter which way you choose, but do make sure your jam is indeed not made with added sugar. Not all commercial sugar-free jams are created equal and some still have high carbs. The jam I make has about 1 net carb per tablespoon and adds about 1.5 net carbs to each cake. 

The only other tip about the raspberry jam is to make sure it is nice and jammy, not too runny.  If the jam is watery and runny it won’t coat the cakes, but it will make them soggy. That’s not the texture we want!   So do be sure to make or use a nice thick jammy jam for this recipe. 

 

How to assemble the English madeleine cakes

Once the cakes are removed from the pans and cooled, quickly roll them in the raspberry jelly.  Do not allow them to sit and soak or they will soak up too much jam.  Just give them a quick coating.  The back of a spoon works well for moving the jelly around.

Once the cakes are coated in raspberry jam, give them a quick spin around the desiccated coconut, just enough to coat.

Add a fresh raspberry to the top for decoration. 

These set up pretty well.  After about 30 minutes the outside dries up a bit and touching them doesn’t leave behind a sticky raspberry coconut mess. 

Serving and storage for your English madeleine cakes

I made these in the morning, and we ate them for breakfast.   I had one for breakfast the next day too and they were still perfect.  Kept out at room temperature they were good for two days. By day three the erythritol started to crystallize in the raspberry jam and the outside coating got a tiny bit crunchy.  I actually liked this texture, it felt like a sugar coating, but just so you are aware that the texture does change around day three. 

If you put these in the fridge, the erythritol will crystalize faster and that crispy sugary shell will form up pretty quick. 

You could also make the cakes in advance and freeze them uncoated.   Pop them out of the freezer a few hours before you plan on rolling them in jam and coconut.