French · Dessert · Hard
Canele
Caramelized custardy cakes from Bordeaux with a crackling dark crust and a soft rum-vanilla heart.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Canele, in 5 ideas
- The near-burnt exterior is correct; pale caneles are underbaked caneles.
- The long batter rest hydrates the flour and develops the custardy interior.
- Copper molds conduct heat best, but silicone works with a slightly less crisp crust.
- Eat them the day they are baked; the contrast of crust and custard fades overnight.
- Rum is traditional, but orange blossom water makes a lovely variation.
What you need
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 tbsp butter, plus more for molds
- 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs plus 2 yolks
- 3 tbsp dark rum
- Pinch of salt
How to make it
Directions
- Boil the milk with the butter and vanilla. Remove from heat and steep 15 minutes.
- Whisk the sugar, flour, eggs, yolks, rum, and salt in a bowl. Slowly whisk in the warm milk.
- Strain and rest the batter in the fridge 24 hours (48 is even better).
- Heat the oven to 450F. Coat canele molds thickly with butter or beeswax.
- Fill molds three-quarters full and bake 15 minutes, then reduce to 375F and bake 45 minutes more until very dark.
- Unmold immediately and cool on a rack. Serve at room temperature.
Money saver. Beeswax for the molds is the Bordeaux secret for an extra-crisp shell. A small block lasts for dozens of batches.