My Personal Canelé Rabbit Hole

JeffGC · Monday at 11:35 AM

They look perfect.

Pete Fred · 2025-05-21T17:32:44Z

So I made batter on Saturday, half of which got a 24-hour rest and made the last half-dozen on the previous page; the other half I gave an extended 96-hour rest to see if it made any difference to the final results.

SPOILER: not particularly.

Before we get there, I thought I'd take a few photos of the process in case it's of any use or interest.

Coat the moulds lightly with beeswax...

Fill...

At this point if I notice any bubbles on the surface I'll give them a flash with a torch, but these were all good...

After 10 minutes at full-blast (250C/480F) they've risen a little above the moulds...

By 15 minutes they're hopefully as high as they're gonna go...

...and the tops are 'set'...

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(Incidentally, when souffléing happens and they rise higher than this, they expand horizontally a little, which means the canelés can't sink back into the moulds properly and cook evenly. You can remove them from the oven and try to get them to slip down before it gets too bad, but it's far from ideal.)

At this point the tray gets a turn and I drop the temperature to 180C/350F.

After 25 minutes there's some nice colour on the tops (bottoms)...

And at 35 minutes they're starting to edge their way back down...

Until by 45 minutes they're almost settled...

At the 50 minute mark I'll grab one and turn it out to see how it's looking. I was happy enough...

It's the one in the top left, below; the two next to it on the right were also fine for me...

The bottom row needed a little more time in the moulds to get a better colour on the tops. From right to left, they took 55, 58 and 62 minutes. I could've left the last two in a bit longer but I think chasing an even colour is to their detriment.

After a 40 minute wait for them to cool down and crisp up...