I might not be the world’s most romantic man, but cooking madeleines for my wife was about as close as I got to being a regular Casanova. It was in the pre-restaurant-and-little-monster days, while I was working a regular nine-to-five week. My wife, Zanna (who used to be a midwife), had to endure what then seemed to me to be an arduous working schedule. On many a cold winter’s evening, this recipe brought a ray of light to the end of a hard day’s work.

For some people, madeleines are the most evocative of cakes, as the famous quote from Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time testifies: “One day in winter, my mother offered me some tea ... She sent out for one of those short, plump little cakes called petites madeleines, which look as though they had been moulded in the fluted scallop of a pilgrim’s shell ... I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid, and the crumbs with it, touched my palate than a shudder ran through my whole body, and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary changes that were taking place. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses ...”

Ingredients

These can be cooked in advance, but I beg you to try baking a tray of them to be eaten five minutes after they come out of the oven, with a pot of earl-grey tea. It’s sheer heaven — as I’m sure Proust would agree.

Makes 10

125g unsalted butter, plus a little for the mould
100g icing sugar
40g ground almonds
40g plain flour, plus a little for the mould
3 large egg whites
2 tsp best-quality honey
Finely grated zest of ½ lemon
Salt

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3. Melt the butter over a medium heat for a few minutes until it starts to sizzle and has a nice nutty scent — beurre noisette. Strain and set aside.

Sieve the icing sugar, ground almonds and flour into a bowl. Using a fork, whisk the egg whites into the dry mix. Next, add the honey and continue to whisk. Incorporate the warm — but not hot — beurre noisette and lemon zest and mix until homogenous. Add a little salt to taste.

Leave the madeleine mixture to rest in the fridge (covered with clingfilm pressed onto the surface) for at least an hour. Resting the dough is important, as the gluten relaxes and produces a lighter result.

Butter a madeleine mould and lightly dust with flour. (This double coating really works as a nonstick surface — you don’t want to be struggling with removing the madeleines while the tea is stewing.) Fill the moulds with the madeleine mixture and return to the fridge for half an hour to rest again (please be patient).

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until set and lightly golden brown. Remove from the oven, turn out from the tin and leave to cool on a cake rack for 5 minutes before serving.


THE ART OF TARTS

Never made a tart before? That’s no excuse not to. Follow this advice and it will be a breeze.

- Pastry cases can be made in advance to save time. There is no need to chill the pastry — just make the dough, line a tart tin with it and put it in the freezer until you are ready to use it. It can go straight from the freezer into the oven.

- Use a loose-bottomed tin for easy access to your tart case once cooked — John Lewis and davidmellordesign.com both have good ranges.

- Smash chocolate for melting with a rolling pin when it is still in its wrapping. This is easier, less messy and more fun than chopping.

- Try making mini-tarts. They are more romantic — and mobile — than the larger version, which means that you won’t be confined to sitting at a table while eating them.

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