I had never tried a French pastry called canele (canelé) until just just a couple of months ago, and I realized that I’d been missing out big time. These little morsels are nothing like anything else I’ve ever tried. Rich, moist and custardy interior is sealed into a thin, crispy, caramelized shell. As you bite into them you there is a distinct crackling sound, then your teeth sink into soft, sweet and custardy goodness. They are as beautiful to look at as they are delicious to eat.
I have to tell you though, making canele proved to be one of the biggest culinary challenges I’d ever faced. I went through one canele recipe after another, making a dozen batches before I got the results that I would consider decent.
As I read various recipes and instructions on the Internet I concluded that it’s not the canele recipe that makes a great canele, it’s the process. Most canele recipes are fairly similar, to the point where they look practically identical. What differs is how you mix the ingredients and how you bake your caneles. I am convinced that the baking temperature was the biggest success factor for me.
The canele recipe that I posted below evolved from a few recipes that I came across during my quest – books, forums posts and blogs. It works perfectly for me.
Going for canele authenticity – using copper molds
From the get-go I decided to go for authenticity and the best possible results. This meant not wasting any money on silicone and aluminum molds and immediately going for the real deal – the copper canele molds. Pierre Hermé himself suggested that it is imperative to use copper molds, which ensure the ideal cooking. And who wants to settle for less than ideal?
Update on copper tin-lined canele molds – June 23, 2016
I read through various reviews and ended up buying eight 2-inch Matfer Bourgeat canele molds. They cost me a small fortune but I absolutely love them. Mauviel M’Passion canele molds are very similar. Both brands are very popular and make excellent quality canele molds, so I would go with the cheaper ones you can find.
These molds are by no means cheap, they typically sell for about $20-25 a piece. However, I noticed that recently Amazon started having some really good deals on these, such as this one:
This is half the price per mold than what I paid when I purchased my first eight canele molds. These are neither Matfer nor Mauviel but they look like the real deal. Here is what I think: I recently got additional 12 canele molds that came from Bordeaux, France. They were no-brand, generic tin-lined copper molds from Bordeaux, but they look identical to the 8 Matfer molds I got here. The molds in the link above are also said to have come from Bordeaux and look very much like mine.
Coating canele molds with beeswax and butter mix
To get beautiful, shiny exterior you absolutely must use beeswax and butter mix to coat the inside of the molds. You may want to go with organic beeswax, but I went with regular one due to significant price difference. You can get it from any health food store or on Amazon. In any case, you want pure beeswax, with no additives, like the one below.
A simple and effective way to apply beeswax to molds
I’ve seen some very complicated methods for how to apply beeswax/butter mix to the molds, but through experimentation I realized it was not necessary. My very simple method involves heating beeswax and butter in a microwave until liquid, then pouring the mix into molds and immediately pouring back to the original container. This way I get full coverage and a very thin and even coat throughout.
Brushing turned out a bad idea as the wax hardens quickly on the brush resulting in pure mess. Cleaning the brush afterwards was something else too. I mean, you could preheat the molds and then brush, it would probably work too, but that’s just another extra step and you have to target the proper temperature, and wear mittens. Who wants that? And you need to clean the brush anyway.
After pouring the mix back, I placed the molds upside down on a cooling rack with paper towels underneath to let excess drip down.I would then chill the molds in a freezer for about 10 minutes, fill them with batter to about 3/8 inch from the top.
The problem of canele ‘mushrooming’
My biggest challenge in the way of getting a decent caneles was that they would rise out out of the molds, grow a big mushroom head and never sink back in. They would look unsightly and grotesque. There would be no beautiful sheen, and the bottoms would be white and under-cooked. A number of bloggers on the internet suggested that this puffing up was the result of too much air being introduced during mixing of the batter. I tried no mixing at all, pushing all the ingredients through a sieve following suggestions, a very laborious and messy task, but the end result was all but the same. Then I also watched a few videos and some French bakers don’t seem to care about air, vigorously whisking their batter away.
Possible solutions
Some authors suggest watching caneles closely for the first 30 minutes and taking them out of the oven as soon as they start to rise of the molds and keeping them out until they would sink back in. Hm… I tried that, but it’s too complicated and laborious for my liking. Frankly, it did not work too well either. As soon as you put them back in, they would start rising again. You need to repeat this step multiple times to get them finally not to mushroom, and that was just not for me. I wanted a perfect canelé without all that nonsense and trouble.
Another ‘trick’ I tried was to do with the temperature. Some canele recipes suggested starting the bake at a higher temperature for the caneles to form a hard surface which would prevent mushrooming. Some start at 450F, some at 500F. I tried both and it did not work for me. Still mushrooming like crazy and never sink back in. Using convection function kind of worked, but tops turned out too burnt.
The solution that resulted in a perfect canele
Then, it finally all clicked into place. I visited a French forum (thank you Google for the ‘translate’ feature) and noticed that practically every canele recipe there calls for starting temperature of 270C to 290C, that’s 520F to 550F. Some even go as high as 300C! Maybe that was my problem? That my oven wasn’t hot enough for the outer shell to form quick enough and prevent mushrooming? I pre-heated the oven to 550F and baked caneles at this temperature for 10 minutes. Below is what I saw – some rising but no crazy mushrooming. Yet. I turned the heat down to 375F and let caneles bake for another 50 minutes.
They came out perfect. Hooray!!! Finally!!! I did it!!! They sank back in and came out exactly how I wanted them.
Occasional ‘white butt’ problem
I tried the method described above several times afterwards and it worked perfectly well every time. At the very least, it works with my oven. Sometimes one or two little buggers don’t sink back in all the way and you get what French call the ‘white butt’ problem – caneles that come out with white bottoms. You can see a couple of those on the picture below.
It seems that it happens when you fill the molds a tad too much causing caneles to expand at the top during earlier baking stages which prevents them from dropping all they way back down and touch the bottom of the mold at a later stage. How much is a little too much? It’s more than what you see on the picture below.
Cannelés (Canelés) de Bordeaux Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 vanilla beans (preferably Madagascan)
- 500 ml milk (cold)
- 200 g cane sugar (250 g if you want more sweetness following traditional recipes; I use 200 g)
- 100 g all-purpose flour (you can also use bread flour)
- 50 g butter (melted)
- 2 eggs (large)
- 2 egg yolks
- 4 Tbsp dark rum
For the mold coating:
- 40 g beeswax
- 60 g butter
Instructions
- Pierre Hermé recommends that before you use your copper canele molds for the first time, clean them, and then season them by coating them with butter and placing them for 20 minutes in a hot oven - 250° C (500° F) or more. Remove them from the oven, clean them with a paper towel while they’re still hot, and allow them to cool before using. Never wash the molds, simply wipe with a dry cloth or a paper towel after each use.
- Slit the vanilla beans lengthwise, and scrape the seeds from them with a small knife. Put the seeds, vanilla pods, and milk in a saucepan and bring them to a gentle simmer, and then turn off the heat and let sit for two minutes.
- In a separate bowl, whisk sugar, eggs and egg yolks. Add melted butter and whisk more until combined.
- Remove the pods from the milk. Add 1/4 of the hot milk into egg mixture and mix well. Add flour and continue mixing until combined. Then slowly add the remaining milk while continuing to mix until all ingredients are mixed well. Add rum and mix. This way you will avoid lumps and will end up with the perfect consistency of the batter. (Note: this step is very important. Adding hot milk to egg mixture will temper the eggs and create custard which will ensure perfect consistency of your caneles).
- Refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours. This is non-negotiable. The texture and flavor improves dramatically by the second day and third day. So, 24 hour rest is mandatory. 48 hours if you want amazing canele. The batter may be kept in a fridge for up to 4 days. Each time you use the batter, stir it well and work it at least 2 minutes with a whisk.
- For a smooth, shiny surface that accentuates the dark brown color of the caneles coat the molds with a mix of 40 g beeswax and 60 g butter melted together. For this, melt the beeswax and butter together, quickly pour the mix into a mold and then back out into the original container. Turn upside down on a cooling rack with paper towel underneath to catch drippings. Once cooled down, chill in a freezer or a refrigerator until ready to bake.
- Preheat oven to 550F. Fill the molds with batter to 3/8 inch (1 cm) from the top. Place on a foil lined backing sheet and bake the caneles at 550F for 10 minutes. Without opening the oven, drop the temperature to 375F and continue baking for another 45-50 minutes. Every oven is different, so your baking times may need to be adjusted.
- Remove caneles from the oven. Quickly remove caneles from the molds and place on a cooling rack upside down. Caneles usually slide right out of their molds, but if they don't, turn the mold upside down and knock on a hard surface, such as a cutting board.
- Let cool for 2 hours at room temperature. Caneles must be eaten on the day they are baked.
Notes
Nutrition
Updated on March 19, 2019
146 comments
These turned out great! I do have a question – when making my second batch, I did not fill the molds as high, (Used a mini pop over Bundt pan) as the first batch mushroomed. I did have difficulty then with coloring of the outside of the caneles being slightly burnt with the second batch. My question is – How do you adjust time and temperature to not burn the outside? Is there an internal temperature to know if the caneles is done?
Hi Jo, good to hear that your canele turned out great. I can’t really say as to why your second batch had the problem with burning on the outside but it may be because of using the bundt pan. Copper heats move evenly and I’ve never had the problems you are describing, not with burning. Keep in mind though, caneles are baked until very dark. To quote Pierre Herme, “When it’s black, it’s cooked”. I don’t know what the internal temperature should be when cooked, just never came across that information.
It was one of my goal to bake canele and I was so nervous since people were talking how hard it is to bake a perfect one! And it was a huge success on my first try. I’m going to make another batch today and just wanted to thank Victor for the recipe 🙂 it’s a bit late but happy new year!
Ariel, I am very happy to read about your success. For me, my first few batches brought a great deal of frustration. I am happy I could spare you all that. Happy New Year too!
[…] found a very helpful post by Taste of Artisan, giving not only the recipe but very clear instructions on the baking process. I highly recommend […]
I’ve made this recipe so many times and they’ve always been perfect! I like them better than a lot of the canele I’ve had in Paris. I’ve recently moved, and I can’t seem to get them right with my new oven. I live in the UK, so I set my oven temp to 275c to start (the highest it goes) then drop to 190c afterwards (as I usually do). Initially they came out totally uneven, so I changed my oven setting from top and bottom to 4D. The next try came out even, but burnt on the outside, undercooked inside. I tried again this morning- but instead of turning the oven to 190c, I did 160c and added a couple minutes to the baking time. They should be crisp on the outside and spongey and soft inside- but instead they turn a lighter brown and are soft all around. What am i doing wrong?! Any advice. I love this recipe and I can’t find any canele at the shop as tasty as these…
Hi Beth, it’s hard for me to advise something when it concerns someone’s oven (you provided a very good example of ‘everyone’s oven bakes differently’). I would continue experimenting and see how you canele turn out each time. Don’t add any of that uber-expensive but so pleasantly smelling stuff while you are doing that;) 190 to 160 drop seems quite large. Perhaps you can try 180, 175… I would do that. Also, try moving them up or down in the oven, that could help. If the heating is coming from the bottom, the lower you bake the more the bottoms will brown and vice versa.
I am eager to try your recipe! Thank you for all of your wonderful notes. I was wondering, however, if I could replace the vanilla bean with vanilla extract? How much vanilla extract would I use as a substitute? Thank you in advance!
Mimi, I totally hear you. With the current vanilla bean prices who can afford them? I still have a couple of dozen left that I purchased a few years ago, 100 beans for $49 or so. What a deal it was! Now I started using vanilla extract myself trying to save the remaining beans for when I really need them. One vanilla bean is equivalent to 2-3 teaspoons of extract.
Aaaaagh – so all was looking good with my next batch. Set my oven to as high as it will go Gas Mark 9 (240 degrees C)
Waxed the moulds – getting quite good at this now 🙂
Put the Canales in for 10 mins. Can to turn down to 375F and saw they had risen out of the moulds but were not mushrooming 🙂
Checked about 20 minutes later and they had risen even more out of the moulds – I would say about 2-3cm!! Thought I would leave them I. As it looked better than my first batch.
Came back 25 minutes later to utter devastation – they had collapsed. So I removed them and as with the first batch they were undercooked. Didn’t bother putting them back as they had collapsed so badly.
So on a positive – still has some nice crispy bits around the top so ate them 🙂
At a loss as to why they suddenly collapsed.
Hm, I’ve never experienced what you described. Ideally, they would rise up a little, about a centimeter, then drop back down. When you say collapse, what exactly is happening? Do you have pictures?
OK so I attempted my first batch of these amazing taste sensations. One word – disaster!!!! OK so here is my experience.
Firstly, I don’t think microwaving the beeswax and bitter is a good idea. After about 40 seconds on high heat I heard a big pop. Looked into the microwave to see it had exploded all over the interior and the only thing I can say about beeswax that is repayable
Is that is is the WORST substance in the world to try and clean off. Absolute nightmare.
Anyway I made another batch of the beeswax butter combo but this time in a nine stick pan. Worked well and I coated my moulds.
Took the batter out of the fridge (48 hour wait). Have it a whisk, and poured into the moulds and then it o the preheated oven at Gas Mark 9. After 10 minutes turn down to Gas Mark 6 and cooked for 50 minutes.
The end result was not good. I did get some mushrooming but as it was my first attempt want too worried about this. The colour was a nice deep maple so I thought all was good. But when au turned the moulds upside down all I got were blobs of what looked to be undercooked Caneles :(.
However, on the positive side, the part of the Caneles that has cooked and was dark maple was both crispy and tasted just like a I had tasted in Paris.
So I have enough batter left to try a second batch. I think I suspect my oven as not being the temperature it should be so now have bough an oven thermometer to give me more accurate temperatures.
There can only be one way from here and that is upwards 🙂
Mark, you guys use 220V appliances in the UK, I wonder if that has anything to do with your problem. I’ve microwaved mine dozens of times without an issue and haven’t heard of similar to your problem from others. Well, glad to hear that you found a good method for yourself.
>
A gas oven is a mystery to me, never used one but dreaming of getting a gas stove. Wish I could help out with some advice but I am in the dark here. I hope your next batch turns out good, let me know how it goes. Happy baking!
I have found your canele recipe to the best on the web. Thanks so much!
I use wax/butter in a 30/70 ratio. Works great. I use my fingers to grease the moulds. It is quick, easy and way less messy. The melted butter and wax combo is not that hot.
Thank you for your feedback, PB. When using fingers, does the mixture get into every crevice? How long does it take per mold?
I think it gets to every crevice since I have not seen any burning in the mould once I pop the canales out. I spend 15-20 second per mold and reheat the butter/wax mix in the microwave for 20 seconds every couple of minutes. The key is to keep the butter/wax mix runny.
I have seen some recipes call for up to 300g of flour. What is the trade off on more vs. less flour ?
Hi PB,
thanks for the info. Interesting method. As far as the flour goes, I haven’t experimented with increasing it so I can’t say for sure what effect this will have on the custard structure or its baking behavior.
Hi Victor, thanks for amazing recipe! I’m planning to bake it tomorrow and am trying to prepare coating the molds today. I had one question about the beeswax + butter mixture. After coating all the molds, do you dispose the mixture or save it for later?
Save it for later for sure. If cooking again soon – fridge, otherwise freeze.
Hi Victor.
What a great article thank you. I went to Paris on a business trip some months ago and bought some Caneles totally at random and I was hooked from the first taste. They only appear to be available in London and so I am about to make my first batch and will post my results!!
One quick question. I believe the copper moulds are lines with tin which has a melting point of around 232 degrees. How do you do such a high first bake without the mould’s lining melting!! I am sure I am missing something but would welcome your comments
Hi Mark,
this is a very, very interesting question and I have to be honest, I’ve never given it the slightest thought. True, tin melting point is around 230C or 450F. But… and that’s a big BUT… the tin lining inside those copper molds never gets even close to that temperature. I remember preheating my oven to 500F for 1 hour to bake bread and checking the surface temperature of my 3/4″ baking stone with an IR thermometer – it was barely 380F. The batter inside the copper molds won’t let the tin lining get to the melting point, not in the short time we bake at that temp. How can I be sure? Well, after taking 20 of my copper molds through dozens of batches, I have yet to see any deterioration of the lining. Don’t worry about it, it’s going to be just fine. Happy baking!
Victor thanks for this terrific piece! That after almost five years of comments it’s still getting getting fresh ones pretty much says it all – it’s a great, definitive post. (And I”m a pastry chef!)
Your tip about the very hot initial bake was 100% perfect, and for the first time I have neither mushrooming nor any white butts! My oven only goes to 500, however it’s a gas oven and I keep a stone on the floor of it – I tested with a thermometer there and boom, 550 exactly. Perfect! I just moved them from the floor up to a rack when I lowered the oven temp. I also really appreciated the tip you’d found and shared about the 2:3 ratio of wax:butter. One thing I found unappealing in my prior attempts was a waxy feel in eating them, and this helped with that quite a bit (as well as a couple other tricks I tried!).
I wanted to share a couple things I did that I found helped and haven’t been addressed in the comments, that I could find (and I apologize if I’m repeating prior posts!).
– Rum flavor: I saw a few people posting that they did not have a pronounced rum flavor. Normally I would not add alcohol to a hot batter, especially if I wanted to retain the alcohol flavor, since the heat would hasten its evaporation. I also figured since I was going to store the batter for a few days, I didn’t want to lose any to slower evaporation over that time period, either. I waited until just before my bake to add the rum, and I have to say I still have the taste of gentle, vanilla-rum in my mouth about 10 minutes after my last bite. (Another boon to this rum flavor was salt, which I note below.)
– Mold-greasing: Definitely agree with your technique here – one issue I had with too much wax in prior experiments was that the molds were too cool – in fact I’d used some recipes that suggested chilling them BEFORE greasing – that was WAY too much coating. I found that heating them until they were hot but manageable (I’d say around 130) resulted in the perfect thinness of coating, for me, and I did not chill them after coating. (After all, if the point is to get them hot, fast, to avoid mushrooming, this made sense to me.) I am still getting the teeniest bit of waxy texture in my mouth after eating, so I may play with the wax:butter ratio and use slightly more butter by proportion; will update on results if I do.
– Batter temp: I suspected that batter temperature might have been an issue for me in prior bakes, and I wanted to address it in this round. I baked a round with batter pretty much just 15 or 20 minutes out of the fridge, and still quite cold. I later baked a second round, this time with the same batter that was much closer to room temperature, having been out of the fridge for probably 2 hours. What I noted in the second batch was that the shell was much thinner, and didn’t get TOO crunchy, like it did in the first round with chilled batter. I account for this difference by the logic that a warmer batter will set faster, and it will also need less time (indeed, 10 minutes, in my bakes) to finish baking. Whether that’s physics or my imagination, it worked for me!
– Salt: I found that like all my pastries I just wanted a hint of salt. I think just under a teaspoon (kosher salt; I’d use half as much of a finer salt) in this recipe brought the flavors into relief – especially the rum – and made them all stand out just a bit more. It was exciting. What can I say, pastry is exciting 🙂
Again thanks for this awesome post!!!
Hi Julian, thank you for your detailed feedback and tips. I am eager to try adding rum just before baking as what you are saying makes a perfect sense. The salt part, that’s a very astute suggestion. Definitely a great idea. Don’t know why it wasn’t included from the start. Anyway, happy that my post helped and thanks for your insights. I am sure many will benefit from them. Happy baking!
A note about copper molds: I got 8 copper molds (over $20 each) a few years ago and I bought 8 from Amazon at the cheaper price (around $6 each) a couple months ago. The cheaper molds seem very similar, but are definitely lighter and the metal itself is thinner than the more expensive ones. I’ll report in a few days if they perform differently.
I love this recipe! What would you say is the difference in outcome with all purpose flour versus bread flour? Also, any tips on cleaning up the beeswax from the pan after! Always a nightmare.
Thank you, Caroline. I don’t think the difference between AP and bread flour is easily noticeable in this recipe, they are easily interchangeably here. The pan cleaning is easy – use foil. I always line my pan with foil, which is discarded after baking. No cleaning necessary.
My oven doesn’t go up to 550° so I used the convection setting at 500° for tge sane amount of time.
I didn’t have any dark rum, so I substituted 3 tablespoons of Grand Marnier. My husband thinks it’s the best batch of canelés yet.
Good to hear that, Janet. What made you give this recipe 4 stars then?
Hey Victor,
This recipe looks amazing!
Do you use a oven with fan?
Hi Jeff, no, I don’t use convection for this recipe, but you may be onto something. It may be helpful if your oven doesn’t get hot enough. Needs to be tested though.
Hi victor,
I have a question. whats the purpose of chill the mold in freezer?
My understanding is that it allows the coating set properly. I don’t know the exact science behind this though.
Thank you for the tips on starting on very high heat. This has solved my frustrating issue of having to monitor the bake, routinely pushing the stupid things down.
Happy to hear that, Michael. At some point I remember doing that same thing myself. Sounds pretty comical in hindsight. It would look even more comical if someone at a patisserie was trying to push dozens or hundreds of those down and they just keep popping up like fishing bobbers.
[…] to the platter of canelé samples that and been thrust in my direction. (In case you didn’t know, canelés are petite pastries composing a custard centre, flavoured with rum and vanilla – a Bordelais […]
Thank you so very much for sharing all of your experience with us! I’m sure this advice has saved others a lot of frustration and heartache. Secondly, thank you for a recipe using copper moulds! Mine arrived in the post yesterday and
I found (what I think is a good deal) on Etsy from seller ERDMHardware. I paid just over $150 for a set of 12 (including shipping from Bordeaux, France!). I’ve been saving up for these little treasures and was delighted to find such a (relatively) great price.
Very excited about this new adventure, I took to the internet to find a “perfect” and authentic recipe. I was a bit discouraged to see so many recipes using silicone, no mention of the beeswax, etc. – so I was very excited to have found this recipe!
I am going to make the batter this morning and bake in a couple of days. I do not have dark rum on hand, but I do have silver rum and hope that will still do the trick. Fingers crossed!
You are very welcome! Good luck with your canele.
Thank you for a great recipe and instructions
My problem is that the caneles outer layer becomes soft!
They lose the crunch within 2hours after being taken from the oven
Not much you can do I suppose, they are to be eaten the same day, even within a few hours of baking. The only thing I would recommend is let them cool completely then place in an air tight container. That will help them retain the crunch for longer, especially if ambient RH is high.
HI Victor,
May i ask what is the purpose of adding rum in the recipe?
Does it affect the process or taste in any way if not added?
My understanding is that there are two reasons for that. One is that not all rum is baked off so some flavor still remains. Some people are more sensitive to it can taste it, some can’t. Another reason is that unlike water, alcohol does not contribute to the formation of gluten in dough/batter, keeping it wet and supple. When alcohol burns off quickly in the oven, it dries out the crust, which is what we want in canele.
My issue is that canelés that I buy locally taste strongly of rum, which is very appealing. I have tried two ‘workarounds’:
– Injecting with rum syrup … it just runs straight out! 🥴
– Soaking in rum syrup … it softens the crust!😱
Any thoughts??
G.
Hi I bought some food grade bee wax in 2012 in Paris. Have not used them yet. Are they still edible now? How to see if the wax has gone bad? Thanks.
I think you are in luck as pure beeswax doesn’t spoil if stored in cool, dry environment. If it looks fine and smells fine it should be fine to use.
Hi Victor
I notice the beewax has become powdery over time. Does it behave like chocolate where it blooms?
Yes, it does bloom if stored at lower temps than it likes. This is nothing to worry about.
Hi all, I posted a few months ago and wondered if any of the new contributors on the forum had a suggestion for this problem:
I’m finding by the end of the bake that there is little flavour of rum left – it is as if it’s all been baked out. Any thoughts? Has anybody else experienced this ?
Victor – unfortunately I only have silicone molds. Have you tried them? Do you recommend any changes?
(Just got back from Bordeaux and I am hooked!)
I know the feeling. My wife and I can’t imagine living without them.
To answer your question, no, I haven’t tried silicone molds. I jumped right into the realm of copper as was recommended by P. Herme and never looked back. I started with just a few and now have this:
I first tried silicone molds and was very disappointed. I would not recommend them.
My oven only goes to 500, how much more time should I add on to the initial bake? Thanks!
Corrine, that’s unfortunate as the higher initial temp is what helped me eliminate mushrooming. I don’t know if adding time at 500 would help without testing but I have a feeling that bumping it to 15 minutes would make sense.
Do you let the batter come to room temperature before placing it into the oven, or just pour it in cold?
Take out of the fridge, give it quick whisk to re-incorporate the foam cap, pour and bake.
I’m having a problem with my butter separating and forming a crust over my batter when it’s chilling in the fridge. Am I doing something wrong? Is this normal and just needs to be reincorporated? Any help would be very helpful, I have to make a very large batch this week >.<
Hi Andi, to be honest, this is not normal. All you should be getting is a foam cap on top which you get rid of by whisking the batter before pouring into molds. I took a snapshot from my last batch a week ago, this is what it looks like.
Butter separation is an indication that the custard was not stable which allowed fat molecules to come out of suspension. This can be caused by several things. For example, this can be caused by adding the butter too quickly, so the emulsifying agent (egg yolks) got overwhelmed and couldn’t keep linking the fat molecules to the liquid molecules. Or perhaps the butter was not hot enough to get proper emulsification. Perhaps not enough whisking. Perhaps the milk was not warm enough to make a stable custard. Also, let the batter come to room temperature before refrigerating. Sometimes butter can separate when hot custard is shocked by cold temperature.
Hey All,
A major problem I have at present is that by the time I finish baking my canelés … I can’t taste any rum!
It’s like it’s all been ‘baked out’ or something …
Any suggestions …?!
That’s what happens to alcohol… I read somewhere that after 2 hours of baking only about 5% of alcohol remains. Have you thought about infusing canele with rum after baking? I think that is the best way to go about it. I make rum infused tiramisu (a 50/50 sugar and rum syrup) – people love it. To inject, I would use something like a marinade injector.
Many thanks for replying Victor.
I have to confess to still being confused though: if the rum is inevitably going to be ‘baked out’, why is it always required to be added to the batter in all canelé recipes? Or to put it another way, do you professional chefs always have to infuse canelés after baking to get that wonderful rum flavour – it does seem like rather a ‘hack’ …
Any advice would be gratefully received ..!
I can’t speak on behalf of professional chefs as I am not one myself, though I used to work in food industry a while ago. But here is my understanding. There are two reasons for that. One is that not all rum is baked off so some flavor still remains. Some people are more sensitive to it and some less. Another reason is that unlike water, alcohol does not contribute to the formation of gluten in dough/batter, keeping it wet and supple. When alcohol burns off quickly in the oven, it dries out the crust, which is what we want in canele.
OK thanks Victor. 😉
You are very welcome, Grant.
Hey All,
A major problem I have at present is that by the time I finish baking my canelés … I can’t taste any rum!
It’s like it’s all been ‘baked out’ or something …
Any suggestions …?!
Great recipe but the tops of my caneles were white. Everything else was perfect. Any tips?
Are you looking for more tips in addition to the one I mentioned in the post?
Your tip has to do with high initial temp and not filling the mold up too high, correct?
That’s correct. I can’t say I can attribute this problem to anything else.
My husband, who is half French, raised in the US, and I discovered caneles at a corner bakery on our first trip to Paris together. Since then, we have CRAVED them and tried them whenever/wherever we could, but always few and far between. Finally, I splurged on some of the copper mold for him for Christmas. Then we scoured the internet for recipes–and every recipe had a different technique for the molds, the crust, the baking…I came upon your amazing tutorial and thought “Ok, she has figured this out!” We followed your recipe and technique step by step and my husband made perfect Paris-style caneles on the first try! So now we are hooked. We only want to experiment a bit to get a stronger rum flavor–which we think is down to the rum we used, not the quantity–and then we’ll never be chasing caneles again…outside our own kitchen, that is. Thank you for this really excellent, comprehensive post! He had already mastered Madalienes, so we figure if he can do a laminated dough next (Hello, Kouign Amann!), he’ll basically be a real French pastry chef, lol! I urge everyone looking to make caneles to USE THIS RECIPE AND TECHNIQUE! Thank you again!
You are so welcome! Glad I could help. Making caneles was full of frustration for me before I ‘got it’. Glad my post is saving frustration to my readers.
Can you post a picture of how much you filled the canele moulds?
There is one picture in the post with one mold filled… and here is another one with a few molds filled. Hope this helps.
Mushroomed and never receded
I have made these many times in the past but am only now attempting to convert to a Gluten Free version. My family has allergies thus requiring the change. I will try a basic, cup for cup, flour blend first. I am concerned the xantham gum used in GF baking will impede the custard texture, so I am going to omit it on first attempt. Any other tips you might offer?
Oh, I wish I could but have practically no experience with GF baking. I hope they turn out great. Please, post your results here, I am sure there are others here who would be very interested in a good GF version of canele.
Ok! Got it…this was not an easy conversion:
Your recipe with these adaptions:
*100g simple GF flour blend
½ tsp fine salt
*makes 1C=140g (93 g superfine white rice flour, 32g potato starch, 15g tapioca starch/flour)
Changes to directions:
Resting is not necessary because there is no gluten. However, the batter tastes better after it rests.
Do not use a butter/beeswax blend in the molds, beeswax only. They will not rise with the butter. A thin layer worked best.
Do not chill the molds, let them come to a warm room temperature. fill them with chilled batter
Fill mold almost to the top
Bake on a cookie sheet
Bake at 500 for 15 minutes then reduce temperature to 375 for 55 more minutes. They must be very dark brown or the centers will be mushy (The 550 oven made the bottoms too crispy)
Let the finished Caneles rest for 2 minutes in the molds. Loosen the side with a knife gently. Flip on a cooling rack. They are very fragile. Must rest at least an hour to let the custard set.
Happy Baking!
Thank you, Lanna. I am surprised to learn that butter prevented canele from rising. Glad to see a successful GF version of the recipe.
I wanted to say that this is the best cannele recipie I have found by far. I started out with the copper tins and beeswax after reading they’d provide the best results. However, I still went through so many bad batches with other recipes that I knew something must be off (especially after the one recipe I was using that didn’t say to rest the batter and had no high heat at the start).
Thanks for sharing all this info, it’s helped me make exactly the canneles I wanted and saved me from more bad batches!
Hi Josh, glad I could help. Thank you for the feedback.
I made these for the first time this week using your recipe and they were AMAZING. I honestly did not expect them to be as fabulous as they were. Thank you so much.
Fabulous they are;) And like nothing else.
You did a fantastic job with this recipe. My first go was pretty good but by batch 5 I was really happy.
I like a more custardy texture to the interior so I’m experimenting right now with 1 less whole egg in favor of 2 more yolks. And I’m also experimenting with a rum + triple sec combo vs. just rum.
But your recipe was the starting point to give me the confidence to iterate from here.
Thank you!!
Happy to hear that, Charles. Glad I could help. Portuguese pastéis de nata and caneles I cannot live without. I had to learn to make them perfect.;)
I just made my first batch and have another on the oven. Naughtily I tried one (I had never even eaten one before, let alone baked them!) even before it had totally cooled. Wow! It was everything I hoped and more. A crunchy toffee like shel and delicately scented custard centre. My husband was ridiculously impressed. What a bizarre little creature it is. I’ve never tasted anything quite like it. The process of making them was fascinating and a little strange to me. Thank you so much for your detailed description and photos. I’m sure it saved me a lot of heartache. Just for the record, I used a heavy, non stick Canele tray and they worked out well. I better go to the kitchen now and make sure the husband is not helping himself to more. These little lovelies will be shared with my French class.
I am very happy to hear that my post helped you, Jane. I share your fascination with canele, they are unique, adorable and have a long history. My copper molds got so rustic looking that every time I use them I feel like I am in a kitchen of some old French patisserie. A truly unique experience, both making them and enjoying.
These came out almost perfect! I think I need to work on getting a thinner coat of wax because it left a waxy mouthfeel that I’ve never had with other caneles but other than that my caneles were perfect! I used to make these daily in Manhattan about ten years ago and these were spot on! I’m bummed I lost the recipe for them because they were lemon lavender caneles and sooo good. This is the first time I’ve made them in my home and I’m glad I found your detailed page first before having to run through a bunch of other recipes. Thank you! I’ll be scrolling through your blog quite often now as I really appreciate all the detailed explanations you give.
You are very welcome. To get a thin coating, keep the molds and the wax a little warmer than you did. Pour the wax/butter mixture in and pour out very quickly. Don’t brush. That should do it.
In the past, I’ve used a silicone mold to make these. No real puffing issue but no crunchy exterior. So I invested in copper molds via the Amazon site.
I seasoned them as instructed. Coated them with the bee’s wax/butter mixture.
Both times mine blew up and out of the molds. They didn’t sink back in. I have a convection option on my stove so I’ll give that a try next time. But, so far, this isn’t working for me.
BUT, I did get the crunchy exterior and creamy interior. So, other than looks, this was the correct flavor and texture.
I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong with the rising batter.
Your recipe was perfect! Thank you so much! On my first attempt at making these, and it worked!!!
So glad to hear that, Diana. My first few attempts were a disaster, but the again, I used a wrong technique at first. Glad my experience helped you.
I have been thinking and searching and comparing cannele recipes, fortunately I chose yours and my instinct was right. I just made this today, at first I was kind of nervous with the thought that mine would not be successful but I have strong faith about it. And yes I did it and I was very happy with the result. They You were right, they did rise up and did fall back down slowly when I turned down the temperature, “no mushrooming”. I didn’t use the butter and beeswax mixture, I just used only butter and I didn’t have any problem about sticking on the molder. It was truly a big success for me as my first time baking Canneles. And oh! I love how it tastes, man, really love it. I have not baked them all. I just baked only two (24 hrs of chilling) as a trial : ) I would love to show you the photos of my Canneles : ) Thank you so much for your recipe and effort to write this recipe for us who wants to try Canneles. You know I am so proud of myself as a self-taught baker. Baking is my passion. I am happy and it makes me happy whenever I cook/bake something especially if they turns out perfect. Thank you again. God bless!!
I feel very happy when my posts help others. I am glad it helped you too. Thank you for posting a detailed feedback, Ann.
Just prepared batter. Started to season pan and read it’s only to be used to 230C! That’s 446F. I don’t want to waste batter but I’m concerned about baking at 550F – maybe I can get away with it for 10 minutes? Just couldn’t invest in copper at this time. Thank you.
This is not a good idea I am afraid. It’s most likely coated with some sort of non-stick material that will start releasing harmful chemicals if heated over safe limit. That or it will start degrading at high temps. That said, I’ve done crazier things in my kitchen;-)
Victor, thanks for your informative post. Unfortunately I read it after my first dismal failure! I am going to try your techniques for my next batch. One question, my Canelés stuck to the molds terribly. The butter wax mix seemed to bubble out at the beginning, then the Canelés rose and sank back into the mold. The color looked pretty good at the end, but they were gooey on the inside and stuck so that I couldn’t get them out intact. Any thoughts on this problem? Thanks!
Kathy
Hm… it will sound like an obvious thing, but did you season your molds before using them? Once they dropped in, what temp did you use to finish them baking?
I have both the copper molds and a silicone mold that holds 8. Do I need to do the wax/butter lining in the silicone pan? Do you have any tips for using the silicone molds?
Sorry, Deborah, I never tried silicone molds so I can’t really answer. Perhaps someone who has can answer?
I ma pastry chef.
Thank you for your beautiful
Recipes.
You are very welcome.
Thank you very much for your blog. Can you recommend some advice for an issue I am having? I am following standard recipe with 10min at 500F and then 50min at 375F…the exterior comes out great, but the interior seems too custardy, almost not fully cooked. To avoid burning the outside but yet cooking fully the inside, should I cook less at high temperature and longer at lower temperature? Thanks.
Justin,
It’s hard to give a precise answer without knowing details and experimenting a little. Pierre Herme recommends 15 min at 450F and 60-75 min at 350F afterwards. That never worked for, period. You can try and see it works for you to get the desired results. My problems was that caneles would pop out and never settle back in. Only high initial temps would help. If you are having a similar problem you can try high temp initially than lower to 350F for 60 min and see if that works.
Also, check to how you oven bakes. Is it possible that it bakes cooler than it reports? Kitchen ovens are notorious for being off, hence the saying that ‘everyone’s oven bakes differently’. Do you have a baking stone? If so, try baking caneles on a baking sheet set on top of a baking stone. It should help cooking the pastries inside more efficiently.
Great write up! Where did you buy the generic caneles mold from Bordeaux? Can it be order online?
Thanks!
Thanks! I am sure they can, though shipping from Europe can be a deal breaker. I got mine from some local store – a colleague of mine is from there and I asked him to buy a few molds for me when here was going there on vacation.
How did you clean the black spots off these molds?
Not sure which spots you are referring to. Are they on the inside or on the outside? All I do is wipe the molds with paper towels. I don’t obsess with cleaning them spotless, it’s not necessary. Occasionally, I get a few stubborn pieces stuck in the crevices at the bottom of the mold and I use a Q-tip to get them out.
This recipe works awesome! I used the recipe in the book sold on Amazon, and the inside was goopy, not a honey-combed custard. I had cooked those on convection, and think the outside crisped too early. I’ve been using a nonstick pan, but just recieved my tins, and plan on giving them a go. I’ve used bread flour, and cane and/or raw sugar in mine. I found that the batch that sat for 3 days, made with raw, stood up taller in the pan than one day rest batter. Probably due to the flour fully hydrating? I’ve also had fun interchanging the alcohol from 23 yr rum, to a whiskey/cointreau mix, Grand Marnier, and Rum/Chartuese. I live at 4000′ elevation, and have been cooking at 550 for 10 and 375 for 50-53 minutes. I am now fully addicted to the point that I have the recipe memorized, and my neighbors have been getting them for christmas. Great Post!
Fantastic! Great to heat it. Thank you for stopping by and leaving feedback.
I’ve made this recipe several times and I think it’s one of the best I’ve found so far! my family loves these and I never have enough 🙂 I do have one question however. I find personally that when I eat these, I’m left with the feeling the my mouth is coated in the beeswax. I used the amount you specified here but do you have any ideas on how to do away with this effect? It’s a bit distracting. Thank you!
Hi Nesa, interesting observation. My ratios are very typical, no less no more than what they use in French bakeries based on my research, I try to be as authentic as possible with these. The wax never bothered me, I’ve always treated the waxy feeling in my mouth as part of the authentic canele eating experience. I like it. I’ve seen a French product called ‘slider’, I actually used it, it is less waxy but I did not like it at all.
If the wax bothers you, try coating the mold with a hotter mix, that will allow you to get a thinner coat. Alternatively, use less wax and more butter in you ratio, see if that helps. Without experimenting it’s hard to say what you will find acceptable for your taste.
So any worries about the tin lining melting at such high heat?
Never had any problem with that. The molds are designed to withstand high temps. My molds are holding up very well after several dozen bakes.
Can’t wait to try these! By chance do you know which brand of dark rum you used? Last time I tried cooking with that ingredient the entire cake I made just reeked and the taste was way too strong. Please advise!! Thanks!!
I typically bake with Bacardi rum, but also have been using Captain Morgan Jamaica dark rum that friends gave me as a gift. Never noticed that either was overpowering. Some people are more sensitive to certain smells/flavors. I’d say skip the rum and use the liquor that you like. If you like brandy or cognac, use those. If you don’t like alcohol, I would skip it altogether.
Thanks for sharing step by step process. If you’re using a big commercial convection oven do you you have the fan on or off?
Are there any other alternative for beeswax? Can I use butter and sugar to coat the mold?
Thanks!
Hi! Typically convection is not used, but there is no harm in trying a small batch and see how it turns out.
An alternative to beeswax would be a challenge. Beeswax is what gives caneles their unique sheen and that feel as you eat them. In France they sell a product called Slider, which some commercial bakeries use supposedly. It’s a more economical alternative to beeswax. I sourced a can and tried with one batch and did not like the results. I am back to beeswax. Now, if you don’t care about that authentic look/taste, it’s a different matter, and sugar/butter mix may give you acceptable results.
Thank you so much, Victor, once again for your well thought out and detailed reply and suggestions. I will try coating the molds as thinly as possible with the bees wax next time and see if that improves the “white bottom” problem, and perhaps get less spillage out of the molds during bake-time. You are right, I suppose, no matter which technique you master making Caneles is not a fool proof endeavor. But we can come as close to perfection as possible if we keep experimenting; practice does make perfect!
Thank you, Marie
Hello Victor,
It’s Marie again! 🙂
I have made Canele de Bordeaux several times following your recipe and method to great success. Thank you!!! Seems my only challenge is that the bees wax/butter coating inside the copper molds melt when they hit the hot oven and spill onto the baking sheet and burn during baking time; leaving the batter inside the molds without much bees wax. I do as you instruct: I evenly coat the molds with the bees wax/butter mixture and put them in the freezer for 10 minutes, fill my batter almost to the top and bake at the temperatures you recommend. My batter does not rise and spill over, it remains in tact (thanks to your ingenuis temperature technique), so, the batter is not the problem. Some of my batches seem to have less bees wax spillage, resulting in much more evenly baked caramelized Caneles, whereas, with more bees wax spilling out the Caneles get that “white bottom” and lack caramelization. Any suggestions to prevent the beeswax from spilling out, or is this normal and expected? Thanks so much for your time!
Hi Marie,
I haven’t been paying attention to the issue that you are describing, I sort of do it now and am happy with the results. I do get ‘white bottoms’ every now and again, but I don’t worry about those, the caneles still taste awesome. Back in the day I’ve gone through dozens and dozens of canele pictures from famous French bakeries to see how theirs looked and I did see quite a few of those with ‘white bottoms’. So, that is a common thing and nothing to worry about. I guess the process is not 100% fool-proof. One thing I would suggest is to try and make the bees wax coating as thin as possible. When you coat the mold, keep the molds and the wax sufficiently warm. I think ‘white bottoms’ are directly correlated with excess bees wax. The wax will always melt quickly in super hot oven and gather at the bottom, and some will spill over. I think if you have too much of it at the bottom, there will be much less contact with the metal and that’s how you get poor caramelization. Let me know if your experiments prove this theory.
Hello again Victor!
I’m writing to let you know I made my first Caneles using your recipe and I meticulously followed your instructions. Thank you so much for your post and tips that made if very helpful for me. My Caneles turned out perfect!
Hello, Marie. You are very welcome and I am glad to hear that you had success with making your caneles.
Hello Victor!
I have been bitten by the canele bug and have been feverishly researching and reading to inform and prepare myself for my first attempt at making them. As aforementioned, I have perused many sites, and yours was the most informative,
detailed, and educational of them all. Thank you for going through the trouble to share your knowledge with us. How very helpful and much appreciated! I ordered my copper molds from Amazon; the same set of 4 in the link you included here (they are no longer $34.99 but still a good deal). I will season them upon arrival, and will venture my first attempt following your recipe. You have so many great tips here. Do you keep the battery cold in the fridge until ready to pour into the cold molds? I will let you know how mine turn out. Thanks so much again!
Hello Marie,
Thank you for taking time to post your feedback, glad you’ve found my information helpful. Yes, I do keep the batter in the fridge up until I use it. I never tested if that makes any difference though. The only thing that is critical is to mix the batter before pouring into molds. And yes, let me know how they turn out.
Hello! So looking forward to making these soon. How many caneles does your recipe make?
Thanks so much,
Sarah
14-16, depending on how much you fill the 2-inch molds.
Thanks so much for your amazing direction. My canneles looked perfect but were not that nice burnt look and they tasted more like a vanilla custard tart than the cake that I had at the bakery. Any ideas? I would love some help.
I am puzzled about your comment. Caneles taste nothing like a cake, and very much like custard. That’s the idea – to get a soft, custardy inside and a dark, crunchy exterior. It looks like the bakery is doing something wrong. Perhaps they do it intentionally as a true canele takes effort, time and good ingredients to make. A local French bakery here makes them only twice a week. I think I know why.
YOU ARE MY HERO. I baked these, using your recipe and only yours, and they came out wonderful. Actually, correction: the first batch were just pretty good, the next batch (same batter, but around 22 hours had passed) were even better in texture and colour consistency and the third, almost perfect. There are a few bakeries that bake canneles in Melbourne now so my husband and I have had a few so we’re quite discerning, and these came out almost as good as the number 1 canneles that we’ve tried. Eep!
So thanks for such an in-depth and considered recipe, and for all your trialling and testing. I only have three cannele moulds so I need to buy more – that’s partly why I had to do so many batches throught the week – but I absolutely think it’s important to use copper.
Andrea, thanks for sharing your success story with baking caneles. Glad my post was helpful.
So I wanted to add an additional flavor to the caneles (specifically banana). Any advice on how I can go about doing that?
Never tried doing that. Incorporating banana pulp to the batter without any further modifications will change the integrity of the canele. You would need to experiment with the ratios. I think the simplest method would be to try filling the molds 2/3 – 3/4 of the way and dropping a few small banana pieces in each mold. This way the integrity of the batter will remain the same and you will get the banana flavor.
Hi Victor,
I notice that the molds pictured on your blog don’t match the picture of the mold on the Mauviel website (https://www.mauvielusa.com/Copper-Tinned-Canele-Mold-plu4180.55.html). The sides on your molds are more vertical rather than tapered, the fluting on the sides is deeper, and the dimple on the bottom (top) is more recessed. Do you know, are your molds an accurate representation of what they actually sell, or is the picture on their website more correct?
Hi Brad,
I am not sure. Judging by the picture, mine do look slightly different from those on Mauviel’s website. It’s possible that the seller / Amazon I purchased from sent me Matfer Bourgeat instead of Mauviel. Upon closer look, mine do look more like Matfer.
That said, I now have 20 canele molds, with 12 coming directly from France. They were purchased and brought to me by my colleague who went to Bordeaux to visit family. They came in unbranded packaging, but they look nearly identical to the ones I purchased from Amazon. I can stack them and they fit into one another exactly the same.
Thank you, Victor for your blog! Your recipe & method works super well.
No more mushrooming after following your recipe! My oven doesn’t go as high as 550F. Luckily at 480F (maximum temperature) on convection setting for 10 mins, then reducing temperature to 375F on conventional setting works for me.
My caneles look good & taste yummy. I’ll be trying your other recipes soon!
Good to hear, Amy. Sometimes little things like that make a world of a difference.
They look so good! How many does this recipe make?
Thank you, Michelle. This recipe is good for about 14-16 caneles if using standard 2-inch molds.
loveeeeely. And such an informative writing. Thank you for sharing your process 🙂
Ray from San Francisco
Thank you for the kind words, Ray. Good luck making your caneles. They are worth the effort.
Your caneles look so beautiful. I, too, have had the same mushroom problem for the longest time. I’ve tried so many different things as you mentioned. I’m going to try the high temperature trick and see what happen.
Why do you call for bread flour? I read one recipe and thought pastry flour should be used? Any reason for the high protein flour?
Thank you for the post!
Very good question. I did a lot of experimenting with the flour as well, and tend to agree with the Chefsteps.com’s findings that bread flour results in denser interior and crunchier shell, just how I like it. Now, if you go to pastry flour, you will get much less of that contrast between the interior and the shell. In the end it’s all about personal preference.
Victor,
Thank you for the reply. I’m going to try all three types of flour and see what I like. I did see chef.com calling for bread flour. That’s the first time I see someone use bread flour. Just like pate choux, some uses AP, some uses bread and some uses cake flour (a lot of Japanese recipes use cake flour).
Thank you again for your post!
You are very welcome. I think this is the best approach, to try all three and pick the one the you like the best. You may be surprised.
Thank you for this great expose’. Making these has been on my bucket list for quite a while now. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
You are welcome, Mitch. Glad you found my post informative. Good luck with your canneles. They are worth the effort.
Wow, I must say, you are an amazing baker, coz Canele is not at all easy to make! You have mastered the process…Thanks for sharing your experience! We recently went to France on a holiday, and enjoyed the Caneles there.
After abut 20 botched batches I had better mastered the process 😉 Yes, it was a challenge but the feeling of great satisfaction and pride after I finally got it was well worth the effort.