Soft and spongy red velvet Madeleines filled with cream cheese. These little cakes are perfect for any occasion and easy to put together.

Inspired by the popular red velvet cake or cupcakes, here come the red velvet Madeleines 🙂 Red velvet theme cake is usually popular during holiday times like Christmas. Red velvet usually pairs well with cream cheese and that’s why I snug in some cream cheese as a filling for this red velvet Madeleines.

Why you’ll like this recipe

The recipe is really easy and no-fuss
You don’t need a mixer or anything like that
Whether you chill the batter or not, you still get nice humps on the Madeleines. Chilling it gives a higher hump, but not a huge difference I would say

How to make red velvet cream cheese Madeleines

This recipe can make 9 standard-size madeleines (size of the well: 3 inches height x 2 inches the widest width). Preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C) for a conventional oven. For a convection oven, lower the temperature by 20 F or 15 C.
Combine the softened cream cheese with icing sugar. Cover and keep in the fridge
Whisk egg, sugar, and vanilla extract with a balloon whisk until the sugar dissolves. Sift in the cake flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, and salt
Use a whisk to combine by starting to stir from the middle moving outwards to combine without overmixing. As long as you don’t see pockets of flour, don’t mix anymore. It will smooth out after you add the butter. Add the butter mixture and use a spatula to fold it in until combined. The butter combines nicely to the batter because there’s egg in there. The egg helps the butter and the batter to emulsify nicely. The batter should be smooth and shiny
I have experimented with both. You can bake straight away and still get nice humps. If you choose to chill the batter, I notice that the humps get slightly bigger. So, it’s up to you. Without resting the batter still gives the cake nice humps. As you can see in the photos, those were from batter not resting in the fridge. If you choose to rest the batter in the fridge, rest it for 30 minutes. Don’t do any longer than this as the butter gets too hard. The batter consistency is thick and that’s normal. If it’s too thick, you can let it sit on the counter for 10-15 minutes and it will soften a bit
Transfer the batter to a piping bag so you can fill up the mold easier without much mess and it gives you more control. Alternatively, you can also use a measuring spoon. Fill up about 2/3 of the mold cavity. Put about 1 teaspoon of cream cheese filling and then pipe more batter to cover. Just fill up about 90% of the pan. You don’t need to even out the batter as it spreads as it bakes. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.

Here are examples of how thick the batter can get when you refrigerate for a long time. I forgot about them lol! But it didn’t do any harm, just a very thick batter. They will even out once you put them inside the oven
Put the mold in the middle of the oven. Lower the temperature to 375 F (190 C) for a conventional oven and 350 F (180 C) for a convection oven. Bake for 13-15 minutes. My oven takes about 15 minutes. When you gently touch the surface, the cake should spring back lightly. If they still look wet in the middle, bake for another minute and test again
Immediately remove from the oven and use a toothpick or a small silicon spatula to help you flip the cakes over on their side to cool down in the pan for about 5 minutes and then remove to cooling rack after that. If you put them straight to the cooling rack, there will be cooling rack prints on the cake because the cake was still very soft when they are hot
Dip half of the madeleines into the chocolate and put on a cooling rack with a baking tray lined with parchment paper at the bottom to catch the dripping chocolate. You can also put about 1 teaspoon of melted white chocolate in the madeleine pan and then gently press the cake in there to distribute the chocolate evenly. Let the chocolate set in the fridge for about 15 minutes. You should be able to release the cake easily. If you choose not to coat them with white chocolate, you can dust them with a thin layer of icing sugar if you like.

How to store red velvet cream cheese Madeleines

They are best eaten on the same day, but for whatever reason you have leftovers (you are good!!), keep them in an air-tight container for 2-3 days max. I don’t recommend refrigerating as they dry out these petite cakes!

Did you make this red velvet cream cheese Madeleines recipe?

I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag it to show me what you’ve made 🙂 Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!