I was following this recipe from seriouseats.com and I am pretty happy with the way they came out.
The crust is probably as good as it can get given I am using a silicone mold but I was wondering if the inside is too dense and custardy. If anyone has made them before I would appreciate your input, thanks!
Hi, good job on the canelés. Yours do seem denser than what seems typical, though the outside looks like the right color. It looks like the Seriouseats recipe photos also show a more open structure. I’ve bought them many times and made them a few times, but with copper molds, and posted about it while back. You can check my pics and recipe for comparison if you want, though the difference in molds may result in different outcomes. https://www.reddit.com/r/Baking/comments/5wjnn5/canelé/
Some ideas - Did you weigh your ingredients? Was the confectioner’s sugar a poorly controlled variable in terms of corn starch inclusion? Was the oven thoroughly preheated?
I also see that the one in the cross section pic looks to have sunken in quite a bit on the sides compared to the one in the pic showing the exterior. Did that happen as they cooled? Was it cut before or after it cooled? It might be a clue of some sort, but it’s hard to say.
Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post in such detail! I checked out yours on reddit and they really do look amazing.
Regarding your advice, I made the recipe three times in the last month, weighing the ingredients, and the consistency was pretty much the same across all batches. I was only able to optimize the browning somewhat by leaving it on 500F for ~20 minutes instead of 15.
Good catch that my recipe does not include corn starch. I guess they are relying on the confectioner’s sugar including it but I checked mine and it really just is 100% sugar. I’ll try adding some corn starch to the next batch.
I don’t think I allowed the oven to pre-heat properly. It’s a pretty simple one without a fan and I put the Canéle in as soon as the heating indicator turned off. I’ll let it sit for a bit longer to allow it to heat up more evenly next time.
The one I cut in half for the cross-section pic was still warm so I might have squished it a bit. I’ll post pics of the next batch once I get around to making it. Thank you again for all your advice!