My mother was (and is) a fantastic cook and baker.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a sweet tooth as a child, and I didn’t appreciate her creations as much as I could have.

But I do remember her madeleine very fondly apparently because that was one of my favorite pastries she made.

It’s a simple buttery type of cake, and it’s usually baked in a pretty shell-shaped pan.

I was so excited when I found this pan.

This is so pretty!!

These turned out exactly how I wanted my madeleines to be.

Their outside is wonderfully crispy, and inside is soft and moist.

I poured the batter a bit too much, and they resulted in forming a “ring” around it.

I actually really liked the crispy ring part, but next time I will put less so that they will look more like real shells.

By the way, this is another pan that I initially purchased.

It looked the same as the Chefmade one on an online shop.

But…

This is the Chefmade brand, and when you compare them side by side, you see clear differences between them.

My first one was from a different brand, and it was much cheaper.

It’s a personal preference, but I like my new pan better because of it’s overall shape and clearly defined lines.

These are the ones baked in my first pan.

The name is confusing, but this is a lemon-shaped orange-chocolate cake.

The cakes were decorated with orange icing, semi-sweet chocolate drizzle, orange zest, and cacao nibs.

I am so excited because these cakes turned out exactly how I wanted them to be.

Pretty and sophisticated, but not girly.

Serve these with black coffee.

I just recently bought cacao nibs for the first time.

I had been interested in it for a long time, and I had read about it,.

But this was something you never know exactly what it is until you actually try it.

It tastes like chocolate, and it tastes like nuts.

Slightly sweet, and then somewhat bitter.

Did I like it?

Yes I did.

This was a perfect topping for these cakes.