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New ZealandFlavors · Bordeaux
Small cake made from milk, eggs, flour and sugar, scented with rum and vanilla and baked in fluted copper molds, with a dark caramelized crust and creamy interior. It is the sweet symbol of Bordeaux.
Traditional sweet from Bordeaux, Nova Aquitânia
Also known as: cannelé, canelé de Bordeaux, cannelé bordelais
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Canelé — Bordeaux, France
The canelé is a small, tall, fluted cake. The batter, similar to pancake batter, contains milk, eggs, flour, sugar and butter, and is flavored with rum and vanilla. It rests for one or two days before going into the oven, in individual copper molds greased with butter and, in some recipes, beeswax. The result is a dark, caramelized, crisp crust and a soft, moist interior.
The most told origin links the pastry to the nuns of the Convent of the Annonciades in Bordeaux, who are said to have made it with flour gathered at the port. There is no document that proves this story; the current form only appears in 20th-century texts. Rum and vanilla are often mentioned as markers of the port of Bordeaux’s trade with the Antilles.
In 1985, the city’s pastry chefs formed the Confrérie du canelé de Bordeaux to protect the recipe, and they began writing the name with a single n, canelé, to distinguish the Bordelais pastry. The spelling with two n’s continues to be used outside the city.
Today canelé is sold in all of Bordeaux’s patisseries, in sizes from mini to large, and accompanies breakfast, an afternoon snack or a glass of wine.
Bordeaux , Nova Aquitânia
Sweet symbol of the city, defended by a brotherhood of Bordeaux pastry chefs since 1985.
Milk, eggs (especially yolks), flour, sugar, butter, rum and vanilla; copper molds greased with butter or beeswax.
By hand, preferably the same day it was baked, while the crust is still crisp. Served with coffee, tea or a sweet wine.
Year-round, for breakfast, as an afternoon snack or as a dessert.
Your questions
In 1985 Bordeaux pastry chefs created a brotherhood for the pastry and adopted the single-n spelling to distinguish the Bordelais canelé. The spelling cannelé remains in use.
The most told story attributes it to the nuns of the Convent of the Annonciades in Bordeaux, but there is no document that confirms it; the pastry’s current form appears in 20th-century texts.
Copper conducts heat well and produces the dark, caramelized crust while keeping the interior tender.
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