Talleyrand. Avice is said to have invented the Madeleine in the 19th century by baking little cakes in aspic moulds. First recipes The term madeleine, used to describe a small cake, seems to appear for the first time in France in the middle of the 18th century. In 1758, a French retainer of an Irish Jacobite refugee in France, Lord Southwell, was said to prepare "cakes à la Madeleine and other small desserts". The appearance of the madeleine is indicative of the increasing use of metal molds in European baking in the 18th century (see also Canelés), but the commercial success of the madeleine dates back to the early years of the 19th century. Several mentions of the madeleine are made by culinary writers during the Napoleonic era, in particular in the recipe books of Antonin Carême and by famous gastronomer Grimod de la Reynière. In Commercy, the production at a large scale of madeleines is said to have begun in the 1760s. In addition to being sold at the Commercy rail station, thus accelerating their spread through the country, is likely that the cakes were exported to Paris along with the marmalade from Bar-le-duc and the croquantes from Rheims. By the end of the 19th century, the madeleine is considered a staple of the diet of the French bourgeoisie. In the twentieth century In a 1971 episode of The French Chef, "Madeleines and Génoise Jelly Roll", host Julia Child demonstrated how to make madeleines. In the twenty-first century Madeleines were chosen to represent France in the Café Europe initiative of the Austrian presidency of the European Union, on Europe Day 2006. Literary reference In In Search of Lost Time (also known as Remembrance of Things Past), author Marcel Proust uses madeleines to contrast involuntary memory with voluntary memory. The latter designates memories retrieved by "intelligence", that is, memories produced by putting conscious effort into remembering events, people, and places. Proust's narrator laments that such memories are inevitably partial, and do not bear the "essence" of the past. The most famous instance of involuntary memory by Proust is known as the "episode of the madeleine", yet there are at least half a dozen other examples in In Search of Lost Time. See also Bahulu, a Malaysian version of madeleines, inspired by European influence Financier, a similar cake with ground almonds and much more butter References French cakes In Search of