http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeleine_(cake)

The madeleine or petite madeleine is a traditional cake (mistakenly translated as a cookie in Polish) from Commercy, a commune of the Meuse département in northeastern France.

Madeleines are very small cakes with a distinctive shell-like shape acquired from being baked in pans with shell-shaped depressions. Their flavour is similar to, but somewhat lighter than, pound cake, with a pronounced butter-and-lemon taste.

Some sources, including the New Oxford American Dictionary, say madeleines may have been named for a 19th century pastry cook, Madeleine Paulmier, but other sources have it that Madeleine Paulmier was a cook in the 18th century for Stanisław Leszczyński, whose son-in-law, Louis XV of France, named them for her. The Larousse Gastronomique offers two conflicting versions of the Madeleine's history.

There is an old French saying that madeleines are supposed to take one back to one's childhood. 

Aside from the traditional moulded pan, commonly found in stores specialising in kitchen equipment and even hardware stores, few tools are required to make madeleines. Traditional recipes include very finely ground nuts (usually almonds) as well as common cake ingredients such as flour, eggs, butter, sugar and vanilla.

Madeleines were chosen to represent France in the Café Europe initiative of the Austrian presidency of the European Union, on Europe Day 2006.

Josh Friedland (18 April 2004). ""Post-Proustian Madeleines."

"The historical origins of the madeleine are disputed, and Larousse Gastronomique relates two conflicting accounts of the cake’s invention. One story lays the origins of the madeleine at the feet of one Jean Avice, the “master of choux pastry,” who worked as a pastry chef for Prince Talleyrand. Avice is said to have invented the Madeleine in the 19th century by baking little cakes in aspic molds. Another account puts the origins of the madeleine much earlier, dating to the 1700s, when they were supposedly first made in the town of Commercy in Lorraine, then popularized at Versailles and later in Paris by Stanislas Leczinski, King of Poland and father-in-law of Louis XV.".

http://blog.yam.com/pastry/article/12681741 

眾說紛紜的起源

　首先較戲劇性的是：路易15有個情婦龐巴杜侯爵夫人，不僅是個美人也是個才女，雖是國王的情婦，反而比王后瑪莉．勒金斯卡（Marie Leczinski）握有實權的「影子宰相」。他握有實權的10年中，正是優雅洛可可時代的最盛期。所謂「要吸引男人就先抓住他的胃」，瑪莉王后有個美食家父親遜位波蘭王史坦尼思拉斯．勒金斯卡（Stanislas Leczinski），史坦尼思拉斯常常會教他女兒幾招廚藝，以避免他女兒在路易15面前失寵。1755年的某一天，史坦尼思拉斯在洛林 省的柯梅西（Câteau de Commercy）閒逛時（因為路易15將洛林地區賜予史塔尼思拉斯管理，所以他也被稱為洛林公），遇到了一位農夫的女兒瑪德萊娜做了一款甜點，史坦尼思拉斯非常喜歡，於是向瑪德萊娜學做了這款甜點，然後傳授給他的女兒瑪莉王后。還有一個版本是說，史坦尼思拉斯開趴時，做甜點的師傅鬧脾氣不做了，主廚想起來幫忙的小女孩瑪德萊娜做點心的手藝不錯，於是就請瑪德萊娜幫忙，瑪德萊娜做出的這款點心頗受好評，史坦尼思拉斯就以這小女孩的名字為點心的名字。不過，這個講法比較不可信，一個美食家開的趴的甜點，不可能就靠這個類似海綿蛋糕的點心撐場吧！

　還有一個起源說：法國大革命之後的政治兼外交家塔列朗（Talleyand），他聘請的主廚艾維斯（Avice）把貝殼狀的果凍模倒上麵糊去烤，結果出爐的成品，塔列朗很喜歡，於是就以他的情婦瑪德萊娜為名字。 

為什麼是貝殼形狀？ 

 相傳耶穌的12門徒之一雅各，被猶太國王希律亞基帕一世下令斬首，他的遺體被運葬到現在西班牙的孔波斯特拉的聖地亞哥（Santiago de Compostela）。此後，聖地亞哥成為信徒的朝聖地。經年累月絡繹不絕的朝聖者，慢慢的走出兩條朝聖路線。一條在西班牙的境內，另一條從法國境內延伸到西班牙的聖地亞哥。朝聖者們，都會佩帶做成貝殼狀的麵食，因為聖雅各的象徵物為貝殼。因此，被推測瑪德萊娜做成貝殼形狀的來源。 

 　不過，歐洲在17 世紀巴洛克時代，普遍流行貝殼的裝飾。當時的王公貴族們，喜愛收集世界的珍奇異物，尤其是貝殼。不僅是貝殼造型多變美麗，數量多容易收藏。對於貝類這種生物，從有機體（肉身）侵占無機體（殼），象徵征服自然的證據。然後又退出無機體，剩下殼。令當時的歐洲人無限的浪漫遐想。在17世紀僅是貴族專有的嗜好，到了18世紀中葉，擴大到一般的市井小民，興起了一股收集貝殼的熱潮。 

　尤其是扇貝殼，簡直是天然的蛋糕模具。一定是有某人，然後在某時，突然靈光一閃，拿了扇貝殼當模子來烤蛋糕。於是，瑪德萊娜的貝殼造型，也是歷史推進的必然結果吧！