Madeira Cake – Easy Baking

Madeira cake is very popular in the UK.  It is to be found in all supermarkets and is often made at home too.  This is a very simple, quite basic, cake which I believe is very similar to pound cake.

Often lightly flavoured with lemon the cake takes very little time to prepare and then with about an hour in the oven it is almost ready.  

The most common shape for this cake is in the form of a loaf cake, though it can be baked in a round tin too if required.  For mine I opted for the more traditional shape and used a 2lb/900g loaf tin, the proportions being 23cmx13cmx7cm.  It seems to me that loaf tins often claim to be 2lb tins, but are often different sizes.  In fact I have 5 tins and each one holds a different volume.  That is why I have specified the dimensions of the tin I used. A slight difference in size wouldn’t make a huge difference though.

I used golden caster sugar for my cake, which has a very slight caramelised flavour, but the normal caster or granulated sugar would be fine too.

It should be noted that Madeira cake, as with many loaf cakes, usually have a split along the top.  That is normal and should be expected.

My cake baked well and I tested it after 60 minutes to check that a skewer came out clean.  Then I removed it from the oven and allowed it to cool for 10 minutes in the tin. Then I transferred the cake to a wire rack to cool completely.

The texture and taste of the cake was simply wonderful.  A light lemon flavour and a moist crumb, slightly heavier than a sponge cake.

This is so easy to make so everyone should give it a try.

Ingredients:

• 300g(2 1/2 cups) plain flour
• 200g(1 cup) golden caster sugar( caster sugar or granulated will be fine too).
• 3 large eggs(xl in USA)
• 240g(2 sticks + 1 tbsp) softened unsalted butter
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• grated zest and the juice from one lemon. (my juice was 2 1/2 tbsp)
• 1 tbsp of milk, if required to slightly loosen the batter.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/150C Fan/340 F.
2. Grease and line a 2lb/900g loaf tin(23cmx13cmx7cm).
3. Place the sugar and butter into a large bowl and cream them together( I used my hand mixer, but manually or with a stand mixer will work too).
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, with a tbsp of flour into the butter mixture and mix until all is combined.
5. Add the lemon zest and mix until combined.
6. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt onto the wet mixture and mix until all is fully combined.
7. Add the lemon juice and again mix until all is combined.
8. Test the mixture to see if it drops fairly easily off a spoon when that spoon is shaken.  If not add a little milk and try again.  It only needs to drop off after a good shake.
9. Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and spread over the base until all is covered and the batter is levelled on the top.
10. Place in the oven and bake for 60 minutes and then test with a skewer, if it comes out clean remove from the oven and allow to cool for ten minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
11. If the skewer is not clean then bake for a further few minutes and test again.  Note:  mine actually baked for 68 minutes.