Madeira Cake
A fine buttery crumb with a lemon lift — teatime's reliable, icing-optional backbone.
- Total
- 60 min
- Serves
- 4
The plainest cake that proves butter is enough: a fine, close-grained sponge of butter, sugar, eggs and flour, lifted with lemon and mixed peel, baked until golden with the signature crack on top. Madeira cake is teatime's reliable backbone — firm enough to slice thin, rich enough to need no icing. A cup of tea is the only accessory.
Ingredients
- 175g Butter
- 175g Caster Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 250g Self-raising Flour
- 3 tbs Milk
- Zest of 1 Lemon
- To Glaze Mixed Peel
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Grease an 18cm/7in round cake tin, line the base with greaseproof paper and grease the paper.
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating the mixture well between each one and adding a tablespoon of the flour with the last egg to prevent the mixture curdling.
- Sift the flour and gently fold in, with enough milk to give a mixture that falls slowly from the spoon. Fold in the lemon zest.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and lightly level the top. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and set aside to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn it out on to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
- To serve, decorate the cake with the candied peel.
Nutrition (per serving)
- Calories
- 360
- Protein
- 5.5 g
- Fat
- 16 g
- Carbs
- 50 g
Adapted from bbc.co.uk. Rewritten and re-photographed by MealIdeas.
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