Madeira Cake

“This is baking at its simplest and most elegant. There’s no folderol or fancy footwork: you just feel humble and worthy and brimming with good things.” Awwwww! Doesn’t this quote make you want to buy lemons and dust off your old granny’s baking pan, just so you can try your hands at making this cake? Well, it does for me anyway, and that is what I did yesterday morning. A Madeira cake is a classic English sponge cake, and although the name would have you believe otherwise, it does not originate from the Madeira Islands. The cake is named after Madeira wine, which is not included in the cake itself. My best guess is that this cake is usually served with a glass of Madeira wine in England … Am I right? Wine or no wine, this cake was lovely! Rating: 4 out of 5.

My Mother-in-law's Madeira Cake recipe: Nigella Lawson - How To Be A Domestic Goddess

Ingredients:
- 1 cup softened unsalted butter (240g)
- ¾ cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling (200g)
- grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ⅓ self-rising cake flour (210g)
- ½ cup all-purpose flour (90g)

Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF (170ºC).
- Cream the butter and sugar, and add the lemon zest. Add the eggs one at a time with a tablespoon of the flour for each. Then gently mix in the rest of the flour and, finally, the lemon juice. Sprinkle with sugar (about 2 tablespoons should do it) as it goes into the oven, and bake for 1 hour (I let mine bake for 45 minutes to keep it a little bit moist) or until a cake-tester comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack, and let cool in the tin before turning out.


My-Dear-A Cake.

It is best described as a damp lemon pound cake.

The lemon zest countered the sweetness of the cake,
making it an ‘eat-all-day-long’ kind of cake.

The texture was incredibly light and smooth.
I like to serve this cake sliced and sandwiched with some raspberry jam.