Friday 27 February 2009

RECIPE: PERFECT MADEIRA CAKE



This recipe for MADEIRA CAKE works every time I make it and it is so easy too. I usually make MADEIRA CAKE for birthday cakes as it is easy to work with (it is firm, as oppose to sponge cakes) when using BUTTER or royal icing. I made this cake for my son’s birthday recently.


Ingredients – for 18 cm square tin or 20 cm round tin

350 g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
250g softened margarine (I used softened butter)
250g caster sugar
4 xl eggs – beaten
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice


Method

Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease the tin and line the tin with double thickness of greaseproof/baking paper. Grease the paper and set the tin aside.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Add in the sugar; mix well with a wooden spoon.

Now add in the margarine/butter, eggs and lemon juice. Stir with a wooden spoon until well combined.

Now beat the mixture, either using the wooden spoon, vigorously for two mins or one minute using electric beaters on medium speed.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours. To test if baked, press lightly in the middle. If the cake springs back, it is baked. Or alternatively, test by inserting skewer in the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.


Leave to cool in the tin for 5 mins and then turn onto a wire rack. Remove the lining paper and leave to cool. Iced with royal icing or butter icing, such as my BUTTER ICING.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi mummy I really liked the cake.thank you.

ash

hazila said...

Hi Vin,
I still have no guts to deco a cake.May be one day..hopefully.

lubnakarim06 said...

Wow awesome decoration on cake. Love the sky blue color. Looks tempting and alluring. Wish i could lick some cream. Ummmmmmm

Unknown said...

wow..looks yummy & delicious...nice click.. thxs for sharing..

VG said...

Hi son, thank you. Sorry mum took all this time to put the post up.

Hello Hazila, Even I am not an expert, trust me. But practice makes perfect. I started with easy designs on cup cakes then I ventured to cakes :D

Thank you Lubna. My son wanted a blue car but I told him it was too complicated so he got this instead, LOL. Please feel free to lick some 'cyber' cream.

Thanks Priya. Glad to hear you like and happy to share with my friends.

AnuSriram said...

Looks lovely! Nice decoration! Fluffy and delicious!

Usha said...

Cake looks lovely, wonderful decoration :-)

VG said...

Thank you Anu and Usha.

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous VG. I could eat the whole cake. And where do you get all your china? This one looks awesome!!

Grace

VG said...

Thanks Grace. As you noticed, I love my china. Most of them are preloved collectables, which I source from auctions, fetes, ebay, garage sales and newspaper classifieds

There's some provenance attached to this set. I got this from an old lady (bless her) whose husband bought it as a gift for her when he was stationed in Tokyo in 1946 after WW2. This set is made by Seyei, Nagoya Japan. There were 78 pcs in this set, my best ever buy to date!

Menaka D said...

Hi,

I'm going to try this recipe for my husband's birthday (which is tomorrow:P) However, I don't understand what "4 xl eggs – beaten" means.

Thank you.

VG said...

Hi Menaka

XL is extra large eggs. In Australia, eggs are sold according to weight and XL eggs are btw 67 to 70 gms each.

Beaten means beaten with a fork or lighly with a whisk until the eggs are well incorporated, like you would do to make an omelette.

Good luck. let me know how you go.

Menaka D said...

I used wooden spoon to mix the batter and it was rather difficult. I mean, normally one would mix in the butter with sugar first, then eggs and flour etc.
Is there a particular reason why this recipes requires one to start with the flour etc?

And my icing didn't turn out well. I have no idea what happened. It was too hard and um, crumb-like (I don't know if such word exists:P) I left the icing in the open area for a couple of hours before decorating the cake.

My husband loved the cake though. I like baking but most of the times, my cakes/cookies won't turn up well.

VG said...

Hi Menaka

Yes, it was rather difficult to mix the cake...I developed some upper arm muscles after the exercise, LOL!. I have no 'concrete' idea behind the logic of doing the flour first - I believe it is to do with the 'sandy' texture of the cake. Most cakes you start with the butter to get a fluffy texture but madeira cake is supposed to be 'grainy'.

As with your icing, you have provided the reason why it was crumbly....you left it exposed to air. Next time, just add a tsp of hot water/warm milk at a time to get the correct consistency and mix the icing before piping. Icing is best made just before decorating your cake or kept covered with plastic wrap.