After several requests from workshop students, I am posting the “Madeira Cake” blog. Good luck and hope this helps you.
Before working at Lindy’s I had never made a Madeira cake. My first attempts weren’t great – they came out of the oven domed, very crispy on the outside and really dry. I had conquered the decorating but the cakes weren’t getting eaten! So Lindy set me a challenge - to create the perfect Madeira!
Well it’s taken three attempts and I’ve cracked it. I used Lindy’s 8” Round Madeira recipe (see below).
Here are the extra tips Lindy has given me from her years of baking experience, plus a few of my own :
- Use real unsalted butter. Margarine and spreads have a too high water content.
- Make sure you take your butter and eggs out of the fridge so they can reach room temperature.
- Lindy’s Madeira should be cooked at 160°C but, as I have a fan oven, I turn it down 20 degrees to 140°C and place a bowl of water on the shelf. My oven has baking trays that slide directly into it so I put one tray in for the cake to sit on and place another tray above it giving enough room for the cake tin plus about three inches clearance. If you don’t have trays that slide in, just use the shelves and place a baking sheet under the cake and on the shelf above.
- Cream the butter and sugar until white. What I do is turn on the mixer and leave it to do it’s thing while I get on with the next stage. This will take about 5-10 minutes.
- Line the inside of the tin as usual and then line the outside of the tin with newspaper – I use lots – at least 5 pages folded to about the height of the tin and secured with Sellotape. This means that the cake will cook slower around the outside and more evenly throughout so you do not end up with a dome in the middle.
- After I have added the eggs (each with a little flour to stop curdling) I then add the flavouring. Lindy’s recipe asks for the zest of two lemons. I love lemony flavours so I add the zest of four lemons and the juice of half a lemon (make sure you put a good spoonful of flour in with this to stop curdling). At this stage you can add glycerine. You need ¼ teaspoon per egg. This helps to keep the cake moist. Add the remainder of the flour and gently fold in.
- When you spoon the mixture into the baking tin you need to scoop out the middle, so all the mixture is around the side of the cake tin and you can see the tin at the bottom (a bit like a ring doughnut!) Don’t be nervous and just make a small dip in the middle – you really need to scoop it up the sides of the tin.
- Put it in the oven and bake for 1½ hours. Check after this time with a skewer in the middle. If it comes out clean the cake is done. If not, depending on how much ingredient sticks to the skewer, give it 10 minutes more until the skewer comes out clean. My cakes take longer than the recipe states because of the newspaper the lower cooking temperature – usually about 2-2¼ hours so don’t worry if it is still a bit “wobbly” at 1¾ hours. Just check every 10 minutes.
- Leave your cake in the tin to cool, then transfer to a cooling rack.
This should produce a firm but moist cake. Why not have a go!
Jane Dolder
Workshop Co-ordinator
8” Madeira Cake
350g (12 oz) Unsalted Butter
350g (12 oz) Caster Sugar
350g (12 oz) Self Raising Flour
175g (6oz) Plain Flour
6 Large Eggs
- Pre-heat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas 3. Grease and line the cake tin (pan) with baking parchment.
- Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until light, fluffy and pale. Sift the flours together in a separate bowl.
- Beat the eggs into the creamed mixture, one at a time, following each with a spoonful of flour, to prevent the mixture curdling.
- Sift the remaining flour into the creamed mixture and fold in carefully with a large metal spoon.
- Transfer to the lined bakeware and bake, see above but everyone’s oven is different.. When the cake is ready it will be well risen, firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre will come out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool then, leaving the lining paper on, wrap the cake in foil or place in an airtight container for at least 12 hours before cutting, to allow the cake to settle.
Different sized/shape tin? Please click here to see a simple chart for changing quantities
Hi Jo
It is best to use butter as the cake texture and taste will be better.
Regards
Zoe
Hi
I was just wondering if I could use Stork instead of butter in this recipe, or will it make the cake less firm and unable to support the sugarpaste
Thanks
Hi Sue
Madeira cake should last for 2 weeks from when you baked it. Once covered, it needs to be stored in a cake box.
Kind regards
Lindy’s Team
Hi
I’ve made the made amdeira cake to your recipe before and it’s great but how long will the madeira cake be OK to eat once decorated (buttercream & fondant)?
Thanks
Sue
Hi Liz
We don’t recommend putting cocoa into a madeira cake.
Try the chocolate fudge cake recipe (link below)
http://www.lindyscakes.co.uk/2011/02/02/lindys-chocolate-fudge-cake-recipe/
Good luck
Kind regards
Lindy’s Team
Hi there,
can I put cocoa powder and milk in the normal Madeira recipe to make it a chocolate madeira?
Thank you
Hi Ange
Try going onto Lindy’s Blog FAQ for tips on how to change your cake recipe quantities (click on link below).
We don’t have any quantities for oblong tins so can’t help you with an exact recipe.
http://www.lindyscakes.co.uk/2009/07/27/how-to-i-change-a-cake-recipe-quanities/
Hope this helps.
Kind regards
Susie
Hi Claire
So sorry to hear you were disappointed with your madeira cake. This type of cake is generally a very heavy cake so that it can hold up the sugarpaste decoration. Although it shouldn’t really be stodgy, but it is nothing like a light victoria sponge, which would collapse under the weight of any sugarpaste topping.
Is is a thick mixture and doesn’t need milk to thin it down, maybe this is what made it stodgy.
You have probably made it right and it sounds like it was cooked through, but it is always a heavy type of cake.
Kind regards
Susie
Hi
Can you please tell me if you can use this recipe for a 13 x 9 inch tin and what the quantities would be. I need to carve the cake from this size.
Thanks
Hi there, I made your madeira yesterday and followed the recipe to the T, it ended up as a very very thick mixture which I added a bit of milk to just so i could mix it. It smelt gorgeous while and after cooking, inserted a metal skewer which came out clean. Today I have decorated it and it looks really good. I tasted a slice and it is so heavy and stodgy. I could cry i had such high hopes for it
What did I do wrong any ideas????
Claire
Hi Rebecca
So glad you are enjoying making Lindy’s madeira cake recipe. It’s a great cake for carving and covering in sugarpaste.
Good luck with your future creations!
Zoe
Hi Nicola
Please follow this link to our blog post about changing quantities which will help you to adapt your recipe to a square tin.
http://www.lindyscakes.co.uk/2009/07/27/how-to-i-change-a-cake-recipe-quanities/
Happy Baking!
Zoe
Hi Jane,
Just wondering how you would adapt/increase your recipe to suit a 8″ and 10″ square mould?
Any help would be great xx
Hi!! I just wanted to thank you so much for this wonderful recipe and tips. I have successfully made it three times now and have saved it in my recipe tin. It’s a great cake to decorate for celebrations like i am now doing with fondant. So far it’s been buzz lightyear’s body and a dartboard, but tonight a pretty and simple design with flowers
)
Hi Dwe
Our recipe which has a mixture of plain and self-raising flours, produces a denser cake which is then suitable for covering in sugarpaste.
Happy Baking!
Zoe
Dear Jane,
Thank you so much for posting some tips on how to bake the perfect Madeira Cake.
I have been looking at various madeira cake recipes, and some use only self-raising flour, and others a mix of self-raising and plain flour. Is there a scientific reason why some recipes use both and not just self-raising?
Mant Thanks,
Dwe
Hi Dee
I would buttercream the cake and then cover it in sugarpaste (fondant). You can use ready rolled fondant if you wish.
Good luck!
Zoe
Hi – well am I glad I found your site! I’m making my son’s wedding cake – and it’s to be a madeira top cake and cupcakes on the tiers below. I’m good with cupcakes but never made a madeira – now I have your recipe and tips I feel ok about that – however – I’ll need to ice it – some clue as to how to do that would be great please…..do I jam up, then ice, can I use ready rolled fondant…..help please….Dee
Hi Nina
Instead of paper you can use damp paper towels and foil. Simply place damp folded paper towels onto foil and fold the foil around the paper to create an insulated strip. Attach this strip around your cake to protect it.
Hope you find this helps
Happy Baking
Lindy