If you’re looking for the best and most simple Madeira recipe, I have it right here. I’m making them into mini loafs but feel free to make it in a standard loaf pan.
Madeira is denser than a sponge cake but still light and delicious, I used vanilla in mine but feel free to play around with the flavours and find a match that works for you best. I think almost everybody has tried this cake at least once in the past, why not enjoy it in a more finger food size? Doesn’t that just mean you can have 2? Hmm…
This recipe is so easily made, you don’t need to be a master at baking to get it right. I used my stand mixer, but if you don’t have one, don’t worry. You can use either an electric hand mixer or even a wood spoon, it may just take a little more effort but completely worth it in the end. One other thing I should mention, is that the mini loaf tin that I’m using was picked up from a supermarket, if you don’t have one, feel free to use a large loaf tin and adjust the baking time (to around 45-55 minutes, all depending on your oven).
Just before you get into making these, there is some prep work that’ll save you time and from making mistakes. Start by preheating your oven to 180c/350f, weighing up your ingredients and preparing your tin by buttering and flouring the tin and setting that aside while you make your cake batter.
So, to start the mixing process you’ll want to place your butter and sugar into your bowl of choice and beat them together until they are well combined. You’ll know once you’ve achieved this, the mixture will become lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency. Once you’ve achieved that, give your bowl a good scrape down, this will help to incorporate any bits that wasn’t fully worked in earlier on. You can then start by adding in your eggs, one at a time beating well in between each addition, you’ll want to repeat this for the remainder of your eggs and once they are fully worked in, give your bowl another good scrape down (you will notice a pattern with me scraping down the sides of my bowl whenever I incorporate another ingredient).
Once your bowl if fully scraped down, you can then start with your dry ingredients. Over your mixture, you’ll want to add around half of your flour/baking powder, first passing it through a sieve. Mix that in over a low-medium speed, just until its incorporated, then add in the boiling water, a tablespoon at a time. Repeat this stage with the other half of your dry ingredients. Don’t forget to scrape down your bowl again, to incorporate any flour that has worked its way up the sides.
You’ll then want to place the cake batter into the prepared tin and bake in your preheated oven until baked (or until a tester inserted comes out clean. All ovens are different and require different baking times and temperatures). Once removed from the oven, allow to cool in the tin, then once fully cooled, remove from the tins by running a knife down the sides of each loaf and enjoy them there and then or store in a airtight container and eat within 3 days.
Ingredients:
150g Butter.
200g Granulated sugar.
1 tsp Vanilla bean paste/extract.
3 Eggs.
225g Plain flour.
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder.
3 tbsp Boiling water.
Method:
- Start by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weighing up all of your ingredients and preparing your tray by buttering and flouring each cavity.
- Into your mixing bowl of choice, place the butter and sugar and beat them together over a medium-high speed. You’ll know once they are well combined, they’ll become lighter and fluffier in colour and consistency. This normally takes a few minutes.
- Once you’ve achieved light and fluffy, give your mixing bowl a good scrape down. This is to incorporate the bits that may not have been fully worked in.
- You can next start adding your eggs, one at a time beating well in-between each addition, then add the vanilla and mix to combine. Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl.
- Next add in half the amount of dry ingredients and mix on a low-medium speed until incorporated, at this point add your water a tablespoon at a time until its fully incorporated. Repeat this stage with the manning ingredients.
- For convenience transfer your cake batter to a piping bag and pipe into your prepared tin, on the other hand if you don’t have piping bags, don’t worry. Just spoon equal amounts of batter into your tin and level them off as best you can.
- Place into your preheated oven and bake for 15-18 minutes (or until a tester comes out clean when inserted). Allow them to cool completely before intending to remove them from the tin. Once cool enough, run a knife around the edge and they should come away from the tin with ease.
- Enjoy that day or within 3 days on its own or with custard or ice cream.
Thank you so much for checking out this post, please check out my others. If you have any suggestions for future blog posts, feel free to let me know and I’ll see what I can do. I just want to say a massive thank you to my friend Rukh, she deserves this thank you for all the support she’s given me!
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