Madeira Cake | British Baking Classic

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Madeira Cake, an absolute British classic – I was almost tempted to make this into a Baking Basics post! Madeira cake, it its simplest of forms, is a densely-textured sponge cake which is only lightly flavoured with the zest of citrus fruit. It’s quite a dry and crumbly cake, but it’s great with a cup of tea or coffee! Or you could even do it like the 19^th century British, who would have enjoyed this with a glass of Madeira wine, which is where the cake gets its name from. Madeira cake also forms the base for many British desserts such as Trifle, a layered dessert consisting of sponge, jam, fruit, jelly, custard, and cream! My Easy British Trifle is one of the most popular recipes on my blog, so make sure to go and check that out!

This recipe is inspired by Mary Berry’s Baking Bible – probably one of the best baking books out there! If you are looking for a new baking book, then definitely check out my list of Top 5 Great British Bake Off-related Baking Books.

Tips and Variations of Traditional Madeira Cake

TOP TIPS

In terms of tips for making Madeira cake, there isn’t much to say really. The batter is made using an all-in-one method, which you can read more about in my Baking Basics post. It pretty much does what it says on the tin though – all ingredients are weighed into the same bowl, mixed together, and bob’s your uncle! The quantities below are perfect for making a round 20cm cake or a loaf cake using a 900g tin.

If your Madeira cake has a slight dip in the middle when you take it out of the oven, place a sheet of baking paper onto a wire cooling rack and place the cake, still in its tin, upside down onto the wire rack. Gravity will then do its thing and make sure the top of the cake becomes level as it cools.

FLAVOUR VARIATIONS AND DECORATION

Traditionally, Madeira cake is very plain and is only flavoured with the zest of citrus fruit. Lemon is the most classic approach, but you could also use the zest of an orange or even a lime if you wanted to.

To keep things classic, I left the cake uniced, but you could of course opt for a dust of icing sugar or a classic water icing. To make the icing, simply mix about 100g icing sugar with a small amount of water or lemon juice to create a thick, yet spreadable icing. Perhaps use this Lemon Yoghurt Cake or Mini Lemon Muffins recipe for guidance. Alternatively, you could also make a crunchy sugar top, for which I’d recommend using half of the quantities for the “drizzle” in this Lemon Drizzle Cake recipe.

Lemon Madeira Cake - British Baking Classic

More Baking Basics

Since this Madeira Cake really is a baking basic that everyone should know how to make, I thought I’d make a semi-baking-basics-post out of this, by simply listing my list of other Baking Basics here for you. Make sure to check them out if you want to improve your baking skills and knowledge!

More British Baking Classics

As I said, Madeira Cake is a true British Baking Classic! I love mastering the classics and have loads of recipes on my blog, so make sure to check out some of my favourites below!