How to Make Moist Madeira Cake

Many recipes tell you how to make madeira cake, but often these cakes have thick crests and are not moist. This approach will give you a delicious moist madeira cake. Enjoy!

Ingredients

8 oz Flour
Pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
5 oz butter
5 oz sugar
3 eggs
Enough milk to mix until the batter is formed
1 tsp vanilla essence

Steps

1
Sieve the flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. This prevents the batter mixture from being lumpy.
2
Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. You can use your blender or hand mixer.
3
Beat eggs into the butter-sugar mixture.
4
Fold the mixture into the dry ingredients. You will now get a dough like consistency rather than batter. Don't panic. You are doing the right way. At this important point add enough milk to form the batter. Half a cup should work.
5
Add the vanilla essence. Mix well until you get a smooth mixture.
6
Place parchment or butter paper on the cake tin surface.
7
Pour your batter. Place in the oven for 40 minutes (Gas mark 4, 350 F, 180 C).
8
Remove the cake from the oven after the baking is done. Allow the cake to completely cool before peeling off the paper.

Community Q&A

Question

What flour is this, self rising or plain?

Community Answer

This recipe calls for plain all purpose flour.
Question

Can I bake Madeira cake on the stove?

Community Answer

No. Madeira cake should be baked in an oven, to ensure that it cooks evenly.
Question

To keep the cake moist, do I add syrup on top?

Community Answer

Yes, you can do that. You can either brush the syrup on the cake with a pastry brush while it's still warm or pour the syrup on top of the cake and let it soak in.
Question

What is caster sugar?

Isolde

Top Answerer

Caster sugar is also known as superfine sugar. It is sugar that has been processed into super refined, small grains. This makes it easier to blend into fats, liquids and other ingredients.
Question

Can I add sour cream to Madeira cake batter to make it moist?

Community Answer

You just can't add sour cream without messing around with other leavening ingredients because of the additional acid buffering you would be introducing. Find a recipe for Madeira cake that includes sour cream in it instead.
Question

Which kind of syrup? Can glucose syrup do?

Community Answer

I use a simple syrup made of 2 parts white granulated sugar and 1 part distilled water in a sealable container. Shake until sugar dissolves. There is a taste difference if you dissolved sugar in a saucepan over heat.