Hello everyone. We are up to L with our A-Z of cooking with kids ingredients and this week it is Lemons. Lemon is one of my favourite flavours, but for kids, it can be something of an acquired taste.
This simple, and delicious Madeira Cake using lemon zest to give a hint of lemon flavour and it is a great cake to cook with kids as it is foolproof. and delicious! Oh, and it doesn’t contain any maderia wine!
What is Madeira Cake?
Madeira Cake is a loaf-style sponge or butter cake in traditional British and Irish cookery.
This Madeira cake recipe is one passed down through my family. Madeira cake doesn’t contain any Madeira, but was so called as it is a simple cake that can be served with a small glass of Madeira Wine! Also, the crack at the top is deliberate and part of the distinctive look of the cake.
We are big fans of no fuss loaf cakes as they are perfect for after-school snacks- the perfect cake tin cake.
My mum’s Madeira Cake with its deliberate crack down the top was always a staple of our cake tin and I love it.
How to Make Madeira Cake
Maderia Cake
A simple, but staple of the cake tin.
Ingredients
- 175 g butter Salted
- 175 g Caster Sugar
- 250 g Plain flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- 4 Large Eggs
- Finely grated zest of one lemon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 160 degrees C (gas mark 3)
- Cream the butter and eggs (we use our Kmix for this). I have shown the boys before that when creaming butter and eggs the mixture changes colour.
- Crack your eggs in to a jug and whisk.
- Measure your flour, baking powder and grate your lemon zest.
- Add some of the beaten egg to the creamed butter and flour with a small amount of the flour mixture and continue to wix until all combined.
- Spoon into a pre greased and lined loaf tin (we use a silicon one which means that we do not need to line it).
- Cook for 55 – 60 minutes.
- Remove from oven and leave to cool in tin for around 5 minutes before turning out.
Step by Step Method for making a Maderia Cake
Cream the butter and eggs (we use our electric mixer for this). I have shown the boys before that when creaming butter and eggs the mixture changes colour (it goes lighter). When it comes to butter, I grew up using salted butter, but feel free to use unsalted.
Crack your eggs into a jug and whisk.
Measure your flour, baking powder and grate your lemon zest. It is really important to only take the skin of the lemon and not the pith (which is the white part). I talked with Mini as to why the skin was so fragrant due to the oils in it. Some people use self-raising flour rather than plain (sometimes called all purpose flour) and baking powder, but my mums recipe uses plain and it works for us.
Add some of the beaten egg to the creamed butter and flour with a small amount of the flour mixture and continue to mix until all combined.
Spoon the cake batter into a pre-greased and lined loaf tin (rather than a round cake tin). We use a silicon one which means that we do not need to line it and love our spray cake release, which makes greasing so simple. If you want to make sure that the cake will come out then you can line your cake tin with parchment paper.
Bake for 55 – 60 minutes in an oven preheated to 160 degrees. You can tell when it is cooked when a wooden skewer comes out clean.
Remove from oven and leave to cool in tin for around 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. remember the crack along the top of the cake is a distinctive part of the cake.
Madeira cake doesn’t need any accompaniment and will keep for 4 days in a cake tin.
Ours never lasts very long and is a perfect lunch box cake, a snack or afternoon tea.
Why not take a look at the wonderful recipes that the other co-hosts have produced this week, all with lemons in them.
Lemon Ginger Ice Cubes from Still Playing School
Lemon bar mason jar cookies from Sugar Aunts
Lemon Truffles from Frogs, Snails and Puppy Dog Tails
In addition to just joining in with the A-Z of ingredients this week, we are also linking to Study at home Mama’s 31 days in the kids kitchen activities
Why not take a look at today’s post, which is zebra cake!
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