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 pretty fool proof.

Table of Contents

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! 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 and are easy to serve.

My Mums 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

Name: Maderia Cake
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 65 min
Ingredients: 175 g of butter 175g of caster sugar; 250 g of plain flour; 1 teaspoon of baking powder; 4 eggs; Finely grated zest of one lemon

Maderia Cake

A simple, but staple of the cake tin.

Course Cake

Cuisine British

Keyword baking

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 55 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Servings 12 slices

Ingredients

175 g of butter 175g of caster sugar
250 g of plain flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
4 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.

Method

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. It is really important to only take the skin of the lemon and not the pith. I talked with mini as to why the skin was so fragrant due to the oils in it.

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 and love our spray cake release, which makes greasing so simple.

Cook for 55 – 60 minutes.

Remove from oven and leave to cool in tin for around 5 minutes before turning out.

Madeira cake doesn’t need any accompaniment and will keep for a couple of days in a cake tin.

Ours never lasts very long and is a perfect lunch box cake or as a snack with a cup of 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 recipe from Rainy Day Mum
Maderia Cake from Mum in the Mad House
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!

23 thoughts on “Madeira Cake – Cooking with kids”

Colleen July 7, 2015 at 11:48 am

This looks like a delicious cake and perfect for an after school snack!

Pingback: Kids Kitchen: How to Make a Zebra Cake with Kids

Devany July 7, 2015 at 12:55 pm

This looks fantastic! Yum!

Jennifer Tammy July 7, 2015 at 2:13 pm

Oh this looks delicious – I think we’d call it a lemon loaf, is that similar to the taste of a Madeira Cake?
I LOVE your loaf pan, too – and the fact that it has a cute lid to boot!

Cerys July 7, 2015 at 6:02 pm

This look delicious – I love Madeira cake.

Phoebe @ Lou Messugo July 8, 2015 at 12:44 pm

I’m also a big fan of easy loaf cakes to whip up quickly for any occasion. Love you Orla Kiely tin!!!

JuggleMum, Nadine Hill July 8, 2015 at 2:42 pm

I could just eat that now- I love cake!! Great idea to cook through an A-Z!!

JuggleMum, Nadine Hill July 8, 2015 at 2:45 pm

I love cake – I could just eat that now!!

Great idea to do an A-Z of cooking with the kids!!

Erica Price July 8, 2015 at 2:55 pm

I do like a good madeira cake – simple, but delicious. Liking the idea of using for after school snacks.

Laura July 8, 2015 at 3:02 pm

You had me at cake! This looks to good!

sam fernley July 8, 2015 at 6:50 pm

Such a simple cake but absolutely one of the best. Lemon zest is such a great little addition to so many cakes. Just made a coffee cake tonight but now a Madeira cake will be my next one to bake.

liz Burton July 8, 2015 at 10:39 pm

I could eat a big old slice of that right now.

Liking your tip about the spray, I must get some it’s a pain having to line tins with greaseproof paper.

Michelle July 9, 2015 at 8:17 am

Spritzing with spray is so much less faff than greaseproof paper – been doing it this way for years. Love how easy this cake is for kids to make.

Kara July 9, 2015 at 8:25 am

I tend to make lemon drizzle cake but should make this as a change. Why have you half a dozen minions running around your blog, are they trying to steal the cake?