Madeira Cake

I made a madeira cake for my granddad this week which I thought I would share. It is a simple cake which is typically flavoured with lemon and is similar to what Americans call pound cake. Madeira cakes are good for decorating and carving into shapes due to their firm texture. The name according to wikipedia comes from Madeira wine as that was what it was traditionally served with. Today I went with a simple loaf rather than anything fancy.

Ingredients
175g butter (6 oz) (softened)
175g (6 oz) caster sugar
3 large eggs
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
225g (8 oz) self-raising flour (sifted)

Method
-Preheat the oven to 160 °C. Spray the loaf tin with some cooking spray (Or rub on a little butter/margarine) to stop sticking.
-Mix together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (I used an electric hand whisk)
-Add the eggs one a time with a tablespoon of the flour and mix well after each addition
- Fold in the rest of the flour and lemon zest followed by the lemon juice.
-Bake for 40-60 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer placed into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
-Allow to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Sometimes simple is best when it comes to cake.

Thanks for reading x