Sandyj
Sous Chef
Brenda Wates' "Madeira" Cake
This is a very old recipe. It's probably not a true Madeira cake - I just call it Easy.
1 1/2 cups flour
1 scant cup of sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup milk
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
pinch salt
Sift dry ingredients
Melt butter, add milk to make a cup
Lightly mix eggs (just with a fork)
Add wet ingredients to dry and mix with a spoon
Pour batter into buttered tin
Bake at 350 for 1/2 hour
Brenda Wates is my MIL - she used to bake this all the time for her family of 4 boys and a girl...She always had a piece of cake or some buscuits available for her kids. She is quite a mom! This cake is quite plain, it goes wonderfully with a cup of tea or coffee. My husband loves it. She calls it a Madeira Cake but somehow I don't think it is. It's so easy and fast and can baked in a loaf or bundt tin. I've even made it and cut it up to use in trifle.
MIL uses teacups to measure (in exasperation, I actually paid her kitchen a visit once and measured one of her tea cups and it is almost exactly 1 cup) and heaps the baking pwdr. into a regular teaspoon.
No matter what I do, I can't seem to mess up this cake. I've run out of white flour, added 1/2 cup of wholewheat flour to make up the difference, looked at the batter - it looked insipid, so I added cinnamon. Then it looked too thick, so I added another egg and a bit more vanilla. Heck - I still ended up with quite a nice cake. That's when I started to realize that if you know how the batter should feel depending on the texture you're going after, it's quite easy. That was so liberating.
My sister makes a hot-milk sponge, and I've played around with heating the milk, substituting orange juice for milk. All good.
Also played with order of putting in ingredients and creaming egg and sugar. But in a pinch, the first recipe will get you a cake in under an hour and you can do it with your eyes closed.
This is a very old recipe. It's probably not a true Madeira cake - I just call it Easy.
1 1/2 cups flour
1 scant cup of sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup milk
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
pinch salt
Sift dry ingredients
Melt butter, add milk to make a cup
Lightly mix eggs (just with a fork)
Add wet ingredients to dry and mix with a spoon
Pour batter into buttered tin
Bake at 350 for 1/2 hour
Brenda Wates is my MIL - she used to bake this all the time for her family of 4 boys and a girl...She always had a piece of cake or some buscuits available for her kids. She is quite a mom! This cake is quite plain, it goes wonderfully with a cup of tea or coffee. My husband loves it. She calls it a Madeira Cake but somehow I don't think it is. It's so easy and fast and can baked in a loaf or bundt tin. I've even made it and cut it up to use in trifle.
MIL uses teacups to measure (in exasperation, I actually paid her kitchen a visit once and measured one of her tea cups and it is almost exactly 1 cup) and heaps the baking pwdr. into a regular teaspoon.
No matter what I do, I can't seem to mess up this cake. I've run out of white flour, added 1/2 cup of wholewheat flour to make up the difference, looked at the batter - it looked insipid, so I added cinnamon. Then it looked too thick, so I added another egg and a bit more vanilla. Heck - I still ended up with quite a nice cake. That's when I started to realize that if you know how the batter should feel depending on the texture you're going after, it's quite easy. That was so liberating.
My sister makes a hot-milk sponge, and I've played around with heating the milk, substituting orange juice for milk. All good.
Also played with order of putting in ingredients and creaming egg and sugar. But in a pinch, the first recipe will get you a cake in under an hour and you can do it with your eyes closed.
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But I'm trying and I have learned to enjoy baking, if I have guidlines or even a picture i do pretty well. Breads no problem everyone knows what a loaf of bread looks like
