Madeira Cake

No more! No more of this business of cakes with low butter content. That is my stand after baking this exotic sounding cake.

The recipe calls for 1.75 cups of flour (224g) and 0.5 cup of ground almonds (85g) to 150g of butter. I felt that the ratio of butter was too low but I behaved myself and followed the recipe.

The batter was kind of dry to me but I kept my fingers crossed. My cake did quite well and rose very nicely in the oven. It smelled really good too. Buttery and orangey.

After the cake was done, I left it to cool. Later I sliced it to store in a container. The cake felt very dense and on the dryish side. I did not taste it as I wanted to do so the next day. My partner came home just before 5:00pm (don't worry, I packed his lunch for him in the morning) and headed straight for the cake container. "Eh sai chiak chi teh?" (can I have a slice?). "Eh sai......." (yes, you can).

Dry cake. Yuks!

He took a slice and munched. Dead silence. "How is it?". More munching. "Dry". I quickly snatched a bite from him. Yes, the cake was dry. I knew it. "But it smells nice. Butter smell". That was what he said as if to console me. That's it. No more! My resolution is when baking a butter or pound cake, the ratio of flour to butter must be 1:1. I know some of you may not agree but this is my stand.

The improved version with 250g butter.

The next morning, I baked another one. I tossed the dry one into the compost (where another disastrous bake lay buried, tell you about it another time). The cake had only a slight crack and smelled really good. It made me hungry at 5:00am on a Sunday morning. I couldn't wait to dig into the cake.

Moist with tender crumbs. That's how a good butter cake should be.

The cake was still slightly warm when I sliced it. And sure enough, it was moist and buttery with tender crumbs. A world of difference from the first cake. But the health conscious will cringe at the notion of high butter content in this cake. But seriously folks, butter is actually good for you. A recent issue of Time magazine highlighted how doctors and nutritionists are now admitting that they were wrong about butter and other good fats. You can read about it here. But of course that doesn't mean that you can drink your butter. Moderation is the key. I had only one slice of this cake :)

Madeira Cake

Recipe source : Classic Essential Cakes page 12
My evil adaptations in red

Ingredients :

- 150g butter (250g)

- 3/4 cup castor sugar (160g but I find this sweet. To use 140g in future)

- 3 eggs, lightly beaten

- 2 teaspoons finely grated orange or lemon zest (Zest from 2 oranges)

- 1/2 cup ground almonds (50g)

- 1 3/4 cups self-raising flour, sifted (200g)

- icing sugar for dusting 

Note : Combine the flour and ground almonds

Method :

1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add eggs gradually, beating after each addition.

3. Add orange zest and beat until well combined.

4. Add the flour and ground almond mixture and fold to combine.

5. Spoon batter into a lined 23 x 13 x 7cm loaf pan and bake at 160C for 50 minutes or until skewer inserted into center of the cake comes out clean. (I tented the cake after 40 minutes)

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs Up organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Diana of Domestic Goddess Wannabe.

This post is also linked to Cook-Your-Books #15 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.