Recipe: Lemon Madeira Cake (Nigella Lawson)

When my aunt MC comes to visit, I always tell her to inform me at least 24 hours beforehand so that I can bake her a cake which she can eat when she arrives. I spent a lot of my childhood with this particular aunt, and she has always treated me very well, and I guess this is one of my ways of saying thanks and repaying her for her kindness. Especially since both her and her daughter enjoys the cakes I make them. :)

Lemon Madeira Cake

During their last visit, I made them Madeira cake using this recipe which they liked very much. I decided to make them Madeira cake again, this time using Nigella Lawson's recipe from her book "How to be a Domestic Goddess" which I bought during BBW sale. The first recipe from the book is her "My Mother-in-Law's Madeira Cake", which was given to her by her mother-in-law Carrie and she describes it as the best version she has tried.

Lovely crumb

I have not always had luck with Nigella's recipes, especially her bake recipes - I once made her sticky toffee pudding recipe and it turned out too sweet and sloppy. I had my fingers crossed for this one, and luckily, it turned out beautifully. Very easy to make (kids helped with this weekend bake) and loved how beautiful it turned out - golden brown with a long crack down the middle as it should be.

The reason why I renamed this to Lemon Madeira Cake is because the first flavour that hits your tastebuds is the tangy lemon. My other Madeira cake recipe is slightly more dense and buttery with just a little lemon flavour from the zest, whereas here both lemon juice and zest is used so the flavour is definitely dominant. The lemon also cuts some of the richness from the butter so it makes the cake texture taste light.

This bake had a beautiful crumb, a strong lemon flavour and dense texture. Our guests enjoyed the cake (we finished it all, no problem!). However the best version I have tried is still my original Madeira cake recipe as I prefer it buttery.

Yummy! It's cake time!

Cake model ;)

Lemon Madeira Cake (aka My Mother-in-Law's Madeira Cake)
Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess"
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Makes 8-10 slices

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/3 cup self-raising cake flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour


1. You will need a loaf tin (23 x 13 x 7cm / 9 x 5 x 3 inches), well-greased and base lined with baking paper.

2. Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF (no fan).

3. Cream the butter and sugar, and add the lemon zest. Add the eggs one at a time with a tablespoon of the flour for each.

4. Then gently mix in the rest of the flour and, finally, the lemon juice.

5. Place in preheated oven and and bake for 1 hour or until a cake-tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.

6. Remove to a wire rack, and let cool in the tin before turning out.

Note: Kids can help with baking this cake. They can help measure out the ingredients, sift the flour, break the eggs, operate the mixer and pour the batter into the loaf tin. And then they can help eat! :)

Note: I did not have self-raising cake flour, so I made my own using regular cake flour, baking powder and salt- for every cup of cake flour use 1 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

*I am submitting this to the "Cook Like a Star" event (Nigella Lawson) event hosted by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Anuja from Simple Baking.

*I am also submitting this to the Little Thumbs Up "Egg" event organized by Bake for Happy Kids, my little favourite DIY and hosted by me (Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out). You can link your egg recipes here.


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