Madeira Sponge Cake

MADEIRA SPONGE CAKE

Recipe from Debbie Brown

Suitable for a 10″ round cake
Prep time: 20 mins

This recipe is moist and light, but still suitable for carving and sculpting without crumbling. Use in preference to shop-bought cake mixes, as when baked, these can be too soft and crumbly to withstand sculpting into different shapes. Check your over temperature as this recipe is best baked long and low, preferably covering the top of the tin with a metal baking sheet which rests on the top edge. This ensures the cake keeps moist during baking and also helps to settle and level the crust.

1. Preheat the oven to 150ºC/325ºF/ Gas3, then grease and line the bakeware.
2. Sift the self-raising into a bowl.
3. Soften the butter and put in the food mixer or large mixing bowl with the caster/superfine sugar and beat until the mixture is pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs to the mixture, one at a time with a spoonful of the flour, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla essence/flavouring.
5. Using a spatula or large spoon, fold the remaining flour into the mixture.
6. Spoon the mixture into the bakeware, and then make a dip in the top of the mixture using the back of a spoon.
7. Back in the centre of the oven until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
8. Leave to cool in the bakeware for five minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
9. When cold, store in an airtight container or double wrap in clingfilm (plastic wrap) for at least eight hours, allowing the texture to settle before use.

TIP: to settle and limit the crust on the top of the cake and also keep the cake as moist as possible, place a baking sheet over the top of the bakeware whilst baking. When the cake is baked, leave the sheet on top of the tin when removed from the oven until the cake is cooled and ready to turn out.