About the bake
Looking for a tasty and versatile sponge recipe? This madeira cake recipe is the one for you. The ideal type of sponge for tiered cakes, as the sponge is strong enough to keep the cake sturdy when stacked.
Decorate with fondant for a birthday celebration or special occasion or alternatively enjoy plain with a cup of tea.
Click through our photos for step by step images on how to decorate.
Method
Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan, 400°F, gas mark 6). Grease a 7" circular sandwich cake tin.
Step 2:
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add in the eggs.
Step 3:
Sift the flour and baking powder together and fold into the mix to make a soft mixture, add in the vanilla extract and gradually add the milk.
Step 4:
Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until springy to the touch. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Step 5:
Once cooled, trim the top of the cake sponges to make them flat
Step 6:
To make the buttercream beat together the butter, icing sugar, milk and vanilla extract until light and fluffy
Step 7:
Spread a layer of buttercream on top of one of the sponges, then spread over the jam. Place the second sponge on top and spread the remaining buttercream around the top and edges of the cake, completely coating the cake in buttercream.
Step 8:
Knead the fondant for a minute or two to soften, then lightly dust a surface and rolling pin with icing sugar and roll out the fondant into a circular shape large enough to cover the top of the cake and sides.
Step 9:
Using your rolling pin gently lift the fondant on top of the cake and smooth down the top and sides with your hands or a smoothing tool. Trim the excess fondant with a small sharp knife and neaten the edges.
Ingredients
- 300g Butter (unsalted) (softened)
- 300g Billington's Unrefined Golden Caster Sugar
- 6 Egg(s) (free range) (beaten)
- 1 tsp Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract
- 350g Allinson's Self Raising Flour
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 60ml Milk (whole)
For the filling
- 3 tbsp Jam
For the buttercream
- 150g Unsalted butter (softened)
- 400g Silver Spoon Icing Sugar
- 20ml Milk
- 1 tsp Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract
For the decoration
- 500g White fondant icing
Nutritional Information
per 175g- 843cal Energy
- 37g Fat
- 22g of which Saturates
- 121g Carbohydrates
- 98g of which Sugars
- 6.5g Protein
- 0.62g Salt
Recipe Reviews
The method is confusing, it says you need one tin but at the end it says trim the sponges which indicates you’ve made 2 which would be right for this cake? My question is, does this recipe make enough for two 7’ tins or just one?
Apologies for the confusion, this recipe is for one 7" cake tin that is halved to make a sandwich cake once baked.
It’s a bit dry so I’ve had another go using some glicerine.
Baked this today and it cooked perfectly and tasted amazing. Used oat milk and dairy free butter.
Beautiful Madeira recipe 👍
Need to do this cake in 4 tins of 8 inches each... Any tips on how to calculate the quantities?
Looks great does this make one sponge that you cut in half or two sponges in different cake tins?
Ingredients
- 300g Butter (unsalted) (softened)
- 300g Billington's Unrefined Golden Caster Sugar
- 6 Egg(s) (free range) (beaten)
- 1 tsp Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract
- 350g Allinson's Self Raising Flour
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 60ml Milk (whole)
For the filling
- 3 tbsp Jam
For the buttercream
- 150g Unsalted butter (softened)
- 400g Silver Spoon Icing Sugar
- 20ml Milk
- 1 tsp Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract
For the decoration
- 500g White fondant icing
Nutritional Information
per 175g- 843cal Energy
- 37g Fat
- 22g of which Saturates
- 121g Carbohydrates
- 98g of which Sugars
- 6.5g Protein
- 0.62g Salt