basic madeira cake
rating:This really is an excellent "basic" cake mix - I often add a packet of sour dried cherries, or substitute orange for the lemon. Even finely chopped rosemary stalks work really well. Experiment!
240g softened unsalted butter
200g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
grated zest and rind of 1 lemon
3 large eggs
210g self raising flour
90g plain flour
23 x 13 x 7cm loaf tin buttered and lined. I'll confess here that I always use Lakeland's parchment tin liners - they save loads of time.
Preheat the oven to gas mark 3 / 170C.
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. Gently mix in the rest of the flour, then the lemon juice.
Put the mixture into the tin, then sprinkle with caster sugar. Bake for about 1 hour. Cool in the tin before turning out.
