It always amazes me how people can follow the exact same recipe and yet it will turn out differently for each one of them. I’ve made Madeira cake many a time and it’s usually fine but for some reason this one went awry. I can’t blame the recipe as I’ve seen some of the other entries in this week’s Weekly bake off and they look exactly how would expect a Madeira cake to look.
The Madeira cake recipe from Mary Berry’s 100 Cakes and Bakes was slightly different as it included ground almonds but instead of the light, fluffy sponge I was expecting when I cut into it, I found a dense sponge with stodgy lumps throughout and a big air pocket under the crust.
Overall the taste wasn’t bad and it’s perfectly edible, just not as nice as it should be. I think maybe I didn’t mix it quite as well as I should have, I’m always wary of over-beating a cake mix as it can result in a tough sponge.
Now for the verdict from Himself – lacking in flavour so 7/10 was the best he could award for this particular cake and he absolutely hates stodge.
