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Hi I need to make a birthday cake I have tried so many maderia recipes and cakes turn out either doughy or hard on top ! I’m really stressing I’m using 500g self r flour , 250g plain flour 500g castor sugar , 9 med eggs 500g butter , table spoon of milk ! In fan oven 160 took 3 hrs to cook ! Hard on top out water in the oven placed tin foil over the top of tin after 2 hrs !! So stressed why can I not do this !

Hi, I have never had any luck with madeira cake either – it always turned out dry on the outside & doughy in the middle no matter if I put newspaper round the outside of the tin & a pan of water in the oven with it.
I found this recipe online: http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/8531/foolproof-sponge-cake.aspx. I was doubtful it would be firm enough to carve or how long it would last, but I tried it & it made a really nice moist cake – still moist after a week & it was good to carve also. The recipe is for an 8″ round but can be scaled up using the cake-o-meter: http://www.cakebaker.co.uk/baking-tin-size-conversion-calculator.html. Might be worth a go 🙂

Hi Jackie1563

Not sure why your cake took that long to bake, I usually bake 10″ square in a fan oven at 140c for 2hrs 30/40 minutes. I don’t put water in the oven nor use foil on the top of the tin. How long do you need to be working on the cake for? You sound terribly stressed with the recipe and wonder perhaps you would do better using this recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10860/. It’s not quite as fluffy as a plain sponge and not as dense as a Madeira, an in between cake which is good for carving and stacking. The recipe can be scaled up here http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/how-to-work-out-what-size-cake-tin-to-use either by using the ready reckoner or the cakeometre. If you still would like to use a Madeira recipe you’ll find lots of information here http://www.cakeflix.com/questions?s=madeira. Not all the comments are relevant to your question but you’ll be able to see the ones which are. Please post again if you need more help or information. ps Madeira cake always feels hard and dense when first baked and begins to soften after about three days. It has a longer shelf life than sponge cake (approx 2 weeks) because of it’s density. This information http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/baking-the-perfect-cake-why-things-go-wrong may also be useful to you.

hi, the recipe madeitwithlove gave you above, is excellent, the easy vanilla cake is really good, as are the other cakes by jane Hornsby , the lemon drizzle and the chocolate cake.

Hi I’m going to try the fool proof cake as I only have till Friday to do this , I can’t understand the cake meter it’s not working so I don’t know how I’m going to get 10″ square I only do cupcakes really and they are perfect light & fluffy but a big cake for me is a 1st ! Going to do it tomorrow afternoon so will post back as to how it turns out , if anyone and scale the fool proof one 8″ round into a 10″ square it will save me some stress ! Can’t thank you all for your help !! May of saved my life 🙂

Hi Jackie1563

Here is the conversion for your 10″ square recipe as per the cakeometer:

S/R flour 531. 3 g, just call it 531g
Sugar 437.5 g
Butter 437.5 g
Eggs 8 I’m assuming it is large as most recipes now use large eggs
Milk 4.7 Tablespoons which I would round up to 5.

Hope this helps. Please post again if you need to ask anything else.