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Hi,
I wonder if anyone can help. I made 2 batches of Madeira cup cakes the other day, one using a recipe from Lindys Cakes: http://www.lindyscakes.co.uk/2009/12/17/baking-the-perfect-madeira-cake/ and the other was a mix I bought from my local cake decorating supplies shop, as I wanted to compare the two, and the people who were involved in the blind taste test (including me) all agreed that the bought cake mix was marginally better, the cake had a better consistency, more flavour and was not as dry as the homemade ones 🙁 ….Can anyone tell me why that would be? I did use medium eggs instead of the large stated in the recipe as that was what I had (mistakenly) bought, could that be why, or should I have used a different (better) recipe?
I have to make a Madeira cake for a customer (who incidentally also preferred the bought mix one) and I feel i’m cheating if I haven’t made the cake from scratch.
Any advice gratefully received
Thanks, Jay

Hi jayzell69

Madeira cake is by nature slightly dry but softens to lovely consistency after a couple of days. If Lindy Smith’s recipe asked for large eggs and medium were used that will certainly have had an effect on the lack of moistness to your cupcakes. There would not have been sufficient liquid to balance the rest of the ingredients. Cake mixes are different because the manufacturers will have added emulsifiers and flavour enhancers which gives the end result a different texture to what is produced at home. Most bought mixes will also ask for oil which adds to the moistness of the cake. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using a bought mix, in fact many industrial bakers use them as they are time saving and still produce a good cake. I believe Paul uses mixes for his chocolate cakes which are used in the tutorials. If your customer preferred the bought cake mix in your blind taste test I would say go for that one and you’ll have a happy customer. You’re not cheating, just utilising your time in order to get on with other things. I hope this helps. x

Thanks MIWL, you always seem to have a helpful answer to everyone’s Q’s, what would we (& Paul) do without you 🙂 xx

I thought perhaps this blog http://www.cakeflix.com/blog/baking-the-perfect-cake-why-things-go-wrong might be a useful read. If you type in the search box ‘ How are you able to carve the cake without many crumbs?’ you’ll see an answer from Paul on why he uses cake mix. More here http://www.cakeflix.com/questions/cake-mix and also discussion here http://www.cakeflix.com/questions/toffee-cake. There are comments also if you type in the search box ‘Wrights cake mixes’. If you’d like to see many, many more comments, hints and tips on how to produce a successful scratch made madeira just type in the search box ‘madeira cake’. Like Paul’s moist chocolate cake, Madeira cake raised a lot of interesting discussion and from all the information which members have provided, I think most people now have this conundrum cracked. If ever you’d like to try a good sturdy cake instead of madeira, I can recommend this http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10860/easy-vanilla-cake. It’s not a classic madeira but can still withstand carving and enrobing with sugarpaste. Many members have baked it and have entered positive feed back. Don’t forget that the blog section of the site has much useful information and further comments from members. Good luck with your order, hope all works out well. xx