I was a little disappointed in this cake. It wasn't bad, it was just a little dry and lacking in flavour. On the bright side, it rose beautifully! And it used up the last little bit of lemon juice I had saved in the fridge. So that was helpful.

I'm too tired to figure out how to convert all the thoughts in my head into a nicely written blog post, so I'm just going to drop some note in here as a reminder to future me and not worry too much about making it super articulate.

• Batter seemed too stiff/dry, so added extra egg
• Added extra 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice (just to use it up)
• Baked in 8x4" loaf tin; maybe needed larger tin due to extra egg?
• Baked in upper oven, but forgot to move rack down; rose into broiler element
• Still underbaked at 40 minutes; needed 60 to test done, but then dry (and crust too thick)

Next time try baking in 8.5x4.5" tin and make sure to move rack down before preheating oven. Try using even more lemon juice and zest to boost flavour a bit more?

Madeira Cake

Slightly adapted from Edmond's Cookery Book

Ingredients

• 200g unsalted butter, softened
• 200g sugar
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 4 large eggs
• 2 c. soft (plain/stardard/cake) four
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 tsp. caster sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 22cm x 11cm (8.5x4.5") loaf tin.
2. Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy (~3 minutes).
3. Add the lemon zest and salt.
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
5. Sift in the flour and the baking powder and mix until combined.
6. Mix in the lemon juice.
7. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
8. Sprinkle with caster sugar.
9. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 40 minutes.
10. Cool in tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.