About the bake
Looking for a tasty and versatile sponge recipe? This madeira cake recipe is the one for you. The ideal type of sponge for tiered cakes, as the sponge is strong enough to keep the cake sturdy when stacked.
Decorate with fondant for a birthday celebration or special occasion or alternatively enjoy plain with a cup of tea.
Click through our photos for step by step images on how to decorate.
Method
Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan, 400°F, gas mark 6). Grease a 7" circular sandwich cake tin.
Step 2:
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add in the eggs.
Step 3:
Sift the flour and baking powder together and fold into the mix to make a soft mixture, add in the vanilla extract and gradually add the milk.
Step 4:
Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until springy to the touch. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Step 5:
Once cooled, trim the top of the cake sponges to make them flat
Step 6:
To make the buttercream beat together the butter, icing sugar, milk and vanilla extract until light and fluffy
Step 7:
Spread a layer of buttercream on top of one of the sponges, then spread over the jam. Place the second sponge on top and spread the remaining buttercream around the top and edges of the cake, completely coating the cake in buttercream.
Step 8:
Knead the fondant for a minute or two to soften, then lightly dust a surface and rolling pin with icing sugar and roll out the fondant into a circular shape large enough to cover the top of the cake and sides.
Step 9:
Using your rolling pin gently lift the fondant on top of the cake and smooth down the top and sides with your hands or a smoothing tool. Trim the excess fondant with a small sharp knife and neaten the edges.
Ingredients
- 300g Butter (unsalted) (softened)
- 300g Billington's Unrefined Golden Caster Sugar
- 6 Egg(s) (free range) (beaten)
- 1 tsp Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract
- 350g Self-raising white flour
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 60ml Milk (whole)
For the filling
- 3 tbsp Jam
For the buttercream
- 150g Unsalted butter (softened)
- 400g Silver Spoon Icing Sugar
- 20ml Milk
- 1 tsp Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract
For the decoration
- 500g White fondant icing
Recipe Reviews
Looks great does this make one sponge that you cut in half or two sponges in different cake tins?
Good recipe
Simply amazing!
So soft and yummy.
Tasty cake
Liked the original version (light bit dry for my taste but think adding a bit more butter or milk would of worked) and love the vegan version i made. Used ground flax seed and warm water instead of eggs, and used vegan double cream instead of milk (didnt hav soy milk, wasnt sure if oat milk would taste as good)
Can i make this vegan by using milled/ground flax seeds and soy milk instead of eggs and milk? .... not sure how much flax seed and warm water to use to imitate the eggs...
Unfortunately we haven't experimented with a vegan version of this recipe yet however, a general rule of thumb is that 1 egg is the equivalent to 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed and 3 tablespoons of warm water. We would love to hear how you get on if you bake your own vegan version.
Ingredients
- 300g Butter (unsalted) (softened)
- 300g Billington's Unrefined Golden Caster Sugar
- 6 Egg(s) (free range) (beaten)
- 1 tsp Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract
- 350g Self-raising white flour
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 60ml Milk (whole)
For the filling
- 3 tbsp Jam
For the buttercream
- 150g Unsalted butter (softened)
- 400g Silver Spoon Icing Sugar
- 20ml Milk
- 1 tsp Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract
For the decoration
- 500g White fondant icing