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Dessert

Madeira Cake

A light, buttery cake flavored with Madeira wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Madeira Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA steady oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a steady oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Cream together the butter and sugar until light.

  2. Add the eggs two at a time, beating for a few minutes between each addition.

  3. Sift the baking powder and add it to the mixture.

  4. Stir in the Madeira wine and mix to form a moderately stiff batter.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a tin lined with paper and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1.5 hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Sugar + madeira winetop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together343 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + madeira winetop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together637 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creamed with sugar, it traps air and gives the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Sugar
Creaming with butter creates air pockets and adds sweetness and gentle browning.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, and help bind the batter as it sets in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the oven, helping the cake rise and become light.
Madeira wine
Adds moisture and a distinctive aroma, and its acidity helps tenderise the crumb.

The step that matters

Adding the eggs two at a time. Adding eggs gradually while beating lets the emulsion form without curdling. Fast addition can break the batter, which may lead to a heavier, coarser cake.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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