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Dessert

Madeira Cake

A small cake made with flour, sugar, butter, eggs, milk, and Paisley flour, baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Madeira Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Line a cake tin with buttered paper, extending it above the rim.

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon.

  2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating continuously.

  3. Mix the two flours, rub out lumps, and gradually add to the butter and egg mixture.

  4. Add a little milk until the batter is pourable.

Bake and finish

  1. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 45 minutes.

  2. For finger cakes, use the same mixture in a shallow baking tin and cut when cold.

  3. Ice with French icing if desired.

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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Best flour
Provides the main structure as its proteins and starch set during baking.
Paisley flour
Adds a finer, tender crumb alongside the main flour.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, tender texture when creamed with butter.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and flavour, and helps create a tender crumb when creamed.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, and help bind the batter as it sets in the oven.

The step that matters

Creaming the butter and sugar. Beating the butter and sugar together traps air in the fat, which gives the batter lift. If the butter is too cold or the mixing is rushed, the batter stays dense and the cake rises less evenly.

“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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