Sour Cream Madeira Cake
Adapted from Ruby Tandoh’s Crumb
I did not do my job as a food blogger and photograph making this cake really, but it’s so good I have to share it anyways. I found myself with extra vegan sour cream I needed to use, and I will now be buying sour cream just to make this recipe. If you’re not familiar with madeira cakes (they are often discussed on Great British Baking Show/Bake Off), they are lemon-flavored tea cakes. I love a good lemon dessert, and this cake is so soft-textured and not too sweet, I would eat it any time of the day. It’s possible I should have baked mine a smidge longer, but it was pretty perfect to me anyways.
Making the Cake
150 grams (2/3 cup) unsalted butter (I used vegan, as is my usual)
150 grams (2/3 cup) superfine/baking sugar
2 large eggs
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sour cream (I used vegan)
175 grams (1 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 x 9 loaf pan
Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray/grease your loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.
Beat the butter and sugar together, aiming for a soft, fluffy mixture where the sugar seems dissolved and air has been incorporated. If you’re doing this by hand, 5 minutes of solid effort can get you there but I used my stand mixer, with a similar length of time.
Stir in the eggs, lemon zest, and sour cream until well-combined.
In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) to combine. Stir into the wet mixture but be mindful to not mix for any longer than necessary. As soon as it looks completely combined, stop mixing!
Pour/spread/spoon into your loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes. The cake is done when a knife inserted into the middle comes out with no more than a crumb or two on it.
Let cool completely in the pan before turning out, slicing, and enjoying!
Leave a comment and let me know how your Madeira cake adventures went!