Zesty Lemon and Blueberry Madeira Cake

Madeira cake is a light, but close textured, rich sponge cake in traditional British cooking. My Zesty Lemon and Blueberry Madeira is a twist on this classic bake.

Great British Bake Off – Episode 1

So who watched the Great British Bake Off this week? I did! Now don’t worry, I’m not going to start reviewing every episode but when I decided to post my Zesty Lemon and Blueberry Madeira Cake which was inspired by the show, I couldn’t help but comment on the contestants.

First impressions were that the contestants weren’t as weird as the media would have liked us to think. From some of the articles I’d seen in the run up to the first episode you’d be forgiven for thinking they had deliberately got a bunch of weirdos on the show. But I think they all seem lovely!

I don’t have a favourite just yet but Tamal’s Rose Water and Pistachio Madeira Cake sounded amazing – great flavour combination! Matt also got points from me with his Gin and Tonic Madeira Cake! Though i would have put a lot more gin in if I was making it… I think Sandy also has a lot of potential!

Poor Stu had aright mare though! I was a bit disappointed because I really thought he’d be a lot better. Especially his walnut cake! It just all went so wrong…

Ugne is also definitely one to watch. She was pretty good in all three rounds and although they weren’t overly impressed with her Black forest Cake show stopper I still think she did really well.

Zesty Lemon and Blueberry Madeira Cake

But, back to my Zesty Lemon and Blueberry Madeira cake – after all I presume that is why you are here. When it came to the Signature Bake on this week’s episode I learnt a lot. I’ve always considered Madeira to be a bit boring and dry so it was exciting to see all of the different interpretations. Perhaps Madeira didn’t have to be so boring after all…

I wanted to keep mine semi-classic – after all the skill behind the Madeira is important – so I chose to stick with citrus in the sponge as well as some juicy blueberries from my very own blueberry bush.

Although not entirely necessary, I chose to serve this with lemon icing and a drizzle of blueberry compote.

The recipe

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Lemon and Blueberry Madeira Cake

This zesty lemon and blueberry madeira cake was inspired by the Great British Bake Off!

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 10 people

Calories 447 kcal

Author Emma Walton

Ingredients

• 175 grams butter unsalted
• 225 grams caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 50 millilitres milk
• 1 lemon juice and zest
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 200 grams self-raising flour
• 50 grams ground almonds
• 250 grams blueberries
• 200 grams icing sugar
• Blueberry compote

Instructions

1. Begin by preheating your oven to gas mark 3 or 160C.
2. Prepare a loaf tin by either lining the tin with greaseproof paper or greasing with a little butter and a coating of flour.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 175g of the sugar (keep the rest to one side) until it is light, soft, creamy and pale.
4. Whisk the eggs together in a small bowl, then add to the creamed butter and sugar a little at a time, mixing well in between each addition.
5. Add in the lemon zest and vanilla.
6. Next, fold in the flour and almonds until you have a thick batter.
7. Add in the milk to loosen slightly before stirring in 100g of the blueberries (place the rest to one side).
8. Spoon the batter into the load tin and level out.
9. Bake in the centre of your oven for an hour or until it is golden on top and a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean.
10. Leave to cool in the tin completely before tipping out on to a wire wrack.
11. To make the lemon icing, simply mix the lemon juice and icing sugar until a thin runny consistency. Add a little extra water if necessary.
12. For the blueberry compote, simply heat the blueberries with the sugar in a small pan until the sugar is dissolved and the blueberries have burst.
13. Before serving, drizzle the lemon icing and blueberry compote across the top of the cake.
14. Serve in generous slices.

As Mary told us, Madeira Cake should have a good crack on top. I’ve hidden mine with a very generous helping of blueberry compote but it is there I promise! The crack is so large it resembled the grand canyon!

The cake itself was light and bouncy. The blueberries were well dispersed and unlike some of the GBBO bakers, my fruit hadn’t fallen to the bottom. The lemon drizzle icing really gives the cake an extra kick. I loved this! I think it might be my go to recipe for bake sales now. Just one of these simple loaf cakes can serve 16 people. It slices easily making it very easy to sell in slices.

This month I’m going to share my Madeira cake with two link-ups. The first is GBBO Bloggers Bake Along hosted by Alyssia who blogs at Alyssia Rose. You can see the other entries here:  

I’m also sharing this with the Kerry Cooks Blog Cake Club, a monthly link up where food bloggers share their cakes.

Were you inspired by this week’s Bake Off? Who were your favourite contestants. I’d love to hear in the comments below!