I seem to have had a lot of enquires recently for a recipe for a 14″ Madeira cake. I don’t actually have a tin this big (the one above is a 12″) but one of my readers measured the volume of her tin and I calculated the ingredients she would need. She said it as a huge success.
To keep it moist I bake all my Madeira cakes with some baking paper wrapped around the outside of the tin. I also place an ovenproof bowl of water at the bottom of the oven which locks more moisture in. My last trick is to add the flour and water in three separate stages – so alternating the flour then water then flour and water and so on). This makes a huge difference compared with adding all the flour then all the water.
14″ Square Madeira cake recipe.
- 310g butter- at room temperature
- 310g Margarine- at room temperature
- 830g caster sugar
- 4 ½ tea spoon vanilla essence
- 13 eggs-at room temperature
- 930g plain flour
- 6 ½ teasp of baking powder
- 12 ½ tbsp hot water
- Line a cake tin with baking paper and wrap the outside of the cake tin with paper (see how I do it here)
- Blend the butters and sugar together until light and fluffy – this will take 2-3 minutes.
- Add the eggs one at a time and whisk in thoroughly. Don’t miss this step and chuck them all in – in one go. Your mixture will curdle. I have also found that a hand held whisk gets better results than a stand mixer
- Add vanilla essence and blend.
- In a separate bowl sieve the flour and baking powder. Mix 1/3 of the flour into the cake mix and whisk. Add 1/3 of the water and combine. Repeat until everything is well incorporated.
- Place the mixture in the cake tin smoothing with the back of a metal spoon.
- Bake at 180ºC (160º Fan) for 120-140 minutes but check it regularly as sometimes it needs a little longer.
- To prevent your cake from doming place a piece of baking paper with a hole in the centre over the top of the tin. Remove the paper after 90 minutes so the top can brown up nicely.
- Leave to cool on a wire tray.
I hope this has been helpful. If you are looking for ingredients of other sizes of Madeira cakes have a look at this post.
Have fun baking!
EmmaMT
More Madiera you may like.
My Mum’s Madeira Cake Recipe Is The Best In The World
6-12″ Madiera Cake ingredients
Try This Lemon And Lime Madeira Cake Recipe. You’ll love the ZING
The Ultimate Chocolate Madeira Cake Recipe To Make Different Size Round Tins from 6 to 14″
FAQ: How do I work out the ingredients for an odd shaped cake tin
Madeira Cakes you may enjoy
- Chocolate Madeira Cake Recipe
- How To Bake A Large 14″ Square Madeira Cake
- Try This Lemon And Lime Madeira Cake Recipe. You’ll love the ZING
- The Ultimate Chocolate Madeira Cake Recipe To Make Different Size Round Tins from 6 to 14″
- How to adapt a cake recipe for different size tins and a 10″ Madeira cake recipe.
- How to cover a cake in sugarpaste, and make it really smooth!
- My Mum’s Madeira Cake Recipe Is The Best In The World
- FAQ: How do I work out the ingredients for an odd shaped cake tin
- 14″ Square Madeira Cake Recipe
This is just what I need, thank you!
Your cake looks fantastic may give it a try when i need to make a largish cake
I loved the tips you gave us very important thank you for this and also your cake looks really scrummy.I need to bake for 10″ how much I should reduce the ingredients? Thank you xx
Hello,
Thanks for your question. Have a look at this post linked below. It has more options and a 10″ ingredients recipe.
EmmaMT
10″ cake post here
Perfect i will be trying this, this week. Thank you
Enjoy. x
Baked this today and wow came out perfect. It rose and cooked evenly. And tasted soooooo good too. Thank you. X
12″ Round Madeira Cake recipe that I used for the bottom tier of my first wedding cake was a huge success. Thank your mum for her recipe, she is a genius !! I am going to use it a lot more. Xxx
Ps. I am going to buy a bigger bowl !!!
Making 12″ round madeira cake for weeding on 29-12-14, What is the earliest I could make the cake. (Can you freeze it????????????)
Hello,
Madeira cake lasts for ages. I bake on Wednesday, decorate on Thursday and Friday and deliver on Saturday. Once you have added the buttercream and sugarpaste the cake is essentially sealed and stays lovely and fresh till it’s cut.
You can freeze it. I don’t freeze decorated cakes but I know some people do.
Have a look at this post here
Hope that helps
EmmaMT
Hi i know this post is from quite a while back but iv just baked it and its really soft not like any madeira iv made before is this normal? After taking it out it sunk in the middle should this havd happened?
Hello,
Madeira cake is usually a firm cake which is why it’s so popular – it makes a good stacking cake. It shouldn’t be spongy like a Victoria Sponge.
There are two main reasons why a cake sinks in the middle, the oven door was opened during the first half of the cake baking or the cake is taken out of the oven before it’s finished baking.
While a cake is in the oven the liquids are heating up – so any water or milk will reach boiling point creating tiny air bubbles. These bubbles rise making the cake swell and create a light textured cake. If you open up the oven door while this reaction is taking place all those bubbles burst with the first whoosh of cold air and that is what causes a cake to sink.
These are the best ways to tell if your cake is baked
-Always test the centre of the cake. That is the part that takes the longest to bake and is the most likely to still need more time.
– The pressing method- My favourite method for testing a cake is to lightly press the centre of the cake with my finger. If the cake bounces back immediately then it’s done. If it takes 2 or more seconds give it a little longer.
-The Skewer method – Insert a skewer into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean without any cake mix residue it’s ready. If there’s still some moist cake mix on the end you’ll need to pop it back in for a few minutes more. When making a particularly deep cake I would test with a knife. A skewer may not work as well.
-Check the edges method- When a cake bakes the outer edges always bake fastest (as they’re against the hot metal cake tin). For this reason when the middle of your cake is baked the sides will shrink away from the cake tin. This is another good indicator that the cake is baked.
-Smell the cake method- When a cake is coming to the end of its baking time you can smell it in the kitchen even if you haven’t opened the oven door – a lovely side effect of baking. I wouldn’t use this method alone but it’s always a good reminder if you leave the kitchen.
So, there you have it. I hope this helps you to have perfectly flat cakes without any sinking.
Let me know how you get on
EmmaMT
Just tried this recipe…brilliant results. Whats the reason for using half marg and butter? Works so well..especially the tip for stopping doming. Thank you
Hello,
I don’t know the exact reason I just know that when I worked on Woman and Home magazine the Food editor always scoffed at the use of marge so I made this recipe with all butter and it was harder and didn’t taste anywhere as good. Half butter half marge creates a much lighter, tasier cake. When something works there’s no need to mess around I say!
EmmaMT
I love your website, I’ve made two wedding cakes with your recipes now! I’m making a birthday cake in about two hours, but I’ve just realised that your square recipe is for a 14inch tin, but I’ve only got an 8inch, eek! I’m hoping you’re tinkering on your site as its a Saturday morning and you can come to my rescue!! Thanks
Don’t worry, I’ve just found a previous reply you’ve given to someone else from this time last year, I’ll use the 9inch round recipe. Thanks! Panic over…
I noticed you dont use milk why?
Hello,
I don’t know why as I do use milk in the chocolate version. I tried water in the chocolate Madeira once and didn’t like it so I guess I never tried the other way around with the plain. Do you use milk? How does that taste? I’d love to know.
EmmaMT
Hello, love your website! I don’t suppose you could put a recipe for a 16″ Madeira on here please, have a 3 tiered cake to do soon and have used your recipe several times for previous orders and it’s perfect every time, I seem to do more round than square cakes so are the amounts the same or do you go up a size? I have to do a 16″ 12″ and 8″ square. Help
Thanks in advance
Kelly
Wow, that’s a massive cake! The 16″ wouldn’t even fit inside my oven!
If you can measure the volume of water the 16″ cake tin can hold so the water level is 2cm below the top I can calculate the ingredients for you.
Hope that helps
EmmaMT
Thank you so much will get back to you ! X
hi could you tell what recipe i would need for a 14 inch champane bottle cake tin? r
Hello,
If you measure the volume of water your tin can hold you can work out how much cake ingredients you need. Have a look at the posts below for guidance.
How to measure the volume of a cake tin.
Madeira cake ingredients for different size tins
Hope that helps
EmmaMT
Thanks, I have searched high and low and found a recipe with great reviews 🙂 Thanks looking at making this into a chocolate madeira cake. What would you change? I see milk has been mentioned would that then be 12 1/2 tsp hot milk instead of water? How much cocoa powder? Thanks 🙂 Its going to be one MASSIVE shop never bought so many eggs. Whats your thoughts on making it into a ‘sandwich’ style cake?
Hello,
Sorry for the late reply. School holidays and all that!
I have a Chocolate cake post here with all the recipes you will need. And yes I always cut my cakes in half to sandwich them. Cake should always have buttercream don’t you think?
EmmaMT
Hi Emma, do you make your Madeira in 1 tin or in 2 as when making a sponge cake? Is it still light if baked in 1 tin? Many thanks
bobby
Hello Bobby,
Madeira cake is a more dense cake and that’s why so many people choose it for stacking cakes. It has strength. I tend to make it in one tin unless it needs to be triple height and then I bake it in more tins. It also depends of course if I have two of the same size tins. At the moment I only have one of each size except 8″ which I have 4!
Hope that helps
EmmaMT