Prue Leith’s Madeira cake

Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith shares her recipe for Madeira cake, a traditional buttery sponge cake with a mild lemon flavour.

Slices of madeira cake
By Prue Leith | Published - 14 Nov 2025
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Madeira cake is a traditional English sponge cake made by creaming or beating fat and sugar to a mousse-like consistency, and thereby incorporating air. The fat should never be allowed to melt – if it did, the air beaten into the batter would escape.

It does not come from Madeira, but gets its name from Madeira wine which was traditionally served with the cake.


Cooking time
1 hour 15 mins
Serves
8

Ingredients

  • Oil for greasing
  • 170g (6oz) unsalted butter, softened
  • 170g (6oz) caster sugar
  • Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
  • A pinch of ground cinnamon
  • 3 eggs at room temperature
  • 110g (4oz) self-raising flour
  • 55g (2oz) ground almonds
  • Milk (optional)
  • 1 slice of candied citrus peel

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/gas 3.
  2. Grease and line a deep 18cm/7in cake tin or 2lb loaf tin.
  3. Cream the butter and, when soft, add the sugar and lemon zest. Beat until pale and fluffy. Add the cinnamon.
  4. Beat the eggs together in a separate bowl, then beat gradually into the butter mixture, adding a little flour to prevent curdling if necessary. Add the lemon juice.
  5. Fold in the flour and the ground almonds.
  6. Add enough milk to bring the mixture to a dropping consistency.
  7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top with a palette knife or spatula.
  8. Bake for 45 minutes. Place the citrus peel on top of the cake, then bake for a further 30 minutes. A skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean.
  9. Cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes before gently easing it out onto a wire rack.

Notes

Possible reasons for failure

  • Cake too dense – wrong flour or no raising agent added.
  • Close texture – eggs added too quickly, making the mixture curdle.
  • Flat cake with large bubbles on surface – oven temperature too low or long delay before cake went into the oven.
  • Soggy bottom and sides – cake not cooled on a wire rack.

From Leith’s Cookery Bible by Prue Leith and Caroline Waldegrave (Bloomsbury), RRP: £35.

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Prue Leith wearing colourful glasses and jacket

Written by: Prue Leith

Dame Prue Leith, DBE, is a South African-British restaurateur, broadcaster, cookery writer and novelist. She started a catering business, which grew into Leith’s Good Food, and opened her Michelin-starred restaurant, Leith’s, in 1969. In 1975, she founded Leith’s School of Food and Wine, which trains professional chefs and amateur cooks. Leith was a judge on BBC Two’s Great British Menu for 11 years, before joining The Great British Bake Off in March 2017, replacing Mary Berry, when the programme moved to Channel 4. She advocates for improving food in schools and hospitals.

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