A Madeira Experiment

The great thing about baking is that I'm trying out cakes that i would otherwise never order (or even try at a party).  One example is Madeira Cake. I had no idea what it was and how it would taste when I decided to try Nigella's "My Mother-in-law's Madeira Cake" (in January - have been too busy to blog about it till now)! The only hint I had was the lemons that were part of the recipe, and the only reason I made it was that it seemed to be one of the simplest recipes in the book.  So I thought I would experiment. If I didn't like it, I could always give it to my obliging brothers... 

The fragrance of the eggs and lemons wafting from the kitchen was the first sign that this adventure would be worth it. And indeed it was. I discovered a moist golden yellow eggy lemony (but not overwhelmingly) tea-time loaf cake.  Perfect for tea-time with some milk or tea. 

I read that it goes well with custard. I didn't have any. But I had some left-over sour cream chocolate icing in the fridge.  So in the spirit of risk-taking, I tried some, and it was great! 

It was a worthwhile experiment. In the end I didn't have any cake to give my brothers...