I have had a request for a scaled up version of my madeira cake recipe for a wedding cake. The texture of madeira cake is firm enough to cope with ornate icing which makes it a good choice for wedding cakes. However, you do have to remember that it does not keep like a fruit cake. You cannot make the cakes a long way in advance and don’t expect to be able to keep a tier for the christening in the old tradition: it will not keep.
Since wedding cakes tend to come in tiers, I’ve put together a set of figures for a whole range of tin sizes. I haven’t made anything as huge as the big ones myself, so I can’t swear to their failsafe-ness but the figures are accurately scaled up. If you are making a cake for anything important I would always urge you to have a dry run to make sure that everything works properly.
Choose either the metric or the imperial measurements, but don’t mix them up. For measuring small quantities in mls, use metric measuring spoons: 1 tsp = 5 mls. A random teaspoon out of the cutlery drawer may well not be anywhere near this.
The first set of measurements are in metric:
| 8”/20cm round | 7” square | 9”/23cm round | 8”/20cm square | 10”/ 25.5cm round | 9”/23cm square | 11”/28cm round | 10”/25.5cm square | 12”/30cm round | 11”/28cm square | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomor (softened) g | 175 | 175 | 225 | 230 | 280 | 290 | 340 | 355 | 395 | 430 |
| caster sugar g | 175 | 175 | 225 | 230 | 280 | 290 | 340 | 355 | 395 | 430 |
| eggs | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 large | 5 | 5 large | 6 | 6 large | 7 large |
| plain flour (sifted) g | 225 | 225 | 290 | 295 | 350 | 375 | 440 | 460 | 510 | 550 |
| soya milk ml | 30 | 30 | 35 | 40 | 45 | 50 | 60 | 65 | 70 | 75 |
| baking powder ml | 7.5 | 7.5 | 10 | 10 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 15 | 15 | 17.5 | 17.5 |
| grated rind of lemon | 1 | 1 | 1 large | 1 large | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2 | 2 | 2.25 | 2.5 |
| vanilla essence ml | 10 | 10 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 15 | 15 | 17.5 | 20 | 22.5 | 22.5 |
And in Imperial:
| 8”/20cm round | 7” square | 9”/23cm round | 8”/20cm square | 10”/ 25.5cm round | 9”/23cm square | 11”/28cm round | 10”/25.5cm square | 12”/30cm round | 11”/28cm square | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomor (softened) oz | 6 | 6 | 7.5 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11.5 | 12 | 13.5 | 15 |
| caster sugar oz | 6 | 6 | 7.5 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11.5 | 12 | 13.5 | 15 |
| eggs | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 large | 5 | 5 large | 6 | 6 large | 7 large |
| plain flour (sifted) oz | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10.5 | 12.5 | 13.5 | 15.5 | 16 | 1lb 2oz | 1lb 4oz |
| soya milk tbsp | 2 | 2 | 2.5 | 2.75 | 3 | 3.5 | 3.75 | 4 | 4.5 | 5 |
| baking powder tsp | 1.5 | 1.5 | 2 | 2 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3 | 3 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| grated rind of lemon | 1 | 1 | 1 large | 1 large | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 large | 2 | 2 | 2.5 |
| vanilla essence tsp | 2 | 2 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3 | 3 | 3.5 | 4 | 4.5 | 5 |
All the instructions are in the main madeira cake post. With the larger ones you may have to extend the baking time a little, but it’s not by as much as you might think as the depth of the cake is the same so the heat reaches the middle in pretty much the same time. As usual, use the gentle pressure of fingers to test the cake and you can always use a skewer to test the centre if you wish.