Madeira Cake- Vanilla Bean

Madeira Cake-
Madeira is a heavy dense pound cake of British origin. Evolving from the American pound cake, this cake is ideal for a strong base or carving.

Ingredients for one 7 in round or one 6 in square pan.
1 c butter softened
1 c sugar
3 large eggs
2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
salt to taste, I use 3 or 4 shakes
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean

Grease and line pan with parchment paper, Set aside and preheat oven to 350.

Beat butter and sugar until creamy, gradually add eggs, blend well.
Sift flour, soda and salt and fold in. Add vanilla- see below for vanilla bean usage.
Pour into pan and bake about 1 to 1 1/4 hours.
This seems like a lot of time, to be honest I really kept an eye on mine beginning around the 50 minute mark. Just use a cake tester and remove when cake tests done. Try not to open the oven more than a time or two as this will effect your cake and baking time. If you have a window that is perfect for keeping an eye on it! If not test once around the 50-55 min and adjust.
Remove cake when done and let cool 20 minutes in pan then finish cooling on rack.

You can see the wonderful dense texture here.


                             Vanilla Beans

To use a vanilla bean, slice lengthwise down the bean- but not completely through.

Slide your knife down the middle scraping all the seeds-

mix into batter. Use 1/2 to 1 full bean per recipe. If your making any kind of sauce that would need to cook, throw the bean in while simmering and disguard  before glazing or filling.

 You can see up close how many tiny little seeds are inside.