ANNE HILTON Monday, April 24 2006

Now that we’ve made the kind of sponge cake we need to make trifle like my Mother made it, we have to revisit my recipe for Madeira cake. Why? Because I was unwise enough to double-check the recipe for trifle with my English Good Housekeeping Cookbook that lists three varieties of trifle, not one bearing much resemblance to my Mother’s version.

Then I quite lost my head; I went to the BBC Food website where I found a recipe for a Traditional English Trifle that, although somewhat different from hers, would meet with my Mother’s approval - and no less than 32 other recipes for trifle, most involving various exotic liqueurs, fresh raspberries, strawberries and blackberries and Mascarpone, an exotic Italian cheese probably only available here from Malabar Farms - if that.

Unlike last week’s recipe for Hot Milk Sponge for my Mother’s trifle, the Traditional English Trifle is made with a base of Madeira cake. Therefore this week we’ll revisit the classic Madeira cake recipe. Next week we tackle custard, the week after I’ll feature my Mother’s basic version and the week after that - we’ll see, perhaps the traditional English Trifle … or syllabub, or sherry trifle . . .

Here is how you make Madeira Cake:

Preparation is the key to the perfect Madeira cake. Begin by lining the cake tin with a double layer of wax paper. Then remove the top rack in the oven and place the bottom rack in the lowest position.

Put a double fold of heavy brown paper on a stout baking sheet. Take out the heavy dark cast iron pot that fits over the cake tin with a little space to spare at the top and sides when it rests on the brown paper on the baking sheet .

Set the oven to heat to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now for the Ingredients:

6 ozs of butter, softened but not runny.

The finely grated rind of a ripe (yellow) lime.

8 ozs caster sugar Or put the same amount of granulated sugar in the blender and give it a whizz to reduce it to caster sugar, or powdered sugar.

4 eggs

10 ozs flour.

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder.

A “tip” of salt.

1/3 cup of milk.



METHOD

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl.

Put the butter and grated lime peel in the mixer or food processor and mix, or process, until the butter changes colour from yellow to white, and the mixture is light and fluffy.



Gradually add the castor sugar and beat, or process, again until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, One at a time, beating or processing thoroughly after each addition. If the mixture starts to separate, add a teaspoonful of the sieved dry ingredients.

Remove the mixing bowl from the mixer. Add some of the flour to the mixture and, using a large metal spoon gently fold the dry ingredients into the mixture until most of the flour is incorporated.

Now add some milk and fold that gently into the mixture. Add some more flour and fold it in, some more milk and fold that in, finally add the rest of the flour. The secret to success in this process is always to begin and end with the dry ingredients.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and gently smooth the top.

Put the tin on the baking sheet and cover it with the large iron pot and place on the lowest rack in the oven. The “stone” or the heavy brown paper on the baking sheet prevents the bottom of the cake from burning while the iron pot over the cake tin allows the cake to steam so it doesn’t dry out.

But be warned! Never, never open the oven door to take a peak at the cake until it’s been in the oven at least 1 1/4 hours.

Test, as usual, with a thin skewer. If it’s still too wet in the middle it may need another few minutes.

Give the cake five minutes to “rest” before turning it out on a rack and carefully removing the wax paper. Leave it overnight in a cake tin or Rubbermaid container before cutting it.

This cake can be kept, well wrapped and sealed, in the freezer, or freezing compartment of the fridge for a month or more.

Bon appetit!