I've made a couple cakes using the madeira receipe. The cakes taste horrible. Excellent for cutting and carving but crappy on taste. Has anyone else experienced this? The cake taste like flour. The last one I made I put in a large box of instant vanilla pudding mix. It dressed it up some, but still that dry, taste like flour cake. Did I do something wrong or is it the type of receipe. On another note: Most of my pound cakes taste the same; like flour. Is their a secret that I don't know about. Just wondering what i"m doing wrong.
receipe is as follows:

5 eggs
2 1/2 cups SR flour
1 1/4 cup P flour
1 1/4 butter
1 1/4 sugar
and 1 teaspoon of any flavoring

Basic as you can get. And it's nasty.
What type of cake receipe do you use for carving a cake?????

Might be your recipe.

Here's a different madeira cake recipe:

http://www.globalchefs.com/recipe/dessert/web/des017madw.htm

Here are some really great pound cake recipes:

http://www.recipezaar.com/36806
(This is my personal favorite.)

http://www.newschannel5.com/global/story.asp?s=9032267&ClientType=Printable
(This was my previous favorite. Although I don't like lemon so I just used more extracts. )

http://www.recipezaar.com/91644
http://www.recipezaar.com/8953
Same recipe, slightly different mixing directions and baking temps. (I usually bake at 325 F. This is my sister's favorite.)

If your cakes are coming out dry and/or heavy, it might be possible that you're not measuring the flour properly.

Don't drag a measuring cup through compacted flour and shake to level.....

It's necessary to aerate the flour before gently spooning it into a measuring cup and drawing a knife across the top to level. Or you can actually sift the flour over your measuring cup and then level with a knife.

Some handy cake troubleshooting charts:

http://tinyurl.com/2p5bdu

http://tinyurl.com/32goqe

http://tinyurl.com/6c745g

If you want an easy fix, use the (doctored) WASC cake recipe.

Here's the expanded flavors version:

http://tinyurl.com/2cu8s4

Freezing or semi-freezing any type of cake layers will make carving a bit easier.

Secrets to Cake Carving:

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-59361-.html

HTH

Ok, I hope that I don't get into any trouble with my British friends on this...but after living for 5 years in the UK I think Madeira cakes are essentially tasteless compared to American cakes. Some recipes are better than others, but all tend toward being dry. One thing to note is that many published madeira recipes don't have any specific "flavoring" component. I've found that most people have something that they like to add to flavor. Lemon rind is popular, as is strong vanilla. I've also had it with a combination of almond extract and ground almond is added for taste.
If you continue to experiment, I hope you'll let us know if you find a winner!

I agree with miss sweetstory thr british cakes do not have the flavor the American cakes have.

I'm British and I do agree that the maderia cake is very dry and has a horrible taste, which is why i dont use it any more! LOL!

I found a very good recipe on here that I made for cousin's little girl christening and got rave reviews, I've also used it for my novelty cakes aswell which have needed carving. Ãt's the "Vanilla Butter cake from The mermaid bakery" you can find it in the reciepe section here.

Rachel

Madeira cake is icky.

Thanks you guys! I'm gonna look up the info I was given and see if my cakes come out better. I will keep you posted. I was wondering, what type of receipe do you use for carving cakes???

Thanks for the replies!!!

Stephanie