MADEIRA STYLE CAKE

Sometimes I really fancy a nice piece of cake. I know they are full of calories and fat, and making cakes is time consuming. But, there's nothing quite like a piece of home made cake.
So I thought why not - make half a cake? That's my tip for the day. Not only does it save on cost, calories and waste - it's also better for the waistline.
My experiment would suggest you need to
use more than half the egg/milk mixture when halving a recipe. I know from experience the cake mixture shouldn't be too dry. The cake turned out to be beautifully moist too, so there is no need to spread with butter. The recipe below shows the ACTUAL ingredients I used for this cake.
The oven temperature was a little too high, hence the crack. I've got a fan oven which doesn't help - so I've adjusted the temperature below. There was no other raising agent in the cake (apart from the flour) and I was impressed, considering the cake was mixed all in one. I used a small (one pound) loaf tin for presentation which allowed precision slicing!
Now for the calories. If I divide the cake into 8 slices, each one would cost me just under 250 calories. Working out the ingredients reminds me just how high in calories such a treat can be. But, I am mindful that I've only used half the ingredients. There are far fewer crumbs rolling around the plate too....

MADEIRA & CHERRY CAKE

(adapted from a Mary Berry recipe)

80g glace cherries

110g self raising flour

90g butter

90g caster sugar

25g ground almonds

2 large eggs

zest of half a lemon

few drops of almond essence (if you have any)

milk (if necessary)

****

Heat oven to 170ºC.

Grease a small (one pound) loaf tin and line with greaseproof paper.

Cut the glace cherries into quarters, wash, dry then set aside.

Place all the other ingredients (except the cherries) into a bowl and mix thoroughly.  I found I needed a small amount of milk and added around a tablespoonful. The colour of the cake mixture should be  slightly pale rather than yellow.

Stir in the cherries.

Place into the (one pound) loaf tin and cook for around 35 to 40 minutes. I set the oven for 30 minutes, then kept an eye on the cake. A skewer should come out nice and clean.

Dust with icing sugar if you wish. Serve with tea - or a good glass of fizz!
****

TIP:  - Do you know how many calories you are allowed each day?

Here's a link to our very first blog post about our weight loss journey, which we began in January 2011. We started this blog as a way of recording what we ate while losing weight. The blog is a food diary, and contains lots of recipes, tips and ideas about losing weight.

You'll find our WEIGHT LOSS PLAN here. 

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