• Home
  • Contact
  • Recipes
  • About
    • About this Blog
    • Flaxseed Facts
    • Remarkable Hibiscus Tea
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Chestnut Candle

plant-based vegan approaches to traditional home-baking

Hide Search

Vegan Madeira Cake

CC · February 9, 2020 ·

vegan lemon madeira cake

Conventional madeira cake contains a huge quantity of butter and eggs. This vegan madeira cake is blissfully free from animal products while still having the rich texture and flavour you’d expect to find in a maderia cake.

Essentially, it is a cake that manages to be both plain and rich at the same time: plain, because it is an (almost) unadorned sponge cake; rich, because of the depth of flavour and texture.

vegan madeira cake

Ground almonds add moisture and some density without producing a heavy cake. The mixture will double in size in the oven, so it’s actually quite light.

The flavour is a subtle mix of lemon and vanilla, with a little salt. I use soft margarine (dairy free Flora, to be precise) rather than one of the oils in this recipe because it results in a more authentic madeira cake flavour.

vegan madeira cake with almonds

One of the defining features of a madeira cake is its soft golden crust. The pictured cakes were sprinkled with a bit of mixed chopped peel, to add interest and enhance the mild citrus flavour of the sponge.

It is perfectly nice with a cup of tea. I haven’t yet tried it with a glass of madeira wine, which is where this cake’s story began.

The cake pictured above was baked in a rectangular 11 x 4″ (29 x 10cm) tin so a traditional 2 lb loaf tin will produce a slightly taller cake. The cake pictured below was made with half the quantity of ingredients and baked in a 6″ round tin (with a reduced baking time).

vegan vanilla madeira cake

vegan madeira cake…

ingredients

  • 120 g soft vegan margarine
  • 40 g maple syrup
  • 160 g caster sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • up to 1/8 tsp salt
  • 260 g plain white/unbleached flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 100 g ground almonds
  • zest of half a small lemon
  • 160 ml oat (or other non-dairy) milk
  • chopped or sliced peel to decorate (optional)

method

  1. Set the oven to 190°C/375°F. Lightly oil and line the base of a suitable tin (a standard loaf tin, for example).
  2. Place the margarine and maple syrup in a large bowl and soften just a little in the microwave so that they will mix together easily.
  3. Add the sugar and vanilla to the margarine mixture and beat until smooth.
  4. Add the ground almonds and lemon zest to the mixture and then sift in the flour, baking powder and salt.
  5. Begin to stir this mixture, adding the milk in two or three stages to form a soft cake batter.
  6. Transfer to the tin, level the top a bit if necessary, and sprinkle over the peel (if using).
  7. Bake for around 40-45 minutes, depending on your oven and the size of the tin, until it is well risen with a deep golden, cracked crust, and an inserted skewer comes out clean. If you think the crust is browning too much too soon, reduce the oven temperature to 180/360°.
  8. Allow to cool before removing from the tin. It will store for a few days if well wrapped, but is probably best eaten in the first two days.
Dairy free madeira cake

If you would like to receive e-mail alerts when new recipes are published, please see my contact page.

Filed Under: Recipes

Primary Sidebar

Welcome to the Chestnut Candle – a blog for anyone who loves old-fashioned cakes and new plant-based vegan approaches to the food that we eat.

Please complete this form if you’d like to receive updates when new recipes are published.

Recent Posts

  • Vegan Petticoat Tails
  • Vegan Chocolate Olive Oil Cake
  • Vegan Drop Scones
  • Baked Peach Pizza
  • Vegan Fruit and Nut Tiffin

Archives

  • May 2025
  • March 2025
  • March 2024
  • January 2024
  • November 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • June 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018

Copyright © 2025 · Daily Dish Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Cleantalk Pixel