Feeling peckish after reading about Louise’s delicious cakes? Don’t worry, here is Fiona Harper’s yummy recipe for Madeira cake, so that you can make your own.

Happy baking … and Merry Christmas!

Madeira Cake

I can’t resist the unfussy, dense golden taste of a good Madeira cake. Once you’ve made your own, you’ll never want to buy it from the supermarket again.

240g/8½oz softened butter

200g/7oz golden caster sugar, plus a little extra for dusting

210g/7oz self-raising flour

90g/3oz plain flour

3 eggs

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

Few drops vanilla extract

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170C/Gas 3 and butter and line a 450g/1lb loaf tin.

2. Cream the butter and the sugar together, then add the lemon zest and vanilla extract.

3. Add the eggs one at a time, along with a tablespoon of flour, and mix in well.

4. Mix in the rest of the flour and then the lemon juice.

5. Spoon into the loaf tin and smooth the mixture into the corners with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle the top with a couple of tablespoons of sugar.

6. Bake for one hour, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let it stand on a wire rack in the tin until cool, then turn out. (If you’re impatient, like me, and don’t wait until it’s cool you’ll end up cracking the cake. Of course, this also works as an excuse to hoover up the broken bits while they’re still warm. It’s up to you if you want to confess this to the family or pretend it was all a horrible accident.)