Have some Madeira, m’dear

I’ve looked through all my cookery books (all the relevant ones anyway; obviously not the curry or ice-cream ones – or even the curry ice-cream one) for a nice cake recipe so that I can use up a few of Ned’s adventure-eggs, and I simply can’t find one I like the sound of. I like a particular Victorian raisin cake I used to make, but that didn’t seem to meet with the approval of the menfolk. Ned likes rich fruit cake, on the Christmas cake lines, but neither I nor the Boy are keen. Victoria sponges with jam and cream are lovely, but they seem more of a summer treat. Cherry cake is nice, but not inspiring at the moment. Chocolate cake with buttercream filling and icing should be a safe bet, but in the past have been disastrous. Lemon drizzle cake is delish and successful, so I make that most frequently, and familiarity breeds contempt.

One of my baking problems is that I’m simply not very good at it. Cakes, instead of being meltingly moist and scrummy, tend to end up very dry in texture, which is a profound disappointment. I’ve tried adding glycerine to the mixture, but it really doesn’t seem to help very much. I tried putting a bowl of water in the bottom of the oven to maintain the humidity, but again, no joy. In my youth I was pretty good at cake-making – or perhaps I was hungrier and less fussy then.

Bingo! I’ve just remembered a cake an Australian neighbour of ours made and presented us with. (Either she thought I didn’t look after the family properly or it seems that Neighbours is true to life in one aspect, as she would frequently pop round with food for us. It was very kind, but slightly unnerving.) Tomorrow I shall go out and buy the ingredients and make a coca-cola cake. It's about 15 zillion calories a crumb and sends your blood-sugar levels through the roof but it was rather moreish.