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I have a question about the Madeira Cake. In the instructions at step number 3 it says "Add the eggs one at a time with a tablespoon of the flour for each." There are two different flours: plain and self-raising. Which one do we add?
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Nigella's recipe for My Mother-In-Law's Madeira Cake (from HOW TO BE A DOMESTIC GODDESS) contains a mixture of self-raising flour and plain (all-purpose) flour. The reason a mixture of flours is used is that traditionally this type of cake has very little raising agent added, the leavening in the cake comes mainly from thorough creaming of the butter and sugar and by the addition of the eggs. So a Madeira cake has a closer texture than a traditional Victoria sponge cake.
A little flour is added with each egg to help to prevent the mixture from curdling. It doesn't particularly matter which type of flour you use at this stage. You could even sift or whisk the two types of flour together first before using them together in the batter.
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