How I almost killed someone with cake...

This week's Weekly Bake Off was a Madeira cake. I don't think I've ever actually had a Madeira cake before, and so I was keen to try it out.

The recipe is very straightforward - a variation on a basic sponge, with ground almonds and lemon zest givin it the distinctive madeira taste. Instead of icing, you sprinkle some citron peel (I used standard candied peel) on the top of the cake partway through baking.

Pretty and tasty, but potentially lethal!

This is quite a pretty cake, once you get over the fact that there is no icing, and the ground almonds give the cake a denser, moister feel than a normal sponge. I made the cake on Thursday night to take to a regular event we attend with a big group of friends on Friday night.

Needless to say, in addition to 3 cakes, a fair amount of alcohol was consumed, and it was sheer luck that someone asked me what goes into a madeira cake as the cakes were being cut. It turns out that one of our friends is allergic to nuts, and if he hadn't heard me saying their were ground almonds in the cake, he may very well have had a slice! (eek!) I didn't ask just how bad his reaction could have been but this serves as a reminder that when baking with nuts, especially 'hidden' nuts, you should always warn everyone that might eat your baked goods!