Madeira Madeira Madeira ( , ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira ("Região Autónoma da Madeira"), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with the Azores). It is an archipelago situated in the north Atlantic Ocean, southwest of Portugal. Its total population was estimated in 2011 at 267,785. The capital of Madeira is Funchal, which is located on the main island's south coast. The archipelago is just under north of Tenerife, Canary Islands. Bermuda and Madeira, a few time zones apart, are the only land in the Atlantic on the 32nd parallel north. It includes the islands
Madeira cake Madeira cake Madeira cake is a sponge cake in traditional English cookery. It is sometimes mistakenly thought to originate from the Madeira Islands; however, that is not the case as it was instead named after Madeira wine, a Portuguese wine from the islands, which was popular in England in the mid 1800s when it was invented, and was often served with the cake. The confusion arises because Madeirans produce their own traditional Madeira cake – bolo de mel, a dark, spicy, honey cake – which is very different from its English counterpart. Nowadays, the English Madeira cake is often served