History of the Jews in Madeira History of the Jews in Madeira History of the Jews in Madeira spans the entire length of the history of Madeira itself, from Crypto-Jews to World War II evacuees. Like the Jews of mainland Portugal, Madeira jews are mainly related to Sephardi history, a Jewish ethnic division that represents communities who have originated in the Iberian Peninsula. There was once a Synagogue of Funchal, which is now disused. Menasseh Ben Israel was born in Madeira in 1604. Jews from Morocco arrived in 1819 and set themselves up in the cloth and wine trades. The Abudarham family from Gibraltar were involved
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