Rhubarb Cake

Name: Rhubarb Cake
Ingredients: 100 g flour; 70 g butter; 70 g sugar; 50 g sour cream; 2 eggs; 1 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp vanilla sugar; a pinch of salt; 300 g milk; 25 g starch; 30 g sugar; 1 tsp vanilla sugar; 300 g rhubarb (can be substituted with tart apples); 30 g sugar

Rhubarb was a complete mystery to me for a long time. The thing is, I had never tried it before because it simply wasn't sold where I live. I know there are countless recipes that use rhubarb — delicious rhubarb pies, wonderful jams, candied rhubarb, desserts, compotes, and even wine made from rhubarb juice. Then recently I spotted it for the first time at Metro. The rhubarb stalks were green with a few pinkish streaks — not as red or pink as the photos you find online, but you work with what you've got, so I grabbed some! When I tried it at home I was a bit disappointed — eating it raw is tough going. The stalk is very dense, much firmer than a celery stalk, which it resembles on the outside. While celery is tender on the inside, rhubarb is nearly impossible to chew through even after trimming away the fibrous outer strings. The flavor is unusual — refreshingly tart, a lot like sour unripe green apples — so I decided to bake a cake with it. Even though rhubarb is firm on its own, it releases a lot of liquid during baking, which can prevent the batter from cooking through properly. The stalks also take a while to soften. So I pre-baked the rhubarb until halfway done — right while I was mixing the batter. To add a delicate sweetness to the cake, I also used a milk custard cream. The rhubarb cake turned out absolutely delicious — the soft, tender batter, the vanilla cream, and the sweet-tart rhubarb made for a truly wonderful combination! If you don't have rhubarb, you can make this cake with tart or sweet-tart apples — even slightly underripe ones work great — and strawberries are a great option too; you can even mix strawberries with the rhubarb. It'll be fantastic any way you make it!

Ingredients:

Batter:
100 g flour
70 g butter
70 g sugar
50 g sour cream
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla sugar
a pinch of salt
Cream:
300 g milk
25 g starch
30 g sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar
Also:
300 g rhubarb (can be substituted with tart apples)
30 g sugar

Preparation

Cut the rhubarb stalks into 1.5–2 cm pieces and sprinkle with sugar. There's no need to peel the rhubarb beforehand.

Place in an oven preheated to 170°C and roast the rhubarb for about 10–15 minutes. Let the roasted rhubarb cool slightly.

Prepare the cream. Pour most of the milk into a small saucepan, add the sugar and vanilla sugar, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Mix the remaining milk with the starch, then pour it into the saucepan while stirring. Cook the cream until thickened. Let cool slightly.

Prepare the batter. Many homemade rhubarb cakes are made with a shortcrust pastry — as a crumble-top or open-face tart. Those are tasty options too, but I made this rhubarb cake with a softer, more tender batter using sour cream. Beat the softened butter, sugar, vanilla sugar, and salt together until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the sour cream and beat again.

Add the flour and baking powder. Mix until combined — the batter for this rhubarb cake will be soft and tender.

Spread the batter into a 20 cm diameter pan and smooth the top. You can grease the pan with butter beforehand.

Spread the cream over the batter, then arrange the rhubarb on top.

Bake in an oven preheated to 170°C for 30–35 minutes.

Let the finished cake cool completely, though you can also enjoy it warm — for example, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Remove the cake from the pan. Here's what the rhubarb cake with vanilla cream looks like.

If you like, dust the cooled cake with powdered sugar. This rhubarb cake is incredibly delicious — a wonderful sour cream batter, a silky cream, and pieces of sweet-tart, fragrant rhubarb. An absolutely amazing recipe!