Welsh Rhubarb Cake Food

EASY RHUBARB CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease a 23cm/9in springform cake tin with butter and line the base with baking paper.
• Put the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla or almond extract, almonds, flour and baking powder in a food mixer or food processor. Beat until smooth and thick.
• Spoon the cake batter into the prepared tin. Top with the rhubarb, pressing it down gently. Sprinkle with the reserved 3 tablespoons of sugar.
• Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cover with foil if the cake starts to overbrown before it is cooked in the centre.
• Cool in the tin for 20 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Serve warm or cold.

RHUBARB POUNDCAKE

Steps:

• Cut rhubarb stalks to fit crosswise inside the top of a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. (They should be about 5 inches, but they could also be a little less.) You'll need enough rhubarb to cover the top of the cake in the loaf pan, plus a few extra pieces in case any split during poaching.
• In a medium pot, combine sugar, 1 cup water and the vanilla bean and seeds, and bring to a boil. Simmer until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Stir in rhubarb, simmer for 1 minute, then remove from heat. Cool to room temperature, then slice rhubarb in half lengthwise so you have long, thin pieces. Reserve poaching liquid.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees, and butter and flour the loaf pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
• In a small bowl, whisk together milk, vanilla extract and vanilla seeds.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl between each addition. Beat in half the flour mixture until just combined, then beat in milk mixture until barely combined, scraping the sides of the bowl. Beat in remaining flour mixture until just combined.
• Scrape half the batter into prepared pan, then lay half of the rhubarb slices in an even layer on top of the batter. Cover with remaining batter, smoothing the top.
• Bake cake for 20 minutes to set the top, then remove pan from the oven and quickly lay the remaining rhubarb slices next to each other on the top of cake. Return pan to oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the cake's center comes out clean, another 30 to 50 minutes.
• While cake is baking, bring rhubarb-poaching liquid to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer; continue to simmer until thickened and syrupy, about 10 minutes. Brush some syrup on top of cake once it comes out of the oven. Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack before serving, at least 2 hours, then carefully remove the cake from the pan and serve.

RHUBARB CRUMBLE CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3 and grease and line the base and sides of a deep 20cm round cake tin with a little of the butter and baking parchment. Put the butter, 250g sugar and vanilla into a big mixing bowl. Beat until light and fluffy with an electric whisk.
• Beat in the eggs, one by one, then fold in the 300g flour and baking powder. Spoon out 85g of the batter, and stir the extra 7 tbsp flour and cinnamon into this with a cutlery knife so it becomes crumbly.
• Fold the rhubarb into the rest of the cake batter and scrape into the prepared tin. Scatter over the crumble mix followed by 1 tbsp sugar. Bake for 1 hr 15 mins, until a skewer poked in comes out clean - you'll need to lay a sheet of foil on top after an hour if the cake is browning too much. Cool for 15 mins in the tin, then finish on a wire rack.

WELSH RABBIT

Steps:

• In a 2 quart saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Stir in and blend the flour, salt, mustard and pepper. Stir in the milk and Worcestershire sauce. Continue stirring the mixture for 10 minutes, or until thickened.
• Stirring continuously, melt the cheese into the mixture and blend well. Serve immediately over warm toast.

RHUBARB & CUSTARD CAKE

Steps:

• Make the roasted rhubarb first, carefully draining off the juices before you let it cool. Butter and line a 23cm loose-bottomed or springform cake tin. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.
• Reserve 3 tbsp of the custard in a bowl. Beat the rest of the custard together with the butter, flour, baking powder, eggs, vanilla and sugar until creamy and smooth. Spoon one-third of the mix into the tin, add some of the rhubarb, then dot with one-third more cake mix and spread it out as well as you can. Top with some more rhubarb, then spoon over the remaining cake mix, leaving it in rough mounds and dips rather than being too neat about it. Scatter the rest of the rhubarb over the batter, then dot the remaining custard over. Bake for 40 mins until risen and golden, then cover with foil and bake for 15-20 mins more. It's ready when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the tin, then dredge with icing sugar when cool.

RHUBARB & ELDERFLOWER CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Butter the sides of two 20cm round cake tins and line the bases with baking parchment.
• To roast the rhubarb, line a high-sided baking tray with baking parchment, add the rhubarb, then top with the sugar, lemon juice, zest and cordial. Cover with foil and roast in the oven for 25 mins until soft. Remove from the oven and reduce the temperature to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Strain the rhubarb from the poaching liquor, reserving the syrup.
• Tip the almonds into the bowl of a food processor and blitz until ground (if using whole almonds), but still retaining some texture.
• Put the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or use an electric whisk) and cream it on medium speed for 2 mins, then, using a rubber spatula, scrape down the butter from the sides of the bowl, then tip in the sugar and lemon zest. Turn up the mixer speed slightly and continue whisking for 5 mins until light and fluffy. Turn the mixer speed down slightly, then add the eggs, egg white, vanilla extract and cordial and mix together.
• Combine the flour, almonds, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Scrape the butter mixture down from the sides of the stand mixer bowl, turn the mixer to low speed - so it's just stirring - then spoon in the flour and almond mixture in four batches, alternating with spoonfuls of the yogurt, and finishing with a batch of the flour and almond mixture. Mix until just combined, with no streaks remaining, then add half the roasted rhubarb and 1 tbsp of its syrup to the batter and fold it in.
• Divide the batter evenly between the cake tins and bake in the oven for 25-30 mins until a skewer inserted into each cake comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the oven, leave them to cool completely in the tins on a wire rack, then carefully remove from the tins.
• For the filling, whip the cream to soft peaks in a bowl and fold in three-quarters of the remaining roasted rhubarb, along with the elderflower cordial and yogurt.
• Put one of the cakes flat-side down on a cake stand or plate, prick it all over with a skewer, and use a pastry brush to brush the cake with a little elderflower cordial. Spoon on half the cream mixture, top with the other cake, and brush that cake with cordial, too. Spoon over the remaining cream mixture, top with the remaining rhubarb and spoon over some of the poaching syrup. Garnish with elderflowers or seasonal flowers.

RHUBARB SPICE CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 and put the kettle on. Butter and line a deep 20cm square cake tin. Sift the flour and spices into a bowl. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy in the food processor, then beat in the golden syrup. Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in 200ml boiling water, then gradually pour through the spout of the processor. Pulse in the flour, then add the eggs, mixing briefly. Remove the bowl from the processor, then gently stir in the rhubarb.
• Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 50-60 mins, until the cake feels firm to the touch and springs back when pressed. Cool in the tin for 5 mins, then turn out and cool on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar.