Rhubarb and Almond Cake

When I started this blog I decided that I was only going to post recipes if I had grown the main ingredient myself. So far, this is my first recipe post and hopefully, this year, the first of many.

It is currently the middle of May and I have had 3 loads of rhubarbs so far. I have been picking it much younger and smaller this year because when left to overgrow it becomes woody and inedible when the stalk are too large. I am aiming to be more mindful of waste this growing season and not letting our precious crops end up back in the compost bin.

I was going to write one long post with all of the different rhubarb recipes that I have cooked using this years' crop. However, this Rhubarb and Almond cake was so good that it deserves it's own post!

This cake was really easy to make, pretty healthy and came out well both times that I made it. Here are some photos of my rhubarb in situ! I just love my little rhubarb patch at the bottom of the garden and it is one of the first vegetables (yes, rhubarb is a vegetable not a fruit) to make an appearance in the spring.

This recipe was adapted it from the lovely website, The Floating Kitchen. I wanted to be able to give it to my young children so I used a lot less sugar, less flour, and added more almonds).

• 100g raw cane sugar
• 113 grams unsalted butter
• 2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg
• 3 egg whites
• 1 tub Greek yogurt (about 200g)
• zest of one orange
• scraping from quarter of a vanilla pod
• 100g white flour
• 200g ground almonds
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 6 or 7 small rhubarb stalks
• splintered almonds to decorate top of cake

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Lightly grease the bottom of a 10 inch cake tin with a little butter then dust lightly with flour. Set aside.

2. Separate 3 eggs. Beat 50g of sugar with the butter until light and fluffy then gradually add 2 egg yolks and one whole egg. Then beat in the orange zest, yogurt, vanilla and cardamom.

3. In a separate bowl whisk 3 egg whites with the remaining 50 grams of sugar until you have formed stiff peaks.

4. Combine the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt. Add these dry ingredients to the cake batter, adding in about one-third at a time. Finally, fold in the egg whites.

5. Wash the rhubarb then cut into thin diagonal slices.

6. Spread about half of the cake mixture into the cake tin then layer half of the rhubarb slices over it. Add the remaining cake batter on top then repeat the rhubarb layering being careful not to let the rhubarb touch the sides of the tin. Sprinkle the splintered almonds and a dusting of sugar on top.

7. Allow the cake to bake for 45-50 minutes then cool on a wire rack.
 
I have tried this recipe with both full- fat Greek yogurt and 0% fat and both turned out well. A handful of raspberries would also work well in the middle layer to sweeten it up a bit of you find the rhubarb too tart.

Enjoy!

 

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Oh and here are some interesting rhubarb facts:

- Rhubarb leaves are toxic due to the high levels of oxalic acid in them so be careful if you have young children. The leaves can still be composted though.

- Rhubarb is used in ancient Chinese medicine to treat stomach ailments, constipation, liver and gall bladder problems and much more. 

- Rhubarb is very high in calcium. One cup of rhubarb has just as much calcium as a cup of milk.

- Rhubarb originally comes from Siberia.