Serves 8
125g unsalted butter plus extra for greasing
200g rhubarb
100g caster sugar plus 30g for dredging
50g light brown soft sugar
3 medium eggs, lightly beaten
Zest of 1 lemon
tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g ground almonds
75g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
A large pinch of salt
1 Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Grease a 20cm-diameter
loose-bottomed or springform cake tin, and line the base with parchment.
2 Wash and trim the rhubarb into 15cm lengths, then arrange in a small oven
dish. Dredge with the caster sugar, cover with foil and bake in the preheated
oven for 20-25 minutes, or until soft.
3 While the rhubarb softens, melt the butter for the cake in a small pan over a
low heat. Once melted, whisk in the sugars, eggs, zest and extracts. In a
separate bowl, combine the ground almonds, flour, baking powder and salt. Add
the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, then stir briefly to combine.
4 Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin. Cut the cooked rhubarb pieces in
half along their lengths to give thin strips, then curl these randomly on top
of the batter in its tin. You could make a pattern from them if you're a more
fastidious cook than me, but I prefer to just arrange them haphazardly on top
to give messy swirls of rhubarb.
5 Bake for 40-45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted into
the middle of the cake comes out more or less clean. If the rhubarb starts to
brown at any point, cover the top of the cake with foil for the remaining
cooking time.
6 Unmould, then let the cake cool on a wire rack. When it's serving time, use a
good serrated knife to saw cleanly through the rhubarb. And for down days, when
even more sweet comfort is called for, serve it slightly warm, in a thick wedge
with lots of vanilla ice-cream.