Rhubarb and orange drizzle cake

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Louise Robinson serves up a stunning rhubarb cake recipe, served with a delicious orange and rhubarb drizzle for optimum moistness. Using forced rhubarb will give you the slender stems and vibrant colour that works perfectly for this delightful cake, so make the most of the season which runs from January to April. Alternatively enjoy the second prime outdoor season running from April to June.

First published in 2018

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Rhubarb and orange drizzle cake

  • 185g of unsalted butter, plus a little extra to grease the tin
  • 1 tbsp of orange zest, finely grated
  • 150g of caster sugar
  • 3 medium eggs, beaten
  • 150g of self-raising flour, sifted
  • 80g of fine semolina
  • 60ml of buttermilk
  • 200g of rhubarb, preferably thin stalks, trimmed and cut into 8cm pieces
  • 1 tbsp of Demerara sugar
  • 1 tbsp of icing sugar, sifted

Drizzle syrup

Equipment

  • 20cm round deep cake tin

Method

1
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4
2
Butter and line the base and sides of a 20cm round deep cake tin with baking paper
3
Place the butter, sugar and orange zest in a mixer and beat until light and fluffy (you can also do this by hand). Add the beaten egg, a little at a time, mixing well in between each addition. Fold in the flour, semolina and buttermilk and spoon into the prepared cake tin
4
Level the mixture and arrange the rhubarb in a circular pattern, filling any space in the middle with smaller pieces. Sprinkle all over with Demerara sugar
5
Place the tin in the pre-heated oven and bake for 45 minutes – 1 hour (or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean of mixture)
6
Meanwhile, make the drizzle syrup by putting the chopped rhubarb, caster sugar, orange juice and water in a small pan over a low heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves then increase the heat and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat again and simmer for 10–12 minutes until the syrup has thickened. Strain through a sieve into a small bowl and set aside
7
When the cake is ready, remove it from the oven and leave for 5 minutes before turning it out on a wire rack top side up. Drizzle over a few tablespoons of the syrup and allow to cool. Dust with icing sugar
8
The cake can be served warm with a little more syrup and cream, or cold, but it is best eaten on the day it is made
First published in 2018

Louise Robinson is a former fashion accessories designer turned freelance food writer, stylist and photographer now based in the Sussex countryside.

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