Sunday, March 11, 2012

Tarty Rhubarb Cake

Ingredients:

2 large eggs
175g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
85 unsalted butter
75ml milk
125g gluten free plain flour (or regular, if you don't need to be gluten free)
2 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon


Method:

Preheat oven to 200c.  Line the base and sides of a 24cm round springform cake tin with baking paper.

In an electric mixer, mix eggs and sugar for a good 5 minutes or more until it is well-mixed and creamy looking.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter, just before it melts, add the milk.  This will help to avoid burnt butter.

Sift the dry ingredients, and add to the electric mixer while mixing, stopping the machine to check all the sides of the bowl.  Don't over-beat, but make sure all the lumps are gone.

Quickly put the mixture into the cake tin and place the fruit carefully over the top, it may sink in so a fancy pattern is not necessary - although try to keep the fruit evenly distributed.  The longer you take to do this, the more the fruit will "sink" to the bottom.  If you do it quickly, you get fruit that's only half-way through the cake - which is much better!

You can also put a little baked rhubarb on top if you like, and also put flaked almonds and extra caster sugar if you like.

Bake for 10 minutes at 200c, and then reduce the heat to 180c for 25 minutes.  Use a metal skewer to check if the cake is set in the middle.   Remove from the oven, cool in the tin and sprinkle with icing sugar before serving (if desired).  Can also be served up with some extra stewed/baked rhubarb on the side with some fresh cream.



Friday, January 20, 2012

Tis the season ...

We have the luxury of having quite a few fruit trees at our house, and our latest crops have been beautiful Angelina plums!  They are the ones with the deep, dark red skins and a yellow/green flesh inside - when stewed they turn out beautifully red!

The eternal problem of having fruit trees is that they all harvest at the one time, which has meant lots of bottling, stewing, preserving and jam-making in recent months!  It's awesome - I love having things in our cupboards, things to give away, and reaping the benefits of gardening.

We were lucky enough to pick up some strawberries in Tassie at Christmas time, and along with raspberries they have been turned into jam as well in the last 2 or so months - so I think it's fair to say that we are well-stocked at the moment!

Now all I need to do is get some more pasta sauce happening for the winter months (while tomatoes are affordable) and I'll have done the major part of my "squirrelling" for another summer!  Well, until the zucchini finishes up anyway!

LOVE this time of year!