dillymug 
Today was World Baking Day and to celebrate I decided to try out this BBC Good Food rhubarb and custard cake. I had seen the recipe in a teatime baking recipe booklet I received with the April issue. Luckily, rhubarb is part of Aldi’s ‘Super 6’ and is currently only 59p – a bargain! I love rhubarb so have always got my eyes open for any baking recipes that include it. My last attempt at baking something with rhubarb was the infamous ‘Rhubarb omelette incident’. Hopefully today’s effort will banish any memories of this disaster! I’ve got some rhubarb and some custard left over so might try some rhubarb and custard muffins towards the end of the week.
Ingredients:
400g rhubarb
50g caster sugar
250g pack butter (softened, plus extra for greasing)
150g pot ready-made custard (not the chilled kind)
250g self-raising flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250g golden caster sugar
icing sugar (for dusting)
Method:
1) Heat your oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas 6. Rinse the rhubarb and shake off the excess water. Trim the ends, then cut into little finger-sized pieces. Put into a shallow ovenproof dish or a baking tray, tip over the sugar and toss together and then arrange so the rhubarb is in a single layer.
2) Cover with foil and roast for 15 minutes. Then remove the foil and give everything a shake (the sugar should have dissolved). Roast for 5 minutes more or until the rhubarb is tender and the juices are syrupy. (If you test the rhubarb it should feel tender, not mushy). Drain off the juices and allow to cool completely.
3) Butter and line a 23cm loose-bottomed or springform cake tin. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas 4.
4) Reserve 3 tablespoons 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.
5) 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 best as you can. Top with some more rhubarb, then spoon over the remaining cake mix, leaving it in rough mounds and dips. Scatter the rest of the rhubarb over the batter, then dot the remaining custard over.
6) Bake for 40 minutes until risen and golden, then cover with foil and bake for 15-20 minutes more (make sure your foil allows for your cake to keep rising – the top of my cake got stuck to the foil). It’s ready when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
7) Cool in the tin, then dredge with icing sugar when cool.
Happy baking!