Rhubarb and Custard Cake

This months brief for Clandestine Cake Club was Victorian and was held at Harvey Nichols, Leeds.











Now this theme wasn't springing me any inspiration and any idea I did have other people seemed to be doing it, so after a tweet from our host and founder telling me to forget the brief a few ideas for a cake involving rhubarb came to mind especially since the forced rhubarb season is coming to a close and I hadnt done anything with it.

Yorkshire is quite well known for its Rhubarb Triangle consisting of Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield.  Forced rhubarb, if you don't know, is grown in pitch black hot warehouses at an accelerated rate, the absence of light makes the rhubarb feed off energy from its roots and the heat speeds up its growth. This version is a lot sweeter, pinker in colour and less fibrous than its slower grown cousin.

So anyway I had a couple of ideas but the lack of time to experiment lead me to BBC Food in search of a recipe.

Rhubarb and Custard Cake
400g Rhubarb (forced or normal)
50g Caster Sugar

25og Soft butter
150g pot of Ambrosia Custard
250g SR Flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder
4 large Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla extract
250g Golden Caster sugar

Wash the rhubarb and shake off the excess water
Chop into finger size pieces.
Place on a baking tray and pour over the 50g of caster sugar.
Shake about until well covered and the rhubarb is on one level.
Cover with foil and bake for 15 mins at 180C.
Remove foil and bake for a further five minutes.

Drain off the juices and remove the rhubarb from the tray to cool.
Remove 3 tbsp of the custard from the pot and reserve.
Combine the rest of the custard, butter, flour, golden caster sugar, vanilla extract, eggs and baking powder in a bowl with an electric whisk until smooth and creamy.

Spoon a third of the mixture into a loose bottomed/springform 23cm lined cake tin.
Place a layer of rhubarb over the top.
Top with another third of the mixture, spread out as best as you can.
Place another layer of rhubarb.
Spoon on the remainder of the mixture, don't worry about spreading too neatly.
Top the cake with the remaining rhubarb and dot the remaining custard over the top of it.

Bake in a Preheated oven for 40 minutes
Watch carefully, when the cake top goes golden brown after this time, remove and cover with foil or it will burn like mine nearly did. Cook for a further 20 or so minutes.
Check it is cooked by inserting a skewer, if it comes out clean its done.
Leave to cool in the tin.
Remove, sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.

Enjoy.