Rhubarb and Custard Cake

British rhubarb grows prolifically and is available to buy from March through to October. As we have a good garden supply I have accumulated a number of rhubarb recipes over the years. This rhubarb and custard cake is one of my favourites from The Good Food Magazine. It is a delicious teatime treat served with a cuppa.

                       

Ingredients

250g pack butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

150g pot ready-made custard (not the chilled kind; I used Ambrosia)

250g self-raising flour

½ tsp baking powder

4 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

250g golden caster sugar

Icing sugar, for dusting

Method

1. Make the roasted rhubarb first. Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Rinse 400g rhubarb and shake off excess water. Trim the ends, then cut into little finger size pieces. Put in a shallow dish or a baking tray, tip over 50g caster sugar, toss together, and then shuffle rhubarb so it's in a single layer. Cover with foil, then roast for 15 mins. Remove and drain off the juices and then allow to cool.

2. Butter and line a 23cm loose-bottomed or springform cake tin. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.

3. Reserve 3 tbsp 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.

4. 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 well as you can. Top with some more rhubarb, then spoon over the remaining cake mix, leaving it in rough mounds and dips rather than being too neat about it. Scatter the rest of the rhubarb over the batter, and then dot the remaining custard over.

5. Bake for 40 mins until risen and golden, then cover with foil and bake for 15-20 mins more. It's ready when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the tin. Remove the cake from the tin when cool and then dredge with icing sugar.