Rhubarb and Almond Cake

I know I’ve been neglectful again. My excuse this time is moving house. I couldn’t find time (or space) amidst the boxes and endless cleaning. Guilt has now got the better of me but we dont move into our new house for another week so I am lacking in recipe books and cooking opportunities.

I feel my blog is glaring at me though so I’m using the hiatus to post the things that have been lingering in my recipe folder but havent yet made it to print. While I was writing this up I was thinking how much has changed since I started baking in earnest a few years ago. I have always loved food but I used to be a hopeless baker. I can remember Dawn who is now my baking partner in crime, teaching me how to make a simple sponge cake. I was so surprised that it worked.

Now I’m able to tweak and even create my own recipes and although I still make some disasters, most of my so called failures are still edible. This cake didnt make it on to the blog before because although my experiment with the flavours worked I didnt get the finish right and its looks didnt do it very much justice.  But despite its looks it was delicious so Ive decided to post it now before the rhubarb season is completely over and the recipe is useless to anyone for another year.

Rhubarb and Almond Cake

• 100g rhubarb, chopped into cubes
• 175g brown sugar
• 60ml melted butter or vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 300g plain flour
• 1 tspn salt
• 1 tspn bicarbonate of soda
• 125ml milk
• 25g toasted flaked almonds

Preheat oven to 180 C and line and grease a bread tin. Beat the brown sugar, butter/oil, egg and almond extract together in a bowl. Combine the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda and fold into the sugar mixture, alternating with the milk. Beat until smooth and then stir in the rhubarb and almonds. Spoon into the tin and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool on a rack and slice to serve.

If you like you can make a simple icing with 1/2 a cup of icing sugar, 1/2 a tsp almond extract and enough water to make a pouring consistency. Add a drop of pink food colouring to echo the rhubarb.

As if to remind me I still make mistakes, I thought I could get away without lining my tin and this one stuck to the bottom a bit. So make sure you line your tin but you wont get to scrape out and eat the sticky bits with a spoon while you wait for it to cool.

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