Recipe of the week: rhubarb and almond cake

If rhubarb isn’t in season, you can use raspberries, blackberries or even blueberries for this versatile cake

a round brown cake with chunks of rhubarb on a white platter
Recipe from A Table full of Love: The Cookbook by Skye McAlpine

The idea of throwing chopped rhubarb into cake batter, raw, like little sticks of Brighton rock, came to me via my friend Sarah Standing, says Skye McAlpine. And it is sheer genius. When rhubarb isn’t in season, you could use raspberries (frozen or fresh), blackberries or even blueberries.

Ingredients: serves ten people

  • 370g salted butter softened, plus more for the tin
  • 370g caster sugar
  • 370g ground almonds
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 5 eggs
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • 190g polenta
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • 300g rhubarb, chopped into 2cm pieces
  • sea salt flakes

Method

  • Heat the oven to 190°C. Butter a 23cm springform cake tin and line it with baking parchment.
  • Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and light. Stir in the ground almonds and vanilla. Now beat in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the milk. Lastly, fold in the polenta, baking powder and ½ tsp salt.
  • Spoon the batter into the prepared cake tin, then drop in the chunks of rhubarb, scattering them evenly through the cake.
  • Bake in the oven for 70-80 minutes, until the cake is set and golden brown on the top. Let it cook a little more in the tin, then turn the cake out onto a dish or stand.

Taken from A Table Full of Love by Skye McAlpine, published by Bloomsbury at £26. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £20.99, call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweekbookshop.co.uk.

Sign up for the Food & Drink newsletter for recipes, reviews and recommendations

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us