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
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
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
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.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
‘Social media is the new tabloid’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Can the NBA survive FBI’s gambling investigation?Talking Points A casualty of the ‘sports gambling revolution’
-
How are ICE’s recruitment woes complicating Trump’s immigration agenda?TODAY’S BIG QUESTION Lowered training standards and ‘athletically allergic’ hopefuls are hindering the White House plan to turn the Department of Homeland Security into a federal police force
-
Roasted squash and apple soup recipeThe Week Recommends Autumnal soup is full of warming and hearty flavours
-
6 well-crafted log homesFeature Featuring a floor-to-ceiling rock fireplace in Montana and a Tulikivi stove in New York
-
Film reviews: A House of Dynamite, After the Hunt, and It Was Just an AccidentFeature A nuclear missile bears down on a U.S. city, a sexual misconduct allegation rocks an elite university campus, and a victim of government terror pursues vengeance
-
Book reviews: ‘Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife’ and ‘Make Me Commissioner: I Know What’s Wrong With Baseball and How to Fix It’Feature Gertrude Stein’s untold story and Jane Leavy’s playbook on how to save baseball
-
Rachel Ruysch: Nature Into ArtFeature Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, through Dec. 7
-
Music reviews: Olivia Dean, Madi Diaz, and Hannah FrancesFeature “The Art of Loving,” “Fatal Optimist,” and “Nested in Tangles”
-
Gilbert King’s 6 favorite books about the search for justiceFeature The journalist recommends works by Bryan Stevenson, David Grann, and more
-
Ready for the apocalypseFeature As anxiety rises about the state of the world, the ranks of preppers are growing—and changing.