Rhubarb Butter Cake (Dear Joe, for you in real life)

Tart, puddingy, fudgy

Dear Joe

Last week you and Libby came to stay. I heard you in the kitchen at 9.30 am on Sunday, cutting up blood oranges and telling Libby that ‘they’re actually quite beautiful’. I heard you take the orange to the living room to show her up close and after that, I pulled some jeans on and went to the market for rhubarb.

Rhubarb is the tall blonde at the party with short hair arranged in a kind of mullet - she has superhuman magnetism, but no time for small talk, and likely to leave without warning. That’s to say I find rhubarb has a sharpness that holds no matter how much sugar you put to it, and it feels forever just about to be in season or just about to not be in season. This cake is based on an apple cake recipe given to me by a friend, with quite an unusual method – firstly you add roasted fruit to the (pretty standard, but brown sugar!) cake batter, then, you tip quite a hefty amount of melted butter and lemon juice over the partially baked cake before putting it back in the oven. The result: a soft pudding-like cake warm from the oven, that settles into a fudgy butter cake as it cools.

Preheat the oven to 180/160 fan. Grease and line a 9inch/22cm cake tin. Chop 400g rhubarb into 2inch chunks, toss with 30g light brown sugar and the zest and juice of one small lemon. Bake the rhubarb on a lined tray for 15 minutes, until soft. Meanwhile, make the cake by creaming 140g unsalted softened butter with 160g light brown sugar until fluffed up at the sides of the bowl. Beat in 2 medium eggs, one at a time. Mix through 80g self-raising flour, 70g ground almonds, and ¾ tsp baking powder. Gently fold in the cooked rhubarb along with any cooking juices on the tray – the mix will be quite slack now. Pour into the tin and bake for 30 minutes. Melt 60g butter, 40g light brown sugar, and the juice and zest of one small lemon in a small saucepan. Remove the cake from the oven, pour over the entire melted butter mixture, then return the cake to the oven for another 10-15 minutes, or until the cake feels springy to the touch, and the batter is cooked through. Allow the cake to cool slightly before slicing.

Love Caitlin xx