My nana always had rhubarb in her garden, and preserved in glass jars in her pantry. We mostly ate it with custard, or occasionally as a crumble, but I feel she would have approved of this cake. It makes me think of her, anyway, and that can only be a good thing.
For the cake:
- 300 g / 10 ½ oz rhubarb, roughly chopped
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 165 g / 1 cup self-raising flour or plain flour + 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 175 g / 6 ¼ oz unsalted butter
- 175 g / ¾ cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
For the topping:
- 25 g / 1 oz unsalted butter
- 2 Tbsp self-raising flour
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp ground ginger
Heat oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease and line a 23 cm square baking tin (a brownie tin is about perfect).
Toss the rhubarb with the lemon juice and set aside.
Beat all other cake ingredients together, then fold in about half the rhubarb. Chuck it in the tin, then top with remaining rhubarb (so technical! This is so my sort of cake).
For the topping, rub the butter into the flour, then stir in sugar and ginger. Spread evenly over cake, then bake for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs attached.
Cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the tin, and serve warm or cold with a dusting of icing sugar and maybe some cream if you’re feeling fancy.