Rhubarb Crumble Cake

Katie Stewart has a wonderful recipe for mincemeat crumble cake, which is where the inspiration for this recipe sprang from. It's a little bit more involved then making a plain cake, as there are three elements to it- sponge, cooked and sweetened rhubarb, and a crumble topping. I think its worth the extra effort, especially as you can make the crumble topping and deal with the rhubarb a while in advance, just making the cake batter when you're ready to eat it.

I think this cake is best eaten hot or warm, with some thick cold cream on the side.


Ingredients
Sponge base:
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
zest of an orange
100g self raising flour
25g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder

Rhubarb filling:
3 sticks of rhubarb, cut into 2 cm chunks
3 tbsp caster sugar
small knob of butter
juice of half a large orange
pinch ground ginger

Crumble topping:
100g plain flour
50g butter, cut into small dice
75g soft brown sugar
pinch ground ginger
2 tbsp flaked  almonds

Method
Start with the rhubarb. Put all the filling ingredients in a saucepan over a medium low heat until the rhubarb starts to fall apart. It should be a thick, pulpy sauce.

Now deal with the topping: rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, ginger and almonds and set aside.

Preheat the oven the 200C. Line a 20cm round cake tin. Cream the butter until light and pale, slowly incorporating the sugar. Beat in the egg and orange zest, then fold in the flour, baking powder and almonds. Scrape the mix into a cake tin, and spread out (it will be quite a thin layer of batter) Spoon over the rhubarb filling evenly, but don't go right up to the edges, leave about a centimetre. Sprinkle over the crumble topping and bake for around 25 minutes. Enjoy while warm.