Has it really been more than a month since I was last here?Eeek.
My absence wasn't intentional. Thanks to unreliable home Internet service...more than three weeks of unreliable home Internet...and phone...and TV service (don't you love the lack of provider competition, combined with bundling that "saves" the customer money?) I've not really been able to post. Those adventures haven't ended (I still need to get my billing adjusted)...when things are sorted, I'll post about all the loveliness.
Combine that with a very full social schedule, I've not had much kitchen time.
My favourite country market opened for the season, and I picked up some gorgeous, tall stalks of rhubarb. I started playing with them--I love the cherry red ends and the tart tang they have--but I really don't have a properly finished offering for the blog...only a work in progress.
It's not bad for a first go--I need to adjust the egg--maybe drop it down to one, perhaps increase the rhubarb as well. Instead of waiting for me to be fully satisfied with it, here it is in its current state. Play with it as you will--and if you find ways of improving it, please let me know, via comments.
Lemon-Rhubarb Coffee Cake (WIP)
Yield: One 20cm/8" cake
Ingredients
For the topping:
70g 125ml 0.5c all purpose flour
55g 60ml 0.25c soft butter
50g 60ml 0.25c sugar
50g 60ml 0.25c brown sugar
85g 185ml 0.75c chopped nuts
0.5tsp 2.5ml cinnamon
1.5tsp 7.5ml ground ginger
pinch of salt
For the batter
200g 250ml 1c sugar
1dspn 10ml 2tsp finely grated lemon zest
250ml 1c milk
1Tbsp 15ml lemon juice
220g 375ml 1.5 all purpose flour
0.75tsp 3.75ml bicarbonate of soda
0.25tsp 1.25ml salt
75g 80ml 0.33c soft butter
2 eggs
250g 500ml 2c rhubarb, chopped into 0.5cm pieces (two stalks)
Method
Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Butter and line a 20cm/8" springform pan
Mix the topping ingredients together and refrigerate.
Mix lemon juice and milk together, let stand for at least 10 minutes.
Rub the lemon juice into the sugar.
Sift together dry ingredients.
Cream butter and lemon sugar together. Beat in eggs one at a time. Alternate dry and wet ingredients in the usual way (dry, wet, dry, wet, dry). Fold in rhubarb.
Pour batter into the prepared pan. Strew the topping over top the batter.
Bake for about an hour, or until the cake pulls away from the sides and an inserted skewer comes out cleanly.
cheers!
jasmine