Soft and buttery sponge baked with a layer of fresh custard and tart rhubarb. Topped with a generous drizzle of warm custard makes this delicious combination is a Rhubarb and Custard lovers idea of heaven.
Rhubarb season signifies the start of warmer days ahead and prepares us all for strawberry, sunflower and lavender fields. However it isn’t to everyones taste as it’s unusual combination of tart and sweet puts people off. One place you really cannot dislike it in is cake and when aired with it’s best friend custard, it’s basically impossible to resist.
WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE
Nostalgic Flavours | We all know those hard boiled Rhubarb and Custard sweets that our grandparents had tucked away for when you came over. Or the ones you’d hand pick from the sweet shop. I can’t quite believe I’m old enough to remember classic sweet shops but the sight of Rhubarb and Custard sweets just sends me straight back.
Easy to bake | This recipe is all mixed in one bowl and simply requires mixing dry ingredients and folding through the wet. This also means much less washing up which is a huge bonus.
Perfect Sunday Pudding | A Sunday roast dinner isn’t complete with a good pudding and this is a great sunny dessert for satisfying your sweet tooth.
HOW TO MAKE THIS RHUBARB AND CUSTARD CAKE
Before we get started on how to make this delicious cake, let’s take a look at the ingredients in this recipe and what you’ll need to make it.
- Golden Caster Sugar (or ordinary caster sugar if you can’t find golden)
- Unsalted Butter
- Large Eggs
- Self-raising flour
- Baking Powder
- Fresh Ginger (or ground ginger powder)
- Buttermilk
- Fresh Custard
- Rhubarb Stalks
MY KITCHEN TIP | Buttermilk isn’t a common household staple ingredient so if you don’t have any in the house and you don’t want to go out a purchase any specifically you can easily make your own at home. To make it replace the quantity of buttermilk with milk and mix it with a tbsp of lemon juice and let it sit for a few minutes until it begins to thicken. It’s not EXACTLY the same as buttermilk but it acts the same in your recipe and works well every time.
Now that you know what you need to make this delicious cake, let’s see how it’s made.
Follow the steps to see how the Rhubarb and Custard Cake is made but make sure to read the full recipe and method below.
- Preheat your oven to 180C and line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper
2. Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs. Beat the eggs into the mixture (it will curdle a little but don’t worry as it’ll be fine when you add the flour next)
4. Add the flour all in one go. Add the flour, baking powder and fresh ginger to the bowl and fold it all together gently.
5. Add the buttermilk. Then add the buttermilk and mix through until well combined.
6. Fill the cake tin. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin
7. Add the custard. Drop spoonfuls of the custard into the batter then cut your rhubarb to fit diagonally across the top.
8. Bake. Bake the cake in the centre of the oven for 30 minutes until it’s golden and well risen. The leave to cool slightly before removing from the tin and cutting into slices. Serve with warm custard.
TOOLS YOU WILL NEED?
Mixing Bowls | Two good sized bowls will be enough so you can mix your wet and dry ingredients separately.
Hand Mixer | I love my standing mixer so much but I’ll be honest I only ever use it when I’m baking with high quantities of ingredients. Personally if I’m baking a small cake or small batch of cupcakes I’ll use my hand mixer which I have grown equally fond of. I have the Breville Heat Soft hand mixer and I highly recommend it. Mostly because of its hair dryer function which helps you soften butter should you have forgotten to get it out of the fridge to reach room temperature before baking.
20cm round loose bottom cake tin | Loose bottom tins are great for easily getting cake out of the pan.
Baking paper | An essential and necessary for any cake baking. Even if your pans are non stick it’s recommended that you still line the tins with baking paper.
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HOW TO STORE AND FREEZE THIS RHUBARB AND CUSTARD CAKE
How to store | The rhubarb, custard and buttermilk keep this cake lovely and tender for up to 3 days if stored in an air-tight container.
How to freeze the cake | If you want freeze the cake it should be wrapped in cling film and put into a freezer bag. You can store it whole or cut into slices should you want to defrost them separately.
OTHER SUMMER CAKES YOU SHOULD TRY
- Strawberry and Mint Loaf Cake
- Raspberry and Chocolate Banana Bread
- Blood Orange Upside Down Cake
- Blueberry, Lemon and Lavender Cake
I would love it if you tagged me @mykitchendrawer on Instagram if you make this Rhubarb and Custard Cake. It’s the biggest honour to see my recipes come to life in your kitchen and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to drop me a message. Happy baking!
Rhubarb and Custard Cake
Equipment
- 20cm loose bottom cake tin
Ingredients
- 175 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 175 g golden caster sugar
- 3 eggs large
- 250 g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp fresh ginger grated
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 100 ml buttermilk
- 100 ml fresh custard
- 5-6 Rhubarb Stalks
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a 20cm loose bottom cake tin with baking paper
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy, then add the eggs and beat them into the mixture.
- In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder and ginger together then add it all into the wet batter and fold it through gently until smooth and combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and level it out, then add spoonfuls of the custard across the top of the cake.
- Cut your rhubarb to size to fit across the cake tin diagonally, then lay that across the top of the batter and custard.
- Bake for 30 minutes until well risen and golden. Leave to cool for 5 minutes then remove from the tin, cut into slices and serve with warm custard.
