Emma Dean's Same Old Crap, Rhubarb Cake

Emma Dean’s Same Old Crap, Rhubarb Cake
21 May 2014

This woman, Emma Dean, is amazing. She has only been in my life for a little while, but she has made a huge imprint. We love her in our home, the girls love her too, and kids know stuff. She is one of those people you meet and can see their warm fuzzy heart in their huge smile and eyes. She’s a keeper. Oh, and she won Masterchef!

She also makes this rocking cake. I have eaten a few of them now. Made by her. And now made by me. It is one of those cakes you should make two of. Which is what I did this morning. I left one at home for the week’s lunches (and took a couple of slices to eat warm in the car on the way to school) and I bought one in to work to share with the lovely people I share my studio space with. It was such a beautiful thing to see what a warm cake can do to a workplace in the morning. Everyone gathered around it, telling their rhubarb or cooking stories, making cups of coffee and tea to go with a warm piece of goodness. Everyone was smiling. How could they not? We were about to eat cake and the room smelled of cinnamon.

It is this power of baking a simple treat that gives me so much joy. A bought cake wouldn’t do this. People wouldn’t wonder at the cake being pulled from a plastic wrapper. People appreciate the time and the love that went in to that cake and in turn makes them feel loved. It is ace.

Emma’s Rhubarb Cake

What you need

• 50 g (1 3/4 oz) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 cups raw sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 vanilla pod, seeds removed (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
• 2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 500 g (17 1/2 oz) trimmed rhubarb, cut into 1 cm pieces
• 250 g (9 oz) sour cream
• Zest and juice of one orange
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• double cream, to serve

What you need to do

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a 22 cm (8½ in) round spring-form tin and line with greaseproof paper.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla seeds until thick and creamy. Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and mix into the egg mixture. Mix until combined. Stir in the rhubarb, sour cream and 2 teaspoons orange zest.
3. Pour into the prepared cake tin and smooth out. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over the top.
4. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Immediately after you take the cake out of the oven, drizzle the fresh orange juice over the top.
5. Serve warm or cold with double cream—this cake is delicious.

Hint: To preserve the glut of summer rhubarb, you can simply freeze rhubarb in whole fresh stalks in freezer bags. This cake works wonderfully with defrosted rhubarb.