I made this for the first time yesterday and when I asked my oldest boy if it was nice (he loves custard!) his reply was: ” Mum, nice doesn’t even begin to describe this!” I knew I was onto a winner!

Ingredients:

• 400g rhubarb, washed, trimmed and cut into 3 to 4cm sized piece
• 25g vanilla sugar
• Fresh custard: powder, sugar and 500ml milk
• 190g soft butter
• 250g self raising flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp ground vanilla (if available)
• 150g light brown sugar

Preparation:

For the rhubarb:

• Preheat oven to 200°C/180°fan/ Gas 5
• Put the rhubarb in a shallow dish and toss with the sugar
• Make sure it is in a single layer and cover with foil
• Roast for 15mn
• Remove the foil, shake a little and roast for an extra 5mn
• Drain the juices off and let it cool

For the custard:

• Basically, follow the instructions on your custard powder tin, or buy it ready made.
• You will need 150g + 3 or 4 tbsp (set aside for the end)

The cake:

• Preheat oven to 180°C/160°fan/ Gas 4 and prepare a 25cm / 10″ round springform cake tin
• In a large bowl, I used my stand mixer for this cake, beat together the custard with all the rest of the ingredients (it’s that easy!) until creamy and smooth
• Level 1/3 of the mix on the bottom of your tin and dot with 1/3 of the rhubarb
• Repeat twice but don’t be to neat about your cake layers, leaving a few dips
• Finishing with a layer of rhubarb, scatter the rest of the custard (the 3 or 4 tbsp set aside) on top

• Bake for 35 to 40mn until well risen and golden in colour
• Cover with foil and bake for an extra 15mn: clean skewer and it springs back when touched

• Leave to cool in the tin, it will drop a little
• Dust with icing sugar and enjoy with custard, what else!

Note

I think this could work with apples too! to be continued…..