Rhubarb Crumble Chocolate Cake

I found the recipe for this cake on the UK Lindt website – I find Lindt chocolate unbeatable, especially for baking,  although Milka comes a close second. And this rhubarb chocolate combination is fabulous! The cake alone is a perfectly moist chocolate cake recipe which I will certainly use again for other cakes. The rhubarb and crumble topping adds some zing!

Here’s the original recipe, Lindt’s Rhubarb Chocolate Crumble Cake …. and here is mine, slightly adapted:

For the Crumble:

• 50g (2 oz) cold butter, 100g (4 oz) flour, 50g (2 oz)sugar

Rub the butter into the flour and sugar until nice and crumbly

For the Cake:

Beat these ingredients together with a whisk/electric whisk.

• 2 eggs
• 200ml (4/5 cup) milk
• 100ml (2/5 cup) sunflower oil
• 75g (3 oz) icing (powdered) sugar
• seeds of one vanilla pod
• 100g (4 oz) melted dark chocolate (melt in a bain-marie)
  
• a pinch of salt

Sift the next 3 ingredients and gently fold  into the batter with a large metal spoon.

• 200g (8 oz) flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder

Pour into a 20 x 20cm (8×8 inch) pan lined with greaseproof paper.

Press 200g (8 oz) chopped rhubarb onto top of cake.

Sprinkle the crumble on top. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 180°C (350°F). (If making cupcakes, as the Lindt website shows, the baking time will only be about 20-25 mins)

Have you been enjoying rhubarb season?

Rhubarbanana Bread

Recently I was wondering if bananas would go with rhubarb… surely they would add sweetness and take away some of the sharp edge of the rhubarb? Well, only a day or so later Christina (from My Hesperides Garden ) commented on my post Dreaming of Crumble and suggested adding banana. Thanks Christina!

Well the crumble hasn’t evolved yet, but my banana bread has been adapted! Try this – it’s really tasty!

• 150g (1 cup) plain flour
• 75g (¾ cup) ground almonds
• 75g (1/3 cup) brown sugar
• 75g (1/3 cup) white sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup roughly mashed ripe banana, (2 large or 3 small bananas)
• 75g (1/3 cup) butter, room temperature (75g)
• 2 tbsps milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 small banana cut into bite sized chunks
• 2 sticks young rhubarb, sliced (about 100g-125g or 1 heaped cup)

Preheat oven to 190°C and grease and flour a loaf tin or similar baking tin (I used a 500g/1 lb tin and had enough for a few cupcakes too).

Sieve flour, salt, ground almonds, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda together. Mash bananas and butter together, and mix in milk and eggs.  Combine with the flour mixture.  Fold in the banana chunks and rhubarb slices and pour into cake tin.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until set.  Cool a little before removing from the tin.

Good served warm (with cream!)

And it stays nice and moist for a couple of days. (Probably longer, but we ate it too quickly! )

Enjoy!

(Another rhubarb cake recipe coming soon!)

How do you like your rhubarb?

Herby Stuffed Mushrooms

My chives were the first herb to appear in the garden, mid-April, and now I also have a little parsley, some sage and thyme.

Time to make something herby!

Clean/peel 400g (14 oz) large mushrooms and remove the stems – chop these and put them on one side. Whizz 70g (2 1/2 oz) wholemeal bread (about 1 slice) with a generous handful of fresh herbs in a blender/food mixer and mash in 75g (2 1/2 oz) cream cheese, some salt and black pepper and 1 egg. Mix in the reserved mushroom stems and press the filling into the mushrooms. Drizzle 1 tbsp olive oil over the top and bake for 30 minutes at 180°C. Just before they are done, sprinkle a little grated parmesan over the top.

These can be made as herby or spicy as you wish. Nice as a starter or side dish.

Do you have fresh herbs in your garden?

Tuesday at Two (April 23rd)

What a beautiful day!

It’s a breezy day – a cool wind but when the sun comes out really warm. And spring is rushing along now.

After congratulating my dear neighbour, Mr Barth, on his 101st birthday this morning, I gathered some wild Bear’s Garlic from beneath his Magnolia Tree, which is just starting to flower.

My Ornamental Fuji Cherry (Prunus Incisa Kojo-no-Mai) is also flowering now, just to the left of my Tuesday view…

I saw this cherry in my Mum’s garden last year at Easter and fell in love with it – when I returned home my local garden centre had them on sale! (The bees love it too!)

Later I’ll be planting some English Mint, Pineapple Sage and Parsley, and sowing my carrots, chard and kale.

Bear’s Garlic Pesto for dinner tonight!

What are you sowing/planting in the next week or so?

Dreaming of Crumble

This Rhubarb has a purpose in life…

After four (or is it five?) years I’m hoping it will finally produce enough for a decent crumble this year!

It’s in my flower bed – completely the wrong position, but was one of my first plants before the rockery took shape… Any tips for growing rhubarb are very welcome!