almond and rhubarb cake

Last month my uncle dropped off a pile of rhubarb at my doorstep. What's a lady to do with a pile of rhubarb? Bake, of course!

This cake is based on one of my favourite BBC Good Food recipes. I've used it countless times over the years with different berries, but never with other fruit.

I was unsure whether chunks of raw rhubarb would cook properly in the cake so I decided to stew the rhubarb first (with the addition of vanilla extract) then added it as a jammy layer in the middle of the cake before baking.


This worked really nicely. I loved the tart, jammy frill running through the centre of the cake. I thought it looked really attractive when cut open too. I stewed another few batches of rhubarb and stuck them in the freezer so I'm all set for another cake or a crumble.

Somewhat unfortunately I think I've killed the rhubarb plant which I inherited with my house. An impressive achievement considering it's a hardy plant. I've been steadily gutting and relandscaping my garden since I bought my house two years ago as it was seriously overgrown. The rhubarb plant got dug up and chucked into a shady corner on my path with the intention of replanting it after I weedkilled and reseeded my lawn... which I finally got around to doing this year. Perhaps I put it in too dark a spot when I replanted it, or perhaps it was doomed as it had been sitting out the ground for well over a year. Either way, it's a sad stump.

On the upside, my garden is really taking shape this year. The Covid lockdown has given me time to dedicate to my garden which I otherwise wouldn't have had. My new lawn has been seeded and is growing (incredibly patchy, but still a massive step up from brown earth), I've bought and filled hanging pots for my fence (the fence was built and painted last year), I have created a new border and filled it with colourful bedding plants, and I have finally filled my big planters with flowers, strawberries, onions and carrots. My fuschia and rose bushes have also recovered from their extensive haircuts and the rosebush has loads of pink buds blooming which are going to smell gorgeous when they open. I'm a complete gardening novice so seeing all this progress is ridiculously exciting and rewarding.


Now that lockdown restrictions are lifting in the UK my Dad has been able to come to my garden to help build a new garden shed. I knocked down the original one two years ago as it was completely rotten so I cannot wait to finally have a space to store all my gardening stuff!