"And so it begins...", said King Théoden (R.I.P. Bernard Hill.)
Also myself upon looking at my garden. Rhubarb season has begun and the "rhubarb empire" is growing larger with each passing day...
...resembling an exotic jungle for cats.
The Man gave me a Rhubarb cooking/baking book for Christmas so I've been eagerly awaiting rhubarb season to arrive to try out recipes. It's a quirky, little book called Rhubarbaria and it's full of sweet and savoury dishes the author has gathered from people all around the world along with a bit of rhubarb history and anecdotes. It's not a glossy, instagrammable book as it has no pictures but I think it's a gem. I'm especially looking forward to trying the jam recipes.
The rhubarb gingerbread pudding immediately appealed to me and became my first rhubarb experiment of 2024. Despite knowing rhubarb and ginger pair well together I hadn't ever considered rhubarb with a gingerbread cake. I also loved that the recipe originally came from a lady called Mavis from New Zealand. How could I be steared wrong by a Mavis?
Well, Mavis. Your pudding, especially after 2 days, is delicious. However, your timings are shocking. What was meant to be a 35-40 minute bake was actually at least 60 minutes. That's a fair old difference, Mavis.
But as I said, 2 days later served warm with custard it was exceptionally tasty. As with all gingerbread cakes the flavour and texture benefitted from maturing. This goes against the nature of hot puddings for me, which are always served fresh from the oven, but I guess this makes this pudding an excellent one to make in advance for an occasion.
What I liked most is that the rhubarb is left as its natural, tart self; no extra sugar before adding the cake mix. The cake is the sweet element, although that didn't feel overly sweet either. However I would say if you're using a particularly tart or green rhubarb you may want to add additional sugar. My rhubarb is naturally on the sweet side as it's very pink so it was perfect for me.
I'm sorry I ever doubted you, Mavis.
Rhubarb gingerbread cake
Mildly adapted from "Rhubarbaria" by Mary Prior
450g/ 1lb rhubarb
25g/ 1oz muscovado sugar
25g/ 1oz soft dark brown sugar
100g/ 4oz Stork margarine (or softened butter)
50g/ 2oz golden syrup
1 large egg
150g/ 6oz plain flour
Pinch of salt
1tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp hot milk
Preheat the oven to 180c/160c fan/375F and grease a baking dish with butter. My dish measured 16cm wide x 24cm long x 6cm deep and I found it was a suitable size.
Wash and dry your rhubarb stalks then chop up into 1" chunks. Arrange in the bottom of the baking dish. Add a sprinkling of extra sugar if you want a sweeter flavour.
Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy (about 5 minutes) then mix in the syrup. Add the egg and mix again until combined. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, salt and spices then add to the egg mixture and mix until combined. Finally, in a cup or small bowl dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the hot milk then add this to the cake mixture and mix again.
Spread the cake mixture over the rhubarb in the dish. It's quite a thin spread so don't be alarmed if it doesn't cover well.
Bake in the oven for approx. 1 hour. I put a layer of greaseproof paper over the top of the dish after 40 minutes to stop the top from burning but allow the middle to continue baking.
Serve warm with cream, ice cream or custard. Alternatively leave it to cool fully, store in the fridge (with a cover on top) for at least a day then reheat and serve. This will enhance the gingerbread flavour.