rhubarb @ 44

since tuesday baking always seems to fall on, well, tuesday, i think it will stay on tuesdays. perhaps a literary theme would be fun when i finish my list of “things i want to make.” it was only a few years ago that i realized that many of my favorite childhood books were the ones with lots of food descriptions: all-of-a-kind-family, a tree grows in brooklyn, heidi, a girl of the limberlost…

this tuesday was originally going to be pie day, but ended up as rhubarb day, since the banana cream pie would have needed 8 hours to set and chill, and it seemed like it actually needed all 8 hours. on the menu: rhubarb streusel pie, and strawberry-rhubarb “courting” cake. and, more leftover desserts from our party!

i was surprised by my ability to finish everything in 2 1/2 hours – usually doing two recipes at once doesn’t work for me. but the pie went in the oven and then i was just making the cake, which is essentially a butter cake layered with whipped cream and a rhubarb-strawberry jam/compote. i didn’t like the compote, but it must have tasted fine in the cake, since people ate the cake. to me, the compote tasted like smarties – the chalky american kind – so maybe i should have added more sugar. probably more strawberries would have been good as well.

the other details of the cake went fine. supposedly the leftovers are better than the cake on the day of, because it turns into a trifle-like mush…at any rate, it looked quite nice on the new cake plate (simple and stainless steel). i slightly overbaked the cake, since there’s no oven timer and i was somewhat forgetful. the pie turned out pretty well – i think it got cooked slightly too long as well, since the rhubarb was pretty much a puree by the time it came out – really it should have more bite to it. but the crust, which is the part i had been worried about, was fine, and not a piece of floury cement like it seemed to be when i prebaked it. not having a rolling pin is really quite a pain – we need to buy a regular wooden one sometime.

rhubarb streusel pie

1 pie crust

for the filling
1c sugar
3T quick-cooking tapioca
1/2t vanilla
5c 1/2-inch chunks fresh rhubarb (slightly over a pound)
2T butter, cut into bits

for the streusel
1/2c brown sugar
1 1/2c flour
4T butter
1/2t cinnamon

[1] roll out the dough to 1/8″ thickness and place in a 9″ pie pan. Line with foil and weight with rice, and bake in a preheated oven at 425 for 10 minutes. Remove foil and rice and bake 3-5 minutes more, until pale golden.

[2] stir together all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl; let stand 15 minutes.

[3] mix together dry ingredients for streusel in a bowl. add butter and rub into dry ingredients until it resembles coarse meal and the mixture clumps.

[4] sprinkle streusel on top of filling. bake at 450 for 15 minutes, then 350 for 50-60 minutes, until rhubarb is tender.

strawberry-rhubarb courting cake

cake
2 sticks butter
1c + 2T sugar
4 eggs
2t vanilla
2 3/4c flour
4t baking powder
1t ground nutmeg
1t salt
1/4c milk

whipped cream
1 1/2c chilled whipping cream
6T sugar
1t nutmeg
1t vanilla

compote
4c 1/2-inch thick slices rhubarb (slightly over a pound)
1/2c sugar
2T water
1 pint strawberries, sliced
1/2t vanilla
1/2t nutmeg

[1] make cake: preheat oven to 350F. Butter 2 9″ cake pans and line with parchment paper. Cream together butter and sugar. Add vanilla extract, then eggs 1 at a time. Mix together dry ingredients in another bowl and fold into butter mixture. Fold in milk. Divide batter between pans and bake, ~25 minutes.

[2] cool cakes 10 minutes, then release from pans and split each cake in half horizontally (to create 4 layers). Let cool completely.

[3] make compote: mix together rhubarb, sugar, and water in a large saucepan. cook over medium heat until the mixture boils, then reduce the heat to medium low. cover and cook until rhubarb reduces and liquefies. remove from heat and add remaining compote ingredients.

[4] make whipped cream: whip cream to soft peaks. add nutmeg, vanilla. add sugar gradually and whip to stiff peaks.

[5] assemble cake: put bottom layer of one cake on cake plate. spread with 3/4c compote, then 1c whipped cream. repeat with 2 more layers, then top with bottom layer of second cake. dust with powdered sugar and serve, or chill several hours.