Hello Spring

It's just such glorious weather here - all set to turn cold and wintry again - but for the last week it has been gorgeous sunshine. And life has been as exciting as doing lots of washing for baby to be and getting it dry outside in the fresh air on the new washing line. Such simple pleasures.

The daffodils are out in force, there are bright red tulips in the house and the food on the table is also turning with the seasons. Goodbye porridge and jam! Hello fresh fruit, bircher muesli and crackers with feta.

I was sure I had seen a fine crop of rhubarb at the grocers recently (where?) and it put me in mind of a rhubarb and orange cake for friends coming for dinner. According to Tescos, however, rhubarb was not yet in season (and if it isn't in Tesco in Inverness then it might as well not be in season) and so there was a last minute change in plan to plums, which were looking just as pink and tasty as any fresh rhubarb.




Plum and Orange Cake

Ingredients
400g plums, stoned and quartered
50 gram golden caster sugar
zest 1/2 small orange

150gram golden caster sugar
140gram butter, softenend
2 beaten eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder
85gram SR Flour
100gram ground almond
Juice 1/2 small orange

Topping
15g butter, melted
25g light muscovado sugar
finely grated zest 1/2 small orange
50g slivered almonds

Method

Stone and quarter plums, stir in 50g golden caster sugar and zest of 1/2 orange and leave to soak for an hour.
Preheat oven to 190 degrees C/ Gas 5/ Fan oven 170.
Butter and line 23cm/ 9 inch cake tin.
Cream butter with 6 oz golden caster sugar.
Add eggs, baking powder, SRFlour and ground almond and gently mix.
Stir in juice of 1/2 orange (step I omitted which led to me pouring the juice over the cake mix before it went in to the
oven - seemed to work ok!) and gently stir.
Pour in to cake tin and level.
Drain the plums and spoon over the cake mixture.
Bake for 25 minutes.

Meantime make the topping:
Combine butter, light muscovado sugar, zest of 1/2 orange and slivered almonds.

After 25 minutes remove cake from oven and scatter over the topping mixture.
Reduce temperature to 180 degrees C/ Gas 4/ Fan oven 160 and return to oven for a further 15- 20 minutes or until firm.
(Mine took at least an additional 10 minutes after that).
Cool in the tin and then transfer to a rack.
Dust with icing sugar.

Here is a truly terrible photo of my finished cake that we had simply sliced and served cold with creme fraiche. It was full of
plums and very juicy!



Now imagine my delight when our veggie box arrived this week and inside a bunch of lovely fresh organic rhubarb!



I've often wondered about how to perfect a rhubarb tart and have had a few goes at it (Do you soak the rhubarb first? Or partially roast it? I'm certainly not for stewing the fruit first - it loses it's colour and texture) and maybe this weekend I'll have another go. Although the Bourke Street Bakery recipe book (Thank you Queen Bee!) has a recipe for Rhubarb Danish that also looks interesting. It calls for making a batch of croissant pastry which might be an effort too far, but I could cheat with the ready made croissant pastry we have in the fridge. Although it has been promised for bacon croissants for brunch and someone might not be happy...