Rhubarb Meringue Pie...and poppies and lupines...oh my!!

 I am always happy when my rhubarb is ready to eat - I certainly look forward to it each year. This year I decided to make this pretty simple rhubarb meringue pie a la Martha hoping that mine would also come out pink because honestly who wouldn't love a pink pie but alas, as well I should have known, having made this curd twice before, mine became pale tangerine after the addition of the best ever egg yolks in the known universe from Farmetta Farm in nearby Morrill, Maine - despite the fact that it was not pink it tasted terrific and I can't wait to make one more before the rhubarb wains.

So let's get cracking with our pie:

First let's make our standard

EASY PEASY SWEET TART CRUST: 
Pre heat oven to 350F

 This recipe is enough for one regular sized tart case 9” diameter or I used a deep, nearly 2", 71/2" diameter pie tin as I like my tarts with lots of filling  

 11/2 cups/6ozs of sifted unbleached white flour

1/2 cup/2ozs confectioners/icing sugar

1 stick/ 4ozs butter VERY COLD

1 large egg yolk
 
1. Sift dry ingredients together into a medium sized bowl.

2. Grate the butter into the dry ingredient and rub in until like breadcrumbs.

3. Add egg yolk and blend and squush carefully until the dough sticks together. This may take a little time but despair not it will come together - just don't let it warm up - pie crusts pastry should always be kept as cold as possible to make it flaky and divine.

4.Tear dough into big chunks…..place strategically in pie pan and start squushing to a create a smooth even covering of the entire pan…the beauty of this crust is that it does NOT shrink at all…it stays put…good crust!!

5. Bob into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

6. Heat your oven to 375F

7. Take the pie crust out of the fridge, prick all over with a fork to prevent bubbles forming under the crust.

8. Line with parchment. Fill with pie weights or dried beans or rice and bake until edges are golden and set about 20 to 25 minutes. 

9. Remove from oven and take out the weights and parchment.

10. Return to oven and bake until bottom is dry and light gold, 5 to 10 minutes more. Let cool.

Next make the RHUBARB CURD - bright, buttery, sweet, tangy:

2lb rhubarb cut into small pieces

1. Put into the jug of a blender and use the highest setting to make the rhubarb into a sauce - you may have to add a little bit and a little bit of water as you go and keep pushing the rhubarb down - you want to add as little water as possible so you don't, literally, water the flavour down. Then drain the 'sauce' through say a coffee filter until you get 12 fluid ounces of rhubarb juice.

The juice you will have is now pink - my preferred colour - alas it will not stay that way for me - but if your egg yolks are not as yellow as mine perhaps yours will

12ozs/1 1/2cups sugar

pinch of salt

3 tablespoons cornstarch/cornflour

3 egg yolks

3 tablespoons/11/2 ozs butter

2. Whisk the cornstarch/cornflour, sugar and salt together in a bowl and then whisk them into the juice.

3. Put into a saucepan and gently heat until boiling and boil for about 1 minute until it clears and starts to thicken.

4. Put egg yolks in a bowl and slowly whisk the hot rhubarb into it until evenly blended.

5. Return mixture to the pan and the heat and gently boil again for another minute until it really thickens - I did not let mine thicken enough for indeed how thick is thick...

6. Add butter to rhubarb mix and whisk until blended - now put aside to cool.

My rhubarb curd ended up quite orange as you can see in the picture below because I used the fantastic yolks from Farmetta Farm eggs :)

My rhubarb curd (although I can't really call it a curd as it has flour in it) was a bit loose so I found this very technical explanation of making a lemon meringue pie for you to read about how NOT to make a runny/loose pie - it's quite a lot of reading but very informative - if you've made a lemon meringue pie before and had no problems then maybe don't bother reading this as it may put you off your game - http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/2011/05/lemon-meringue-pie.html 

I think perhaps my issue was I just didn't let it cook to thick enough and also I did stir it to cool it down and apparently that is not good form so don't stir yours once it is done and is cooling in the pan. I think after you have cooled your pie and if it is not set you can also rebake if for a while and it will set up more - just make sure to cover your pie edges with foil to set up them from getting too brown - allow to cool completely again - maybe for another 4 hours until you're sure it is set or if you are like me you just want to eat it and don't care that much if it isn't perfectly set.

Now poured your cooled rhubarb filling into the cooled pie shell and bob, covered, into the fridge until it set for four hours at the least and preferably over night.

And the final part of the pie: 

MERINGUE TOPPING: Heat the oven to 450F 

INGREDIENTS:

3 egg whites at room temperature - this is importnat as it gets a lot more olume into the eggs - cold egg whites just don't whip as well as room temp. ones. 

41/2 tablespoons sugar

1. Whip the egg whites until stiff

2. Add a tablespoon of sugar at a time and whip, whip, whip between additions until all the sugar has been added and the result is glossy and dense and divine.

3. Dollop gracefully atop your curd in the shell:

4. Bob into a 450F oven for about 2 minutes but keep your eyes on the pie and rotate if necessary to evenly brown thus:

As you can see mine was a tad slumpy but it tasted so good what did I care!!! 

And now for some poppy and lupine pictures from my garden today - these flowers together, their colours combined with the vivid green background, make me swoon - Monet eat your heart out! Tonight really heavy rain is coming in so I fear my poppies will be just a dream by morning.

A little bee busy doing her important work - thanks Busy Bee!!

Happy Baking - Patricia 

Baking Brave for World Baking Day May 19th 2013 - unusual flavours was my self imposed bake off!!

I've always loved the idea of intriguing flavours in puddings/desserts - it started off with my realizing you could use certain flowers in sweet dishes, rose, violets, lavender - and it grew from there so when I heard about Baking Brave for World Baking Day I thought to myself - hey this is an open opportunity to bake something intriguing and different for a good reason - so I tried two desserts which I found on Pinterest and which most certainly tied themselves together with the unlikely savoury flavour of Stilton Cheese - yes folks you read that right Stilton Cheese - the King of British cheeses and my all time favourite cheese, I can eat a pound of said magnificence in the blink of an eye, - along with rhubarb, also a favourite of mine and a very unsung spring delight - so I did keep with my blogs mission of baking British Puddings but this time with a twist.

I invited friends along too and so far I have been joined by Anne Heflin of Carrington Lane Bakery fame - an amazing professional baker with a wonderful International Delights bakery on Etsy - you can find Anne's shop here: CARRINGTON LANE BAKERY

and Nancy Harmon Jenkins, famed writer | traveler | food authority | historian whose blog can be found here:

NANCY HARMON JENKINS

Shall we begin?

The inspiration for the tart comes from Baking Obsession HERE - So my tart comes in three stages - the walnut crust - a good foil for the Stilton as it is often paired with such as the cheese course of a smashing dinner, the creamy Stilton pie filling and a rhubarb curd for the top layer, as such it is an experiment and you may if you have the baking skills change according to your taste - this pie as done here is very mild, not so sweet and also not too Stilton-y - it is in fact quite bland which is not what I was expecting at all.

Make the crust first: This was my first time trying a walnut crust and it did come out a little oily and not as sweet as I had imagined but it would be wonderful as a savoury crust so I will leave the recipe as I made it and if you choose you can add maybe an ounce more sugar:

EASY PEASY SWEET TART CRUST:
 

Pre heat oven to 350F

Enough for one regular sized tart case 9” diameter or I used a deep, nearly 2", 71/2" diameter pie tin as I like my tarts with lots of filling

1 cup/4ozs of sifted unbleached white flour

2oz toasted ground walnuts
(I grind mine by toasting them first for about 5 minutes in a 275F oven - allow them to cool - break into small pieces and the put them in a coffee grinder with some of the flours and this stops them from getting greasy - if you grind the walnuts on their own they can get very greasy and we don't want that!!)

1/2 cup/2ozs confectioners/icing sugar

1 stick/ 4ozs butter VERY COLD

1 large egg yolk

1. Sift dry ingredients together into a medium sized bowl.
 

2. Grate the butter into the dry ingreds., and rub in until like breadcrumbs.

3. Add egg yolk and blend and squush carefully until the dough sticks together. This may take a little time but despair not it will come together - just don't let it warm up - pie crusts pastry should always be kept as cold as possible to make it flaky and divine.

4.Tear dough into big chunks…..place strategically in pie pan and start squushing to a create a smooth even covering of the entire pan…the beauty of this crust is that it does NOT shrink at all…it stays put…good crust!!

5. Bob into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
 

As you can see my pie crust is not perfect - a it lumpen and uneven but that's OK!!

Remove from the fridge and prick the pastry all over with a fork - this is to prevent bubbles forming when you bake. Next I lined the pastry with parchment paper and weighed it down with split peas - you can use beans or pie weights but don't go down the road of popcorn as I did once - you can guess at those results.

Bake for about 15 minutes, remove from the oven, genteely lift the paper and weight from the shell and bob pastry back into the oven for about another 15 minutes - don't worry when you take the weights out if the pastry looks soggy and sad - it will improve by the next time you take it out of the oven :))

Keep your eyes peeled - you want the crust to be evenly golden and not too brown on the top edges - the bottom does want to look dry though and not greasy as it does when you first remove the paper and weights - in my experience with pie crusts this time can vary from pie to pie so just do as long as you need to to get the shell looking evenly golden. Remove and allow to cool - don't put it in the fridge though as that will make it damp.

Next make the RHUBARB CURD - from a rhubarb meringue pie by Martha

I originally cut this recipe in a quarter but on reflection and if you look at the thinness of the layer of rhuabrb curd on the pie I have doubled MY recipe to this amount below...

This amount of rhubarb curd was too little for the flavour of the cream part of the pie so the recipe below is for double the amount I made. 

RHUBARB CURD - worthwhile to make on it's own - I would double this recipe if you were making this just as stand alone curd.
 

1lb rhubarb cut into small pieces

1. Put into the jug of a blender and use the highest setting to make the rhubarb into a sauce - you may have to add a little bit and a little bit of water as you go and keep pushing the rhubarb down - you want to add as little water as possible so you don't, literally, water the flavour down. Then drain the 'sauce' through say a coffee filter until you get 8 fluid ounces of rhubarb juice.
 

6ozs/3/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch/flour

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoons/1 oz butter

2. Whisk the cornstarch/flour, sugar and salt together in a bowl and then whisk them into the juice.

3. Put into a saucepan and gently heat until boiling and boil for about 1 minute until it clears and starts to thicken.

4. Put egg yolks in a bowl and slowly whisk the hot rhubarb into it until evenly blended.

5. Add butter to rhubarb mix and whisk until blended - now put aside to cool.

My rhubarb curd ended up very orange as you can see in the pan above because I used the fantastic yolks from Farmetta Farm eggs :)
 

STILTON CREAM PART: this has a very nice consistency and could be made as a cheesecake without the stilton but maybe add in 2 more ounces of sour cream
 

2ozs Stilton cheese - you can use any blue cheese but I find  lot of blue cheese soapy - I LOVE Stilton - it's tangy and complex and creamy - and it keeps in more within the realm of a British Pudding 
 

4oz cream cheese
 

1/2 cup/3ozs sugar (you could add another ounce if you want this a bit more sweet which I think it could have done with)
 

2ozs sour cream
 

2 fluid ounces half and half
 

a goodly grating of nutmeg if you are of the nutmeg persuasion as I am
 

1 whole egg 
 

1. Blend all the above together in a food processor or blender so there are no lumps - that's it.

2. Pour into your pre baked pie shell:

3. Bob into the 350F oven for about 30 minutes until you can jiggle the pie and it only moves a very very little - you don't want it to be baked too hard or it won't be creamy but you do want the top to be able to hold up the rhubarb curd for the next part:
 

4. Pour the cooled rhubarb curd over the top and bob back into the oven for about another 20 minutes until the rhubarb is set - again jiggle the pie a little and you can tell - this part will vary from oven to oven and rhubarb to rhubarb and pie to pie so you just need to keep  baking until ti's set - if need be and the crust is browning too much make a tent of foil to cover and stop the crust from browning.
 

Ta dah - you have a Stilton and Rhubarb Pie for World Baking Day 2013.

I liked this pie but not half as much as I'd hoped - it needs a lot of tweaking to get it to the flavour I had in my mind of how it tasted but do let me know if you make it for a sophisticated mellow dessert after a divine heavy on the flavours dinner party.
 

I did also make Stilton Ice Cream from this recipe at Serious Eats but again it just didn't hit the spot and I wish I'd kept my Stilton to eat with some good Samuel Smiths Yorkshire Cider and crackers!!

Now here are some more intriguingly flavoured desserts for World Baking Day 2013:

ANCHO CHILI AND CHOCOLATE MACARONS

from Carrington Lane Bakery in Maine

 

Click HERE for the lovely recipe 

and.....

Spiced Olive Oil Cake with Quinces and Candied Ginger
by famed cook book author Nancy Harmon Jenkins of Maine and Italy - used with permission - thank you Nancy :)

 Recipe link HERE

 There'll be more recipes added as they come through today and tomorrow -

and from Sally in London:
STICKY PRUNE CAKE a la fabulous Cranks 

 Sally's Recipe:
 CAKE: 
125g/4ozs  prunes, pitted
2 eggs
½/4oz cup raw sugar
100ml/4 fl ozs vegetable oil
100ml/4 fl ozs buttermilk
1 cup/5ozs  wholemeal plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
½ tsp mixed spice

thick yoghurt or cream to serve

TOPPING:
¼/2ozs cup raw sugar
1 tbsp buttermilk
1 tbsp molasses/honey
a few drops of vanilla essence/extract

Preheat oven to 180 C/360F 

.

1. Grease and line a 9” sandwich/cake tin.

2. Place prunes in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer until tender. Drain and chop.

3. Place eggs, sugar and oil into a large bowl and whisk ‘til smooth and creamy.

4. Sift dry ingredients and add. Beat well. Stir in prunes and buttermilk.

5. Pour mixture into prepared cake tin and bake for 30-45 minutes until skewer inserted in the middle comes out cleanly.

Topping:
Place sugar, buttermilk, molasses and vanilla essence in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until sugar has dissolved, stirring frequently. Prick warm cake all over with a skewer. Spoon topping over cake and cool completely in a pan.

.......and here's a wonderful Pie-in-process - well the recipe is in process from Elizabeth Loonan in New York - this is her first attempt and the recipe needs tweaking - thus no recipe link here but hopefully I'll be able to give it you when the perfection is complete!!:

Bacon Bourbon Apple Pie, in honor of World "BACON" Day - ha ha tongue in cheek Betty!

Elizabeth's crust looks PERFECT!!!!! These baconlicious photographs were taken by Elizabeth's talented husband Antonio M. Rosario

HAPPY WORLD BAKING DAY 2013 - what did you bake today??

Rhubarb Crumble Cake - this one's a keeper!

Just recently not one but two people over here in the States have told me they have never had rhubarb! As a Brit this amazes me - rhubarb is part and parcel of the English culinary tradition and, in the UK, would almost be like saying you've never had an apple. I just love rhubarb's unique astringent tartness ameliorated by all that lovely sugar. Rhubarb is an intriguing plant - most people think of it as a fruit because it is nearly always used as a fruit but it is in fact a vegetable which originated in the damp and cold of Siberia - making it a perfect candidate to be grown in Yorkshire - a place where its production became so huge that there is an area of Yorkshire designated as the Rhubarb Triangle - for more interesting info on this and other rhubarb facts, like it being harvested by candlelight - yes I am serious!! - follow this LINK

 So here is this year's recipe for my own rhubarb - not harvested by candlelight but definitely grown in cold and damp Maine!

RHUBARB CRUMBLE CAKE

A three layered cake - spongey cake on the bottom - rhubarb toffee sauce in the middle - crumble topping above.

First - always read the recipe from start to finish to know what to expect and in what order to do things..

INGREDIENTS:

TOFFEE’D RHUBARB SAUCY STUFF:

2.5oz sugar

1.5oz butter

2 tablespoons cream or half and half or half half and half and half cream – ha ha, sorry I couldn’t resist that :)

9oz rhubarb – cut into small slices/chunks

CRUMBLE PART:

3oz white unbleached flour

2 oz butter - cold (I always use salted as I like that flavor)

2oz sugar

If you’d like you can add 2oz flaked almonds to the crumble after you’ve made it but I didn’t have any so I didn’t add it in.

CAKE:

All ingredients should be at room temperature to make the going that much easier – the eggs assimilate into the creamed butter and sugar so much better when it’s all at room temperature – and I’m talking about room temperature in say NY as here in Maine it’s still in the upper 50’s lower 60’s – so maybe 68F or so.

4oz butter

4oz sugar

4oz flour plus 1 teaspoon of baking powder sifted together.

3 medium sized eggs whisked together

2 teaspoons vanilla or 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 teaspoon almond extract/essence – I like the latter – almond is a good foil to rhubarb.

METHOD:

Start with the rhubarb sauce which takes a while to make and then cool down.

1. Melt butter, sugar and cream together gently in a heavy bottomed pan and let it bubble a bit but don’t let it catch.

2. Add in the rhubarb and let it coat and cook gently – the juices will flow from the rhubarb but keep cooking and let a lot of the water evaporate until it thickens back up – stir constantly as it gets to a point where it starts to catch on the bottom of the pan – at that point you are probably done – let it cool completely.

Set your oven to 350F

Crumble part:
1. Mix flour and sugar together in a bowl.

2. Cut the butter (which should be cold for this purpose) into it in small pieces and rub into the dry mix either with your hands using your fingertips to rub the butter in or you can do very quickly in a food processor - until you get a nice crumbly mix - here's a video to help if you haven't done this before - thanks Baking Mad!

3. If you are using the almonds add them in after you’d done you’re crumbling.

4. Set aside until needed.

Cake part:
1. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

2. Slowly add the eggs bit by bit and beat in between additions – near the end of adding all the eggs this my curdle – that’s OK in this cake.

3. Add the dry ingredients in in three goes and mix well but with a light hand.

Look at how spectacularly yellow my cake batter is from the divine eggs at Farmetta Farm!!

Now we assemble the cake:
1. Put cake batter into the bottom of a cake pan with a removable base that has been buttered and floured – I always us my 6” one because I love small tall cakes but you could also do this in an 8” pan but your baking time might be shorter. Make a bit of a well in the centre and..

2. Pour the nice and thick cold rhubarb toffee sauce atop and spread evenly and not quite to the sides if you can manage that - you can see I couldn't !!

3. Sprinkle the crumble evenly over the top.

4. Bob into your oven and bake for about 40 – 50 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean – although do bear in mind you have sauce in there so if there’s anything sticky and pink that’ll be the rhubarb goo – so clean of yellow batter.

5. Remove from oven when ready and allow to cool in the pan.

6. Remove genteely from the pan.

7. Yuhoo – this is a lovely cake – the cake is spongey – the rhubarb is just right and just enough and the crumble is delicious! You can have it with heavy/double cream whipped or with a nice pouring custard – YUMMMMMMMM!!!!!!

Do be aware so you don't think you haven't cooked your cake properly this is one of those cakes that sinks a little in the middle when it cools!

Here are some more interesting facts about rhubarb - we do all know the leaves are TOXIC right - so no ingesting of those nasty leaves - throw them away where children and pets can't get to them!

 Now here's a picture of the robin I wrote about a couple of weeks ago who has nested right outside our back door under a small roof to keep her eggs nice and dry. Her babies have hatched and are safe and sound - here's Mum feeding the babies their delicious worms - sorry the picture is blurry - I have to take the photo from a distance through a window so as not to scare Mum away!!

Happy Baking - let me know how it goes and feel free to post pics on my Facebook page when you have baked this yummy cake.

HAPPY BAKING!!

This recipe is part of the The Great British Rhubarb Recipe Round Up at Lavender and Lovage and The Farmersgirl Kitchen

 

Rhubarb and raisin squares baked in a circle and cut into triangles...

Oh yeh...this is a good one based on an old fashioned British recipe of raisin squares....definitely try this if you like both rhubarb and raisins...what a wonderful combination...I am sure you can do this with all raisin...I'd say two cups if you go that way...or another fruit than rhubarb like apricots (fresh of course!!)

First of all avail yourself of the following delightful ingredients:

1lb rhubarb cut into small pieces

1 packed cup/6oz of raisins or white raisin or currants or whatever dried fruit you like but raisins were WONDERFUL

1 cup/7.5oz sugar

1 large egg

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon grated lemon rind...this REALLY adds to the flavour of this dessert

so don't leave it out.

A few hours before you want to bake the 'squares' mix the flour with the beaten egg until smooth and then mix all above ingredients together until well mixed...allow to marinate at room temperature.

Yum...flavours marinating and improving in deliciousness by the minute....

The 'squares' ready to have their second top layer of pastry added

Piecrust...Pate Brisee by Martha

Pre-heat oven to 375F

2 1/2 cups/10ozs of white flour

4 tablespoons sugar

2 sticks (8ozs) butter I always use salted, VERY cold

1/4 to 1/2 cup ice cold water

1 whisked egg white

METHOD:

1. Sift the flour

2. Grate the butter into the flour.

3. Gently work butter into flour until it resembles coarse meal.

4. Add some of the water and test to see if it comes together, if not keep adding water until the

dough will squush into a non-sticky ball.

5. Put into the fridge to rest for at least one hour.

6. Take the pastry out of the fridge, allow to warm a very little, separate into two even sized balls,

roll out 2 nice circles.

8. Then line a 9" tart pie with one circle, brush evenly with the egg white and bob into the oven for about 10 minutes to 'set' the surface...take out and allow to cool for about 20 minutes.

9. Strew the luscious rhubarb and raisin mix over the somewhat baked bottom crust...don't worry it might be quite wet...go ahead...put it all in there and even it out as above.

10. Cover with the second disk of pastry...sprinkle with some sugar as below.

 10. Bob back into the oven and bake for a goodly 55 minutes until bubbling and golden brown as below...allow to cool completely before cutting and eating...this is another dessert that really improves with a couple of days maturity...trust me!

Enjoy using up the last of this season's rhubarb with this wonderful 'pudding' 

Bubbling and golden brown fresh from the oven...wait til I'm cold before you cut me!!

Rhubarb Mintade and Rhubarb Layer Cake!

Isn't this the most luscious and lovely colour?! It is rhubarb and mintade and it is SO easy to make...and yes I have taken my own sweet time doing this post...forgive me!!

4 stalks of rhubarb (no leaves)

3 stalks of mint leaves or about a good handful of leaves

1/2 cup/4ozs sugar and some honey of your choice...I use Swann's honey from Maine, the wildflower variety which has a good strong, old-fashioned honey taste...almost like mimosa flowers...has anyone ever had those crystallized...I had them as a kid and I loved them.
Anyways...cut the rhubarb into small pieces and put in a pan with the sugar and about 2 tablespoons of honey, you won't need any water and bruise and muddle the mint leaves in there too, stir all together....put on low heat and cook until the rhubarb completely breaks down...allow to cool and check for sweetness.

When cool pour all into a strainer over a bowl and allow to strain completely...the resultant thick juice is ready to be used over ice cream or thinned to your desired consistency for a nice soothing, cooling delicious beverage of a beauteous hue!!

Happy Quaffing!!

Here's my made-up Rhubarb Layer Cake...got so much rhubarb have to figure what to do with it all. My Mum used to make an apple sauce cake this way so I thought why not do it with rhubarb.

First of all double the recipe above for the Rhubarb Mintade, leave out the mint and only cook 'til the rhubarb begins to soften...you don't want it mushy for this recipe...do strain again so the rhubarb isn't too wet.

Make the very simple cake batter: Pre heat oven to 425F

1 cup/8oz of sugar

2 sticks softened butter (yes I use salted but you don't have to)

10 1/2 ozs/2 1/4 cups white flour sifted

4 large eggs whisked at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon cardamom

1. Cream butter and sugar together 'til light and fluffy.

2. Add eggs a bit at a time and beat after each addition...you are doing it bit by bit so the mixture doesn't curdle but if it does don't worry it will come back when you add the flour!!

3. Add the sifted flour and cardamom in 2 or 3 three additions and mix well but don't beat..cream.

4. Butter and flour a small cake pan...mine was about 7" but nice and deep...put half of the batter into the pan.

5. Pick out some nice whole pieces of rhubarb from the cooked rhubarb and set aside.

6. Now spread the rest of the cooked rhubarb over the batter.

7. Spread the rest of the batter over the rhubarb...if is it hard to spread...this is a thick batter...use a wet spatula to spread, that really helps.

8. Now put the whole pieces of rhubarb on the top of the cake in a pretty pattern, as below, or an ugly one if you are feeling grumpy!

I put an extra sprinkling of sugar over the cake before I put it into the 425F oven for about 35-40 minutes...the wetness of the rhubarb will determine how long to cook...insert a thin knife into the cake to see if it is done...should come out clean but you also have to determine if it is not clean it may be the rhubarb sticking to the knife, come on Nancy Drew/Enid Blyton you can do it!