A Spoonful of Sugar

The cake mixture itself was quite thick. I'm used to sponges which drop nicely off this spoon but this mixture was very thick. I couldn't resist adding a couple of tablespoons of milk to just loosen it slightly. I used large eggs as it seemed appropiate for the amount of mixture to be made - I don't think it would have worked at all with mediums. Also, I used ordinary caster sugar as I couldn't find my golden caster. I have no idea how I managed to lose a bag of sugar!!!! Anyway, I find making cakes in the food processor to be quite nervewracking but I decided to follow Jill's wisdom. Next time I think I'll just use my KitchenAid as then I can have a much better idea of what's going on.

After scraping the mixture into the tin, I had fun arranging the apple slices on top in a nice circular pattern. In retrospect, I should probably have chopped about half an apple more. It only just covered the cake mix. I then had a stroke of genius and sprinkled over approxminately 100g of golden sultanas before strewing over the crumble topping and baking.

My duo of taste-testers proclaimed the cake to be gorgeous. The almond cake mixture actually did turn out to be reasonably moist, but it probably wouldn't hurt to add some milk to the mixture to give it a helping hand... I served it with whipped cream (so much fun to whip it in the KitchenAid) but they thought that it could be bettered by teaming it with some hot custard. Must say, I do like the thought of custard...

Here's the original recipe:

Rhubarb crumble cake - Jill Dupleix in The Times
Feeds 6. Takes 1� hours.

A moist almond torte topped with a layer of cooked rhubarb and an irresistible crumble topping, this is equally at home after a weekend lunch or a weeknight dinner.

400g rhubarb stalks
3tbsp soft brown sugar or caster sugar
2tbsp orange juice
170g butter, softened
150g ground almonds
170g caster sugar
170g self-raising flour
1tsp ground cinnamon
�tsp ground mixed spice
2 eggs

FOR CRUMBLE TOPPING

100g plain flour
75g soft brown sugar
75g butter, diced
1tsp cinnamon powder
Pinch of salt

Heat the oven to 180C/Gas mark 4. Wash the stalks well, trim the ends and discard any leaves. Chop the stalks into 2cm lengths and simmer with the sugar and orange juice in a covered pan for five minutes or until soft. Stir well and set aside.

Lightly butter a 23cm (9in) springform cake tin. Place the butter, ground almonds, sugar, flour, cinnamon, mixed spice and eggs in a food processor and whizz until thick and creamy. Spread the mixture over the base of the cake tin. Drain off the rhubarb juices and gently spread the rhubarb over the top.

To make the crumble topping, mix together the flour, sugar, butter, cinnamon and salt with your fingertips until it resembles coarse sand, then cover the rhubarb with the mixture.

Set the tin on a baking sheet and bake on a rack set just below the centre of the oven for one hour. If, after 30 minutes, the sides and top appear to be browning too quickly, wrap some folded silver foil loosely around the tin, and cover with a loose sheet of foil.

Cool in the tin for 15 minutes before transferring to a serving plate. Serve warm as a dessert, with cream or ice-cream, or allow to cool and serve as a cake.