This rather unassuming looking cake is one of my all-time favourite Nigella Lawson recipes. I’ve made it on a yearly basis since How To Be A Domestic Goddess was first published, sometimes twice even twice. This year I’ve made it a bit later in the rhubarb season than I usually do – it has been very difficult to find rhubarb this year for some unknown reason. Unfortunately, this means that the only rhubarb available was seasonal rather than forced rhubarb. So, mostly green with tiny pink bits here and there rather than the bright Barbie pink forced rhubarb of January and February. This has made for a very beige cake, rather than a cake speckled by pink splodges. Nevertheless, it tasted wonderful – full of rhubarby goodness.

The cake is very moist, due to the juiciness of the rhubarb and also due to the large amount of natural yoghurt. The yoghurt also makes for a very tender crumb and provides additional leavening due to its reaction with the bicarbonate of soda. Some of the rhubarb disappears entirely into the crumb, but mostly there are delicious ripples of tangy fruit (well, vegetable really) flowing through the cake. I served the cake warm with quenelles of Chantilly cream (double cream whipped with a teaspoonful of icing sugar and a drop of vanilla extract) which worked perfectly. Nigella suggests serving the cake with custard or a muscat flavoured marscapone cream. I did initially plan to make the cream, but as in previous years I never got around to it. Maybe next year?

A small tip – ensure that your springform tin is closed securely. When I checked the cake after 40 minutes, I discovered that my tin had leaked and about a cup of batter was lying on the floor of the oven. I’m dreading scraping it off tomorrow… Place a baking sheet on the shelf below the tin to be on the safe side!

Rhubarb Cornmeal Cake – from “How To Be A Domestic Goddess

500g rhubarb
300g caster sugar
150g plain flour
155g fine polenta or cornmeal
1tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
125g unsalted butter
250g plain yogurt, preferably bio

23cm springform cake tin, greased with butter and base lined.

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180C.

Trim the rhubarb and cut into 1/2cm slices. Place in a large bowl with 100g of the sugar and leave aside whilst you prepare the rest of the cake. Don’t leave for longer than 30 minutes, otherwise too much juice will leach out of the rhubarb.

Mix the flour, cornmeal/polenta, salt, cinnamon, bicarb in a medium bowl. In a large bowl (I used my KitchenAid here), cream the butter and remaining sugar until light and fluffy. In a small bowl or ramekin, beat the eggs with the vanilla extract and then slowly add this to the creamed mixture. Beat well until mixture is fluffy again.

In alternating spoonfuls, add the flour mixture and yogurt to the creamed mixture. Mix these in very slowly to preserve the fluffiness of the mixture. Finally, fold in the rhubarb and all the sugary juices.

Pour into the tin and smooth the top. Bake for approximately one hour until the top is springy and a skewer comes out almost clean. Check after 40 minutes and cover with foil if the top looks as if it is going to overbrown. Let it cool, in the tin, on a wire rack until just warm or leave to cool completely if not eating immediately. It can be reheated in the oven if wrapped well in foil.