White chocolate, rhubarb and raspberry cake with almonds, a hint of orange and topped with cream cheese frosting. Jump to recipe.
Apparently you can expect recipes to be a rarity from me this year – cake has slid further down the priority list than I would like. It seems like a fact of life that every year gets busier (with a brief pause there with lockdown baking time), but the addition of exam study and attempts at research on top of work has really tipped it over. I’ve always wished I was one of those people who could be incredibly productive until the small hours of the morning and survive on less sleep than the rest, but sadly sometimes fatigue means only a meaningless phone scroll (maybe an episode of euphoria) and bed is possible.
I am still eating (and therefore cooking) so maybe badly lit iphone photos of a thrown together risoni salad is all I can offer – but maybe that’s all you are out there making too? The reintroduction of social lives and the end of WFH really spelled the end for sourdough projects and time to page through cookbooks.
In better news, the New Zealand borders finally opened and I managed to escape back for a few weeks of annual leave. This white chocolate, rhubarb and raspberry cake was a product of Mum’s successful rhubarb plants (we also had rhubarb and raspberry tart for those with similar crops). It’s a variation on a theme – my favourite cakes are buttery, moist and rich, often nut based (almonds, pistachio, coconut or walnuts) and full of seasonal fruit, whether that’s apricots, plums or berries. It’s one layer (cleaning up 2 cake tins is just too much) and hastily dressed with a swoop of citrus-y cream cheese frosting. This one is studded with chopped white chocolate which partially melds with the batter – normally I find white chocolate too sickly (dark all the way) but it stands up to the sharp rhubarb and raspberries here perfectly.
- 180 g melted butter (unsalted)
- 4 eggs
- 1/3 cup full fat greek yogurt unsweetened
- vanilla essence
- zest of 1 orange
- 230 g caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 220 g almond meal
- salt
- 100 g plain flour
- 110 g roughly chopped white chocolate
- 300 g rhubarb chopped into 1-2cm pieces
- 3/4 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)
- 100 g butter
- 180 g icing sugar (1 1/4 cup)
- 100 g full fat cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- zest 1 orange
- 200-300 g pink rhubarb chopped into 3cm chunks
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- juice of 1 orange
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence / paste
- 1/2 cup water
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Grease and line a 23cm cake tin with baking paper.
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Preheat the oven to 180°C bake (160° fanbake).
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In large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, eggs, yogurt, vanilla and orange zest.
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in a separate bowl, mix together caster sugar, baking powder, ground ginger, ground almonds, salt and flour.
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Add the dry ingredients to the wet and gently fold to combine.
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Fold through the chopped white chocolate.
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Pour half the mixture into the prepared baking tin and top with half the chopped rhubarb and raspberries.
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Spoon over the remaining half of the cake mix, level the surface and scatter the remaining rhubarb and raspberries over the top (do not press in).
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Bake for 45-50 minutes or until it’s not wobbly in the centre, barely springs back to touch and a skewer inserted comes out with a few crumbs on it.
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Leave to cool completely before frosting
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Beat the butter until pale and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add the icing sugar and beat to fully combine. Gradually add the cream cheese, a small cube at a time, until fully combined. Add the vanilla and orange zest and mix to just combine.
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Spoon the frosting into the middle of the cake and use an offset spatula or the back of the spoon to spread in a circular pattern, gradually spreading towards the edges. Decorate with roast rhubarb (optional) or raspberries.
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Preheat the oven to 180°C.
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Lay the rhubarb in a single layer in a medium baking pan lined with baking paper – it just needs to be large enough so the rhubarb can all lie flat.
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In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, orange juice, vanilla and water. Pour over the rhubarb.
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Top the rhubarb with another sheet of baking paper (this helps it soften without browning) and bake for 15-20 minutes or until tender.
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Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Depending on how you are serving this, you can also cook the remaining liquid down separately to make a syrup.
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