Rhubarb Cake

Rhubarb Cake recipe (thanks to Steve, who shared this recipe which he got from "The Cooks Companion" by Stephanie Alexander.)

Ingredients:

80g butter
300g plain flour
380g brown sugar
2 eggs
few drops pure vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
grated zest of one lemon
1 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
400g rhubarb cut into 1cm pieces.

Steve has used a green Rhubarb variety, but you can use whichever colour you prefer. Here is some more info on the different coloured Rhubarb varieties: http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/content/rhubarb-varieties  For all Rhubarb the same rule goes: they are sweetest in early spring when they first start to grow and become more tangy as the season progresses.

and for the topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. 
• Grease a 24cm springform tin with 20g of the butter, then dust the tin with little of the flour. 
• Cream remaining butter and sugar, then add eggs and vanilla. 
• Sift remaining flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon into a bowl, then combine with butter/sugar/egg mix. 
• Add creme fraiche and lemon zest, then transfer to a large bowl and and stir in rhubarb [or just do the whole process in large bowl, but be aware the mix does get big!]. 
• Scrape into prepared tin. 
• Mix topping ingredients and sprinkle over cake. 
• Bake for 1.25 hours or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. 

Serve warm or cold.

Enjoy!