Gluten Free Rhubarb, Ginger & Coconut Crumble Cake

Without hesitation, let me say this is one of the best cakes I've ever made. It tastes sublime, an idle baking must-do for all you crumble and cakeaholics out there. Made with gluten free flours and the first home grown rhubarb of the year, it has a crunchy crumble topping, sweetly tart gingered rhubarb and a soft fluffy base. If you need the cake to be nut as well as gluten free, then simply take out the coconut and replace with more gf flour and sugar. It will be scrumptious either way.

Recipe
My own recipe

Serves 8-10


for the crumble:
85g gluten free plain flour mix (Dove's Farm or M&S recommended)
60g dessicated coconut
85g unsalted butter, cold
85g caster sugar


1. Turn the oven to 180C (160C fan ovens), and grease and line a deep 20/23cm springform cake tin. To make the crumble, cut the butter into small chunks and using your hands rub it in to the flour, coconut, and sugar in a large bowl until resembling crumbs. Put the crumble to one side.



for the rhubarb:
500-600g rhubarb
1 teaspoon ground or fresh finely chopped ginger
1 or 2 tablespoons caster sugar


2. Cut the rhubarb also into small chunks. Taste it for bitterness, before tossing it in another bowl with the ginger and sugar. If the rhubarb is quite sweet only 1 tablespoon of sugar is needed, but add an extra tablespoon if the fruit is a little bitter.

for the cake base:
170g unsalted butter, room temperature
170g caster sugar
3 eggs
170g gluten free self raising flour mix (Dove's Farm or M&S recommended)
1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder (Barkart recommended)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon milk


3. To make the batter, cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl for at least 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.

4. Add the eggs one by one, followed by a tablespoon of the flour after each addition. Beat well.

5. Next stir in the rest of the flour, baking powder and the ginger.

6. Then add the milk and stir gently until the batter is smooth and well combined.

7. Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin, then spoon the rhubarb in its ginger sugar evenly over the top.

8. Finally, tip the crumble topping over the rhubarb until it has covered the top of the cake, and level off. It should come to the top of the baking tin.

9. Place in the oven and bake for approx 1 hour, checking after 50 minutes. You'll know it's done when a skewer comes out clean except for a little rhubarb juice.

10. When done, take out of the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 20 minutes, before placing on a wire rack or plate to cool further.

11. Serve warm, with a dollop of cream.

This cake was idly baked while listening to BBC Radio 4's programme The Listening Project

Rhubarb Crumble

The fruit patch is really taking off. Not only have we had gluts of blackcurrants and wild strawberries, we've also seen the first of our rhubarb doing rather well. The arrival of some dear crumble-loving friends gave me the perfect excuse to create the first crumble made with our own fruit.

It's a testament to the freshness of the rhubarb, and the deliciousness of Nigella's recipe, that we fell on it when it came out of the oven, and it was only after we'd started helping ourselves to the dish that I remembered to take a photograph for this blog!

Recipe
Serves 4-6

When giving this recipe Nigella states that it serves 10 people, most uncharacteristically assuming very small portions. In my experience this serves 4 with very big appetites and many second helpings, or 6 people with a little more self control.

Adapted from Nigella Lawson's recipe in Feast. Buy the book on Amazon
As she states in her brilliant book, this is the best crumble you may ever taste. Not wanting to mess with perfection, all I've done is add some oats to the topping to make it even crunchier.

for the rhubarb base:
750g/900g rhubarb chopped into small pieces
(shop bought rhubarb will be bright pink; home grown tends to be a much paler pink and green)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cornflour
50g caster sugar

1. Turn the oven to 190C (170C fan oven). Find a good sized pie dish.

2. In a saucepan, heat the chopped rhubarb over a medium heat with the butter, vanilla extract, cornflour and sugar, stirring every so often for five minutes, or until the rhubarb has softened into the melted butter.

3. Spoon the rhubarb mixture into the pie dish, making sure all the buttery juices from the pan are poured in too. If you are preparing this crumble in advance, now is the time to cover the dish and place it somewhere cool until you're ready to make the topping and bung it in the oven.

for the crumble topping:
110g unsalted butter, chopped into pieces
110g self raising flour
40g rolled oats
3 tablespoons demerara sugar

4. To make the crumble topping, put the flour and butter in a large mixing bowl and rub the two together with your clean hands, until the mixture is the consistency of breadcrumbs. Add the oats and demarara sugar and stir gently until well combined.

5. Then spoon the crumble ontop of the rhubarb, covering all the fruit well and pressing the topping down with the back of the spoon. It's worth placing this dish over a baking tray before placing it in the oven, as this catches the crumble juices that drip down when it bakes.

6. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes. If it hasn't browned enought for you after 40 minutes, then you can place it under the medium heat of the grill, but only for a minute as it will burn very easily.

7. Serve straight out of the oven, with some cream and/or ice cream.

This crumble was idly baked while chatting to our mates Sean and Jules in the kitchen.