Rhubarb, orange and almond slice

UPDATE JULY 2021:

I have now re-tested this recipe and came to the following conclusions:

• slices of rhubarb are lighter and do not 'sink' onto the bottom of the cake. I sliced the rhubarb in 0.5mm slices. 
• 1 large orange was too much so I used 1 medium orange this time (200g).
• there was too much demerara sugar and almond flakes on the top so I reduced it to 100g each.

The end result was much better this time!

🔄🔄🔄

Another national Trust recipe.

The first time I made this recipe, everything went wrong. I was shocked with the amount of butter so reduced the quantities of the ingredients but did not reduce the amount of orange, making it an extremely sharp orange cake. I used frozen rhubarb which had been in the freezer for more than 6 months and ended up with mushy rhubarb with little flavour. I forgot to add eggs - how stupid is that? It's a cake for God sake! And in the end I also managed to underbake it. Not one of my finest moments...

So this time I was intent in redeeming myself and followed the recipe to the letter.
The cake is very yummy but I was disappointed that all the rhubarb seem to have 'sunk' and ended up in the bottom of the cake. If the rhubarb chunks were smaller, would they have sunk? The recipe called for chunks of rhubarb and I cut around 1-2 cm chunks. Less than that and I would have thought it was slices of rhubarb. Anyway, still lovely.

National Trust advises to serve it warm with clotted cream but we had it cold for tea instead. Delish!

Serves: 12 slices.

Equipment: Baking tin (35 cm x 25 cm).

Ingredients:

• 450g plain flour
• 5.5 tsp baking powder (the recipe asks for an extra tsp of baking powder)
• 450g sugar
• 1 large orange
• 225g fresh rhubarb
• 450g butter
• 6 eggs
• 110g demerara sugar
• 110g flaked almonds

Method:

1. Cut the rhubarb into small chunks and cook on a low heat in a small saucepan until the rhubarb is tender. No need to add liquid as the rhubarb releases a lot of liquid when it starts to cook. Don't overcook as you want to keep the lovely chunks. Do stir it once and a while because, liquid or not, it will stick a bit.
   
   
   
   
2. Cut up the orange and place in a food processor until chopped to a pulp.
   
   
   
   
3. Cream the sugar with the butter until light and fluffy and then add the orange pulp and mix well.
4. Add the flour and baking powder and stir in the eggs gradually.
5. Spoon the mixture into the baking tin.
   
6. Top with the rhubarb, then sprinkle with the demerara sugar and scatter with flaked almonds.
   
   
   
   
7. Bake at 170°C for 30-40 min until firm to the touch. The almonds shifted during cooking as one side of the cake managed to rise more than the other.