Rhubarb and Custard Crumble Tart

Having gone from loathes to loves on the rhubarb front, I seem to be unable to stop making sweet treats from rhubarb at the moment. Well, this one wasn't really my fault as it was a Sweet Melissa Sundays treat, but I've also made this, this and kind of interesting coffee style cake that used so many recipes from all around the interwebs I don't know where to start linking. All in the hunt for perfection in rhubarb cake form. I know it exists! I ate it at Ottolenghi. But can I recreate it? Of course not! And those other imposters to the crown of awesomest rhubarb cake were just not the real deal. Whether it be a disappointing crumble or just a bit too 'wholefood' tasting, they were all fine, but not worth writing home about. Or to you about, should I say dear reader!

Then, as I was whiling away an hour or so with a cup of tea and a new cookbook, I spotted this tart. Not at all en route to my rhubarb dream cake, but an appealing diversion, especially with JJ's parents coming to tea.

The idea of combining rhubarb crumble, custard and a tart all in the one dessert sounded pretty incredible to me - so off I set with the recipe in one hand. Only to fall very flat at the first hurdle. Apparently the initial step of blending butter, flour and sugar should form a dough to be rolled out (like shortbread). Mine looked like dust. No matter how much I blitzed in the food processor and even resorted to smooshing with my hands, it just would not come together. Major concerns about the recipe started to form in my mind. But I soldiered on! Baking up the crumbs in a slightly squished together layer (no rolling out happened) seemed to work well. In a second attempt at the tart a week or so later, I added more butter and it helped, but still didn't form a dough, so not a clue what's supposed to happen at that stage!

I won't even bore you with the pastry dough and how impossible I found it. I hate sweet tart dough - it's official. I shall, of course, persevere to find one that doesn't take one look at me and grab the counter with such force only hacking at a knife will get it off. Or maybe it's the way I look at it that scares it into shrinking about a mile away from the tin on all sides. Phew. So anyway, Pastry 2 - Rosy 0.

But! Ah yes, there's a but. This tart is amazing. Whilst the recipe was, um, well, quite wrong in places and I'm gonna suggest you find your own way on the sweet tart dough front for the moment, the filling is heaven. Utter rhubarb and custard flavoured, creamy, dreamy, sweet heaven. Ya know what it reminded me of? Those rhubarb and custard boiled sweets. I love those. But better - less sickly. More elegant and flirty. A true lady of a tart. So lady like in fact, it's the prettiest of pale pinks! I think it would be just as tasty without the crumble but not very attractive... I've toyed with alternatives but whipped cream would just compete for creaminess and there is something pleasing about the buttery crumble contrast, even if it is a touch on the faffy side.

Just make sure to eat it the day you make it - room temperature, it's perfection, but I tried it the next day and both the crumble and tart shell were soft. If I hadn't lost all enthusiasm by the end of this, I would've made a rhubarb sauce from a little extra rhubarb poached, pureed and strained. I think I'll be doing that next time - when I can face sweet tart dough again...

Rosy xx

Rhubarb and Custard Crumble Tart
adapted from here.

For the Crumble
100g plain flour
60g unsalted butter, cold
40g caster sugar

For the Custard
360g rhubarb
130g caster sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
130ml double cream

1 pre-baked tart shell

Preheat oven to 180C.

In a food processor, blitz the crumble mix until it looks like breadcrumbs. Turn out onto a tray lined with parchment paper, give a bit of a smoosh together with your fingers (but don't worry too much!) and bake crumble for 15 mins, until lightly golden.

Mix the rhubarb with the sugar and place in a roasting tin. Cover with foil and roast for 20 mins until soft. Break up with a fork and leave to cool slightly.

Lower the oven to 150C.

Place the cream in a pan and heat gently to simmering point. Meanwhile, beat the eggs with the vanilla. Add the hot cream, slowly at first to temper, and the rhubarb. Fill the pre-baked tart case and bake for around 15 mins until no longer wobbly in the middle. Break up the baked crumble mixture and cover the rhubarb custard with the crumble. Leave to cool to room temperature and eat the same day.

Pavlova

Cast your minds way way back… Do you remember the Menu for Hope raffle?? Well last weekend I made delivery number 1 of 12! As luck would have it, the winner is based just up the road from me, so no tricky posting of baked goods to get around – cue layer cakes, fancy cupcakes and hugely perishable numbers like this pavlova!

I say the winner lives around the corner… Technically the winner lives in Australia, but her sister lives around the corner and the prize was gifted to her to help with her homesickness. Isn’t that just about the best gift??! It was also a total surprise to said sister so felt like quite the covert mission appearing at her door on a Sunday afternoon with a large meringue!!

Pavlovas are one of my favourite summer time desserts – light, sweet and bursting with seasonal fruit. Unfortunately, seasonal fruit in the UK right now consists of apples and pears. Delicious though they are, I can’t really picture them as pavlova compatible! So I went the tropical route, with mangos, papaya, passion fruits, kiwis and blueberries (ok, so not technically tropical but they’re so pretty!). Really, any soft fruit works like a dream – I love love LOVE ripe nectarines and English strawberries but it’s one of those dishes that is inherently flexible, so make it with whatever you have on hand.

And SUPER easy!! When I say super easy, I mean a total doddle. Perfect for dinner parties as you make it the night before (or that morning) and just whack the cream and fruit on for an instantly impressive centrepiece. Simple and stunning! You can tell from the ingredients that it’s easy to scale up or down too – just make sure your baking tray is large enough!

Pavlova
Adapted from Delia Smith’s recipe

Meringue base:
4 egg whites (room temperature and nice and fresh)
8 oz caster sugar

Topping:
Double cream (about 300ml)
½ tbsp icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
Selection of fruit, peeled, deseeded and chopped as necessary – I used 1 each of mango, papaya, kiwi and passion fruit plus a handful of blueberries.

Preheat the oven to 150C.

Cut a square of baking parchment the same size as a baking tray. On the reverse side, draw a circle about 9” in diameter (I just use a plate) with a pencil and flip over. You don’t want to spread the meringue on the pencil markings!

In a super sparkly clean bowl, whisk up the egg whites until they form soft peaks (there’s a test here, of suspending the bowl upside down to see if they fall out, which they won’t do if they’re ready. I’m not that brave but if you are, go for it. But please don’t send me the dry cleaning bill!!!).

Add the sugar gradually whilst whisking and whisk up to a beautiful, glossy, thick meringue. Place dots of the mix between the tray and paper to anchor the parchment paper down. Spoon the egg whites onto the paper, following the guide of the circle to produce a beautifully circular disk. I like to build the sides up slightly so that there’s a dip in the middle to fill with whipped cream and fruit, but this is by no means essential!

Pop in the oven and immediately turn the oven down to 140C. Cook for one hour and then turn the oven off BUT DON’T REMOVE THE PAVLOVA!! Leave in the oven until the oven cools down – I normally leave overnight, but a few hours should do it. This helps cook the meringue in the residual heat and produces the crispy outer and soft, mallowy middle that makes the pavlova a thing of beauty.

Then carefully peel away from the paper and place on a serving dish (bear in mind the pavlova is fragile). Whip up the cream to soft peaks and whisk in the sugar and vanilla. Pile into the centre of the pavlova and cover with fruit.

This is best served quite soon after making but will be fine in the fridge for a couple of hours.

SMS - Fallen Chocolate Souffle Cake

My love affair with chocolate goes back as long as I can remember. I put it down to my Belgian routes... So many of my great food memories revolve around chocolate - eating Fauchon chocolate cake on the corner of a Parisian street, discovering Pierre Marcolini chocolates in Belgium (they stock them in London as well - AMAZING!!!!!), eating the largest piece of chocolate cake ever in Gail's in Hampstead with JJ after a long walk over the Heath... Oh how I love chocolate! And so of course I was utterly delighted when this week's Sweet Melissa Sunday, chosen by Sarah from Blue Ridge Baker, turned out to be a chocolate cake. And not just a simple chocolate: a fallen chocolate souffle cake! So I had high hopes for this baby. And I was so not disappointed - the best thing about this gorgeous cakey dessert how light it is. The photos make the centre look incredibly rich but in fact its light, smooth and just delicious. I didn't use good enough quality chocolate and that's something that I would change next time. I also didn't use the orange flavourings as I totally forgot to pick up an orange, but I switched it for a tablespoon of espresso which worked a treat. I only used a tablespoon of powder, dilluted with a tablespoon of boiling water, and I'm going to up that next time as they coffee didn't really come through enough for my liking. But seriously, a definite winner. Also worth noting that it's gluten free for those who are intolerant.

Do grab yourself a cup of tea and check out the other bakers' posts!

Rosy xx