Sunday, May 27, 2007

Rhubarb


Springtime is one of the best times of the year. The trusty rhubarb plant delights us yearly with it's recurrent appearance. They require little care and nurturing, ask nothing in return but our undying devotion to new ways to serve it's bitter sweet essence.

This year I made my standby rhubarb sauce. All you need to do is clean, and cut the stalks into 1 inch pieces and toss it into a sauce pan with a little water or juice on the bottom to get it going. Cook over a medium heat just until it is soft. Remove from heat and add sugar to taste.

Serve it plain or over your favorite ice cream.

This year I found a fabulous website http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/
Anything you could possibly want is here.

I'm posting a recipe from this site that is a real winner, but I made my own variations by making my own basic yellow cake from scratch and adding some of my favorite spices. Cinnamon, allspice, mace, and nutmeg always go great in any cake! Be creative and add your own topping in place of the sugar. Yum!

Rhubarb Custard Cake

Ingredients:

Two-layer yellow cake mix
4 cups chopped rhubarb
1 cup granulated sugar
1 pint whipping cream (2 cups)

Procedure:

Prepare batter for cake mix according to package directions; turn into greased and floured 9x13" pan. Dump the chopped rhubarb on top of the cake batter. Sprinkle the sugar on top of the rhubarb. Pour the whipping cream (unwhipped) over the sugar. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes, until cake springs back when lightly touched.

Cream, sugar, and rhubarb sink to bottom, forming a custard layer. Makes 1-18 (depending on how you cut it!!) dee-vine servings.

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