Strawberry Rhubarb Streusel Cake

June 21, 2016 ~ bakingwithsibella.com ~ 2 Comments

Rhubarb again, you might say! Yes, this time with its favorite buddy – strawberry and all enveloped in a tasty batter with scrumptious topping of streusel and almond slices.

You will love this spring/summery dessert and especially if you are baking for a large crowd. In no time you’ll have a large baking sheet of super tasty, fruity goodness.

This is me, using a large rhubarb leaf from my garden as a fan. 😀

Strawberry Rhubarb Streusel Cake

[Printable recipe]

Ingredients:
• 450 g (200 + 250) or 7 oz + 8.8 oz flour
• 400 g (150 + 250) or 5 oz + 8.8 sugar
• 2 packs (1 + 1) vanilla sugar (or 2 tsp [1+1]vanilla extract)
• 400 g (150 + 250)or 5 oz + 8.8 butter
• 1 pinch of salt
• 500 g (1.1 lb)rhubarb
• 800 g (1.7 lb)strawberries
• 4 large eggs
• 75 g (2.6 oz) corn starch
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 75 g (2.6 oz) sliced almonds
Prepare streusel:
For the streusel combine qty of ingredients marked bold in the ingredient list – flour, sugar, vanilla, salt and cut in butter with a pastry blender or hand until it resembles coarse crumb. Cover and place in the fridge.

Cake:
1. Wash rhubarb, pat dry and cut into 1.5 cm or ½ inch pieces. Wash strawberries and split them into halves if small and into quarters if bigger.
2. For the batter combine the remaining butter (or half qty of butter, half cream cheese), remaining sugar and vanilla. Mix at high speed until creamy. Add one by one egg making sure they are well mixed into batter.
3. Combine remaining flour, corn starch and baking powder and stir well. Lower the speed and add the flour mixture.
4. Spread the batter onto a large baking pan covered with parchment paper. I’ve used 13 X 17 inches which is about 33 X 43 cm.

5. Place rhubarb and strawberries on the top of the batter. Sprinkle with sugar (if desired). Now spread streusel over it and finally almond slices.

6. Bake at 200 C or 395 F 30-35 minutes. Remove from the oven, let it cool and serve. You may want to sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.
ENJOY!

Rhubarb Meringue Cake

May 31, 2016 ~ bakingwithsibella.com ~ 12 Comments

It’s rhubarb season and this year rhubarb in my garden has been growing like crazy! Over the weekend I picked five stalks, two of which weighed almost a pound. I was searching for a good rhubarb dessert recipe and finally decided to go with this one, which I adapted from a German website.

I love rhubarb, but because of its tartness I often pair it up with strawberries. Other recipes with rhubarb only, seem to call for a huge amount of sugar, which I try to avoid as often as possible. This cake, even though with rhubarb only, has a perfect balance of tart in the sponge part and then sweet in the meringue top. It tastes heavenly and I will be making it again this rhubarb season.

I tried to go a little fancy with piping the meringue on the top, but it can be just simply spread over the cake. If you choose to do the piping, I’d suggest to add one more egg white because I ran out of it (one corner of the cake didn’t have meringue on, but I was embarrassed to show it… :D)

Rhubarb Meringue Cake

[Printable recipe]

Ingredients:
• 800 g (1 ¾ lb)Rhubarb
• 1 TBSP sugar
• 125 g (4.4 oz) Sugar
• 125 g (4.4 oz) Butter (room temperature)
• 1 Pack vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
• 1/2 Lemon (zest only)
• 1 Pinch of salt
• 3 Large eggs (divided)
• Sugar*** (for meringue – see step 6.)
• 1 Whole egg
• 100 g (3.5 oz) Corn starch
• 100 g (3.5 oz) All-purpose flour
• 2 tsp Baking powder
• 2–3 TBSP Milk
Preparation:
1. Wash and dry rhubarb stalks and cut into ½ inch pieces. Sprinkle with 1 TBSP sugar and set aside in a bowl.
2. Divide eggs and place the egg whites in the fridge.
3. Place butter in a mixer bowl, add sugar, vanilla, salt and lemon zest and mix until fluffy, then add 3 egg yolks and 1 whole egg and mix until is all well incorporated.
4. In another bowl combine flour, corn starch and baking powder and mix well. Start adding it to the egg mixture alternating with milk. The batter will turn out really nice and creamy.
5. Prepare a 13 X 9 inch baking pan. Brush the sides with butter and place parchment paper on the bottom. Place the batter into the pan, spreading evenly. Now place the rhubarb on the top. Bake at 395 F (200 C) for about 25 minutes.

6. While cake is baking take the egg whites out of the fridge and weigh them. The weight of your egg whites will determine the quantity of sugar you will need. (My egg whites weighed 108 grams, so I measured 108 g sugar for my meringue). I learned that by using the same quantity of egg whites and sugar I get the best meringue.

7. Beat the egg whites on high gradually adding sugar for about 3-4 minutes or until soft peaks form. If you turn your bowl upside down they will stay in place.

8. When cake is done, take it briefly out of the oven. Lower the oven temperature to 250 F (120 C). Spread or pipe the meringue on the cake and bake it for another 20-25 minutes.
9. Let it cool and serve.

ENJOY! 🙂

Semolina pudding with strawberry-rhubarb sauce

May 31, 2012May 31, 2012 ~ bakingwithsibella.com ~ 16 Comments

Last Saturday I went to the Farmer’s Market again and bought some great Michigan strawberries and beautiful, crisp rhubarb. The strawberries were so super sweet and delicious that we couldn’t resist and ate them right away just plain. There was one container left, so I wasn’t sure what to use them for. The idea came when I was going through my kitchen cupboards and eyed a small bag of semolina that I had sitting there since the time I made my Raspberry Dream Cake. I decided to make the semolina pudding and then use the strawberries and rhubarb to make the sauce. Oh, I have to tell you it came out soooo delicious, it is really hard to describe…

SEMOLINA PUDDING WITH STRAWBERRY-RHUBARB SAUCE Printable recipe

Serves 8

For the pudding:

80 g (2.7 oz) semolina wheat flour
500 ml (2 cups) milk
100 g (1/4 cup) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ lemon – zest only

Also needed: a muffin pan or a bundtlette pan

Prepare your pan by rinsing it with the cold water or placing it the freezer for a few minutes.

Bring the milk to a boil; add sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Let it simmer for a few minutes until all sugar has dissolved. Slowly add semolina to the milk, whisking the whole time. You will notice an increase in volume (as semolina expands). Mix until all liquid disappears and large bubbles start showing.

Pour the pudding into a prepared pan. This quantity will yield about 8 individual portions. Let it cool slightly, cover with plastic and refrigerate.

For the strawberry-rhubarb sauce:

300 g (10 oz) strawberries (washed and quartered)
200 g (6.7 oz) rhubarb (washed and cut into ½ inch pieces)
100 g (1/4 cup) sugar
2 tablespoons of honey
1 pack of vanilla sugar (or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract)
a pinch of ground cloves
1 tablespoon corn starch
3 tablespoons water

Place the strawberries, rhubarb, sugar and honey in a cooking pot. Add vanilla and a pinch of cloves. Mix occasionally and let it simmer for about 15 minutes at a low temperature. Mix corn starch with water until smooth and add it to the fruit mixture to thicken.

Serve warm over chilled semolina pudding.

Bon appétit!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Galette

May 8, 2012May 8, 2012 ~ bakingwithsibella.com ~ 17 Comments

This Saturday my daughter and I made a trip to our local Farmers’ Market, which is a quite busy place this time of the year. For a while now that has been our mother-daughter special time. It’s almost our tradition to stop by the Thai stand at the entrance and get a spring roll. After eating those crispy, delicious wraps, we were so ready to browse and shop. The farmers’ stands had most beautiful, crisp looking asparagus that was just calling my name (bought 2 pounds for 4 $). We also bought some farm fresh eggs, strawberries and rhubarb. I planned to make my usual strawberry-rhubarb cake with egg whites frosting, but then for some reason galette came to my mind and I decided to make a strawberry-rhubarb galette instead. This recipe was adapted from marthastewart.com plum galette. Strawberry-rhubarb is a match made in heaven! You will love every bite of it!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Galette Printable recipe

Crust:

2 1/2 cups (320 g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (226 g) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 cup (118 ml) ice water

Filling:

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1/2 cup (75 g) plain bread crumbs
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 pack vanilla sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 pounds (700 g) strawberries and rhubarb
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 – 3 tablespoons of smooth strawberry jam

Egg wash:

1 egg
1 tablespoon milk

Preparation:

Combine flour and salt. Add cold butter and work it into flour until large crumbs form, then start adding water. You can do all this in the food processor, but I just prefer doing it by hand. The dough will be smooth. If sticky, add a bit more flour. Form a disc, wrap in plastic and leave it in the fridge to rest for an hour.

For the filling wash and quarter strawberries, wash rhubarb and cut into ½ inch (1.3 cm) pieces. Set aside. Combine flour, bread crumbs, corn starch, brown sugar and vanilla.

Roll out the dough to an 18 X 16 inch (46 X 41 cm) rectangle. Transfer it to the parchment lined large baking sheet. Spread the bread crumb mixture in the middle of the dough leaving 2-3 inches ( 5-8 cm) border. Arrange the fruit on the top of the mixture and sprinkle with 3 tbsp of sugar.

Fold the both longer sides inward and then do the same with the shorter sides (as to form a package). Brush the folded sides with the egg wash. Bake at 400 F (200 C) until crust starts getting a nice golden-brown color.

Remove from the oven and let it cool down. Heat the strawberry jam. If it has pieces of strawberry and seed, first strain it through a fine mesh, then brush over the fruit in the middle of the galette.

All is left is to enjoy it! Bon Appetit! 🙂