This custard cake has a texture that is creamy and light, with a lovely nutty flavour from using Flourist Sifted Red Spring Wheat Flour. The base of this recipe could easily be paired with any stewed seasonal fruit, and we can't wait to try it this summer with berries. It is a perfect way to enjoy stewed rhubarb, which can be prepared up to a week ahead.
Rhubarb Custard Cake
~ adapted from The Kitchen McCabe
2 cups stewed rhubarb or other stewed fruit (blueberries would be wonderful)
4 large eggs, separated
¾ cup (162g) sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 stick (1/2 cup) (114g) butter, melted
¾ cup (104g) Flourist Sifted Red Spring Wheat Flour
2 cups whole milk, lukewarm
powdered sugar, for dusting
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8x8 baking pan. Place the egg whites in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer to stiff peaks. Set aside.
In another mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until creamy. Whisk in the lemon juice and vanilla. Whisk in the melted butter. Add the Flourist Sifted Red Spring Wheat Flour to the bowl and whisk in until fully combined. Add the milk to the batter, ½ cup at a time, whisking in well before adding in the next ½ cup. Note that the batter will be extremely runny.
Fold the egg whites gently in the batter, just until there are no large lumps left.
Pour batter into the prepared baking pan. Spoon the stewed rhubarb or other fruit randomly, in spoonfuls, over the top of the batter. The egg whites that remain on the top of the batter should be strong enough to support the fruit. Quickly put in the oven and bake for 40-60 minutes, or until the cake no longer jiggles when tapped. Bake time will vary depending on how hot your oven gets, so check the cake after 40 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes. Invert cake onto a cooling rack, by popping it out of the pan and onto a plate (face down). Once on the plate, very carefully invert the cake right side up onto a cooling rack. The cake should fall right out of the pan, but if you are worried about sticking, run a knife around the edge of the cake before inverting. Place the cake on a serving dish or cake stand and dust with powdered sugar right before serving.
Comments
Hi Dina – It’s quite a moist and fruit forward cake, it may not be able to withstand a double layer. I think it would depend on the type of icing used to hold the layers together, something more sturdy would likely work best. Let us know how it goes!
Wondering if this cake is suitable to make as a layer cake by doubling the recipe?
Made this using stewed plums; because of all the juice I cut the liquid in half, using only 1 cup of oat milk. Loved the finished result – only thing I would suggest is to use a deep cake pan as I lost a quarter of mine to the bottom of the oven!
Decadent, Devine.
I’m so happy I made this! I would make a few modifications to make it work better next time: first, I think 2 cups of rhubarb is too much, it adds a ton of moisture to the batter. I stewed mine right before so put it in the cake still hot and I imagine if your fruit was out of the fridge it would really affect cooking times. Second, folding in the egg whites doesn’t really work – I would stir them in gently with the whisk. My oven is a jerk but nonetheless I had to cook mine for almost 70 mins and it wasn’t quite done in the middle. But, delicious!