Think Pink for Pinktober - bejewelled rhubarb cinnamon cake

ECupcake has come up with a terrific food blogging event called Think Pink for Pinktober to coincide with Pink Ribbon Day in Australia on 22 October, which is designed to raise awareness of breast cancer. The requirement to participate in this event is to make a dish which is pink or contains a pink ingredient, and blog about it. I have not been personally touched by breast cancer. However, there are many women in the public eye who have been affected by this disease, such as Jane McGrath, Kim Walters and Kylie Minogue. Their tireless efforts to raise awareness of this disease and its effects on them and their loved ones has impressed on me the importance of early detection and how devastating this disease can be.


I have chosen to make a Bejewelled Rhubarb Cinnamon Cake. This cake contains two pink ingredients - rhubarb and pomegranate seeds. I was inspired to replace the usual cinnamon and sugar topping on rhubarb cinnamon cake with pomegranate seeds by Nigella Lawson's gorgeous jewelled pomegranate cake from Feast.


The recipe is as follows:


50g butter
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1/3 cup sour cream (or creme fraiche)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 tablespoon milk
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
400g rhubarb cut into 1 cm pieces
seeds from a pomegranate


Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a 20cm springform pan.


Cream butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer. Beat in sour cream and milk, followed by eggs, one at a time. Stir in sifted flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, sugar and rhubarb. Pour into prepared cake tin, and sprinkle the top with pomegranate seeds.


Bake in the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until cooked through when tested with a skewer. Remove from the oven and cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning onto a wire rack.


Serve with cream, icecream, Greek yoghurt or custard, or by itself. Delicious!!