In the Bag - Rhubarb, Orange and Yoghurt Cake

Julia from A Slice of Cherry Pie is hosting this month's In the Bag event, with the chosen ingredients being forced (pink) rhubarb, an orange and sugar. Participants in this event must make something using the "in the bag" ingredients for that month (a bit like Ready Steady Cook without the celebrity chefs and with more generous time limits).


I made a rhubarb, orange and yoghurt cake that I took to Sunday lunch with my friend Asiye and her family and friends. The ingredients included the rhubarb, the orange and the Greek yoghurt that I purchased on my visit to Prahran Market on Saturday.


If you had asked me what I thought of this cake on the day that I made it, I would have said that I found it OK but a little dry. However, half of the cake was leftover (we had way too much food!), which I took home and served for morning tea at work the next day. On the second day, the cake had improved in that the rhubarb and orange flavours were more developed, and the cake itself was moister. Accordingly, if you are tempted to bake this cake, I recommend making it at least one day beforehand so that you can take advantage of its improving qualities.


The recipe for this cake, from Sweet Food (Murdoch Books, 2002), is set out below. The only changes that I made were to substitute the rosewater in the original for orange juice and to add the zest of an orange to the batter.


1 1/4 cups finely chopped fresh forced rhubarb
2 1/2 cups self raising flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
zest and 2 tablespoons of juice from one medium orange
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup Greek yoghurt
125g melted butter


First, grease and line a 22cm round springform pan, and preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.


Mix the rhubarb, flour and sugar in a large bowl. Next, place the yoghurt, vanilla, eggs, orange juice and zest and melted butter in the bowl with the rhubarb mixture, and stir until all the ingredients are combined. Scrape the cake batter (it is rather thick!) into the prepared springform pan, level the top with a spatula and bake in the oven for about 1 hour. Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.