Monday, February 25, 2008

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.



14 comments:

  1. This sounds delicious to me as I was a rhubarb lover as a child. Now, I cannot find it here in Peru. Sad.

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  2. Mmm....pass me a slice please! It looks fabulous, thanks so much for entering it.

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  3. I love the look of this cake - interesting that it was better on the second day. I have zero patience and would have to lock it away to prevent myself digging into it too early. I just love rhubarb and may join in this challenge too!

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  4. Well done on your challenge, I had good intentions of coming up with a rhubarb recipe today but ended up doing the db challenge instead! a day's event!

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  5. Hi Cakelaw, actually I do not know what to say because I do not know what rhubarb is. It does look great though. I saw the event, I wanted to participate but the dictionary would give me an explanation of a plant which again I did not know. Greek yoghurt seems to be very popular abroad, I see it in many recipes.

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  6. Hi Gretchen, It is sad that you can no longer get rhubarb where you live. I have only recently started cooking with it, and it is very versatile.

    Thanks for organising In the Bag Julia!

    Hi Antonia, If you do join in, I look forward to seeing your creation.

    Hi Pixie, I did DBs the weekend before last - a 12 hour day for me!

    Hi Ivy, I love my Greek yoghurt with honey and fruit - delicious!

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  7. Hello! Guess what I found in my mailbox today? I am looking for your email so that I thank you properly, but I must be blind because I can't find one here on your site. Please pass it along to me. In the meanwhile, thank you, thank you, thank you so very much :)
    Maryann
    Finding La Dolce Vita

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  8. I love using yogurt in cakes. It gives them such a nice, light texture. I've never tried rhubarb in a cake, only in pies. I may have to try this because my husband is a big rhubarb fan.

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  9. Oh this is a lovely cake i'm with Julia on this mmmm please pass me a slice of cake over .... drool

    Rosie x

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  10. Hi Maryann, Glad you liked the parcel. Loved your BBM post - thanks.

    Hi Susan, yoghurt also gives a nice tang.

    Hi Rosie, I'll save you a slice ;)

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  11. Yum, that cake looks delicious. Interesting about the second day developments, do you think that was the moisture from the rhubarb coming back into the cake?

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  12. Hi Kai, it may well have been, because it truly was better the second day.

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  13. I can't imagine rhubarb in a cake so will have to try it some time to see how it works!

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  14. Hi Scott, I have made a couple of different rhubarb cakes now, and it is good in cakes (with plenty of sugar, of course!).

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Thanks for dropping by!