Rhubarb Bundt Cake

Rhubarb time is fast approaching. All of my rhubarb is already popping out of the ground, mostly just the leaves (don’t eat those, they are poisonous) but it will only be a week or two before the stalks are big and juicy so I can now safety use up the rest of the rhubarb that I had stashed in the freezer. And for that a cake was in order. Nothing super fancy, just a straight up rhubarb situation, with a little lemon drizzle. No strawberry. No nuts. Just a lot of rhubarb because sometimes that is all you need. (Plus the cake was for the mr and he doesn’t like other things to encroach on his rhubarb). A big delicious rhubarb bundt cake.

It is a spring time essential. You need this.

Now to the rhubarb bundt cake!

The stuff. Flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and cinnamon. Chopped rhubarb (frozen and thawed), plant milk, oil, brown and white sugar, vanilla ,applce cider vinegar, powdered sugar, and a lemon.

In a large bowl miix the oil, vanilla and sugars together until completely combined, In a smaller bowl whisk all the dry ingredients together.

Add the dry to the wet along with the zest of the lemon and the gently mix while pouring in the vinegar and milk. Fold in chopped rhubarb.

Cake batter.

Pour batter into a WELL greased and floured bundt pan. Trust me, don’t forget to get all the nooks with grease. A stuck bundt sucks.

And pop that bundt into the oven and bake.

A little over an hour later you got yourself a gorgeous golden brown cake.

And ever so gently get that bundt out of pan. If your top gets stuck like mine did, all is well, just repair as best as you can. The cake will still taste amazing..

Once cake is out of pan, let cool on a wire rack.

Make a little lemon glaze while its cooling. Just powdered sugar and lemon juice. Mix until a thick but drizzle -able consistency,

Drizzle on the glaze. And because I screwed up the top when taking it out of the pan I wanted to gussy it up a little so I added a few plops of strawberry jam.

I think is looked nice, not better, but nice. Ha!

Then you eat cake. Simple as that.

-C

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Rhubarb Bundt Cake

makes a bundt cake

• 2 1/2 cups flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablepoon cinnamon

• 1/2 cup neutral oil like canola

• 1 1/8 cup plant milk

• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

• 1/2 cup white sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

• 2 cups chopped rhubarb (fresh or frozen and thawed and chopped into 1/4-1/2 inch chunks)

• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

• 1 lemon

• 2 tabslpoons strawberry jam (optional)

Preheat oven to 375.

Add vinegar to the milk.

In a large bowl mix together the oil, vanilla, and brown and white sugar until compelelty combined. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, zest from the lemon, baking powder and soda, and cinnamon. Dump the dry into the wet and gently mix while pouring in the milk and vinegar mixture. Once mixed fold in the chopped rhubarb.

Grease and flour a bundt pan. Pour the cake batter into the pan, tap the bottom on the counter to remove any bubbles , then place into preheated oven. Bake for 1 hour or until a deep golden brown and a tester poked into the center comes out clean.

Once baked, remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

While it is cooling make the glaze. Squeeze the juice of the half the lemon into the powdered sugar and mix until combined. If it seems to thick to drizzle, add more juice. To thin, add more powder sugar.

Once cake has cooled, drizzle glaze all over. If you want fancy and a little flavor pop, add a few plops of strawberry jam on top.

Then you eat cake.

Cake will be good in airtight container on counter for 4-5 days. Any longer just cut it up and freeze it.

Clementine Cake

It’s not too late to get in a little end of the year baking. It is actually the perfect time to bake. All the holiday hub bub is still going on so there is usually still people all around still willing and able to eat your offerings (if you were so inclined to share), the days just feel more slow and of need of warmth and lovely smells. Plus we need something to do while while waiting for New Years, because we are just all sitting around waiting for that ball to drop, right? HAHAHA. No.

Anyway, I have been wanting to make some version of a boiled clementine cake for a while now. I love that fact the the whole clementine goes into the cake, that there is no peeling or zesting or juicing. It is just boil the clems for a little while to get the bitterness out and you are good to go. And it doesn’t hurt that right now is citrus season so I have a humngo bowl of clementines, plus a shit load of other oranges and other citrus to go through so the thought of tossing a good few clementines into a cake, well it was just what needed to be done.

And the family is coming over to eat and trash my house so I needed another dessert besides the half eaten ice cream cake left in the freezer from Camereon’s birthday/Christmas. So I baked that they will eat. And there we go. Win win.

Now to the clementine cake.

The stuff. Flour, baking powder and soda, salt, sugar, oil, cinnamon, vinegar, clementines, and powdered sugar.

First you need to boil the clementines. Big pot, fill with water, place clems inside, bring to a boil, then simmer for 2 hours. Seems like a long time but just do it while you are making and drinking coffee or doing laundry or whatever. You don’t need to keep an eye on them, other then to check that the water hasn’t evaporated, and it smells so nice.

After the 2 hours are up, remove clementines from water and let cool enough to handle. Cut in half. If there are giant seeds, remove them.

Place the clementines into blender and blend until silky smooth.

Now the other stuff. Flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and soda, and cinnamon. All into big bowl.

Whisk together until incorporated then add in the clementine puree, the oil, and the vinegar. Whisk together until it becomes a uniform batter.

Unbaked cake.

Scoop batter into a very well greased bundt cake pan and bake, 50-60 minutes, until tester comes out clean.

The big revel…. And it went perfect! Now time to let this sucker cool a bit on a wire rack.

While the cake is cooling, make a simple glaze. Just powdered sugar and fresh (not boiled) clementine juice. Mixed unit glaze consistency.

Once the cake is pretty much cooled, pour on the glaze.

And now it is cake time.

-C

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Clementine Cake

Makes one bundt cake

• 2 1/4 cups all pupose flour

• 1 cup white sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 tablespoon vinegar

• 1/2 cup any neutral oil

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 6 clementines (you need 2 cups pureed)

  For the glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 1 clementine

To start, place 6 clementines into large pot and fill with water. Place on stove and bring water to a rapid boil then reduce heat and continue to simmer clementines for about 2 hours.

Once clementines are cooked, cut in half and check and discard any large seeds. Place the clementines into a blended and blend until smooth. Should have about 2 cups puree. If you are short on volume, add water to make up the difference.

Preheat oven to 350

Grab a large bowl. Dump the flour, baking powder and soda, salt, cinnamon, and sugar and whisk together until completely incorporated. Now add in the clementine puree along with the oil and the vinegar. Mix until completely incorporated. Scoop batter into a well greased burnt pan (at least 10 cup capacity) then place into oven on middle rack and bake for 50-60 minutes until a tester (or a fork) stuck in to the deepest part of the cake comes out clean.

Once baked, remove cake from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes in pan, then flip the cake out of pan, gently of course, and hope you greased it well enough for it to just pop out. Once removed from pan, allow to cool on a wire rack.

While cake is cooling, make the glaze. Powered sugar into a bowl along with the juice of a clementine. Mix together. If the glaze is to thick, add more juice (or water), to thin, a little more powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency (pourable but not runny is good) and once cake is cooled, pour glaze all over.

And then eat cake.

Tomato Bundt Cake

Do you have a gazillion tomatoes, like so many that they are practically coming out of your ears? Me too.... Me too. This year the tomatoes have been gang busters, a explosion of the sweetest and most delicious fruit and now I have tomatoes littered everywhere, tucked into all the corners and baskets all over the house. It's getting kinda tomato crazy over here.

 I can only eat so many tomatoes a day before all I have eaten are tomatoes and I start to feel slightly sick. Same with the mr, he has been a tomato eating champ as well but I think he was getting a little bored with all the tomato salads that I have been making. So I thought I would try something new and make a tomato cake. I figured why the heck not, tomatoes are technically a fruit and fruit and cake are great together and yeah. So tomato cake is going to be fantastic. I also wanted to make something that the mr would eat for breakfast. I have been doing this new thing in the mornings for the mr. I have coffee ready, some breakfast food (its been zucchini bread for a while), and a little vase of fresh flowers that I pick on my morning walk, all set out on the counter for when he wakes up. I know, I am so great right. Really I do it cause I want him to eat something before working all morning and plus if I am all sweet in the morning, he can't be an old man cranky pants (at least he tries not to be).  Now for the next few days the tomato cake is breakfast cake and all is good.

Anyway, the cake come out great. Bright reddish orange, dense but fluffy and most, and smells so good. The mr tells me it's amazingand I shared a chunk with some of my family and everyone (minus a little) where fans. I am for sure going to be making this again soon, although I have been toying with the idea of eggplant sweet bread (too far??) but I'll get to that later.

Now for the tomato cake!

The stuff. Flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt (all in the bowl). Brown sugar, oil, vanilla, apple cider vinegar and a few nice and juicy tomatoes.

First off, remove the core from tomatoes and cut into some chunks. Stick the chunks into a blender and blend.

Fresh and smooth tomato puree.

Now just dump the rest of the liquid stuff into the blender now and give it a whirl to mix it all up.

And pour the blended wet into the dry and mix until incorporated.

Pretty pink batter goes in a well greases bundt pan. I had got brown sugar everywhere while I was measuring it out and decided to just toss it on the cake as not to waste it...doesn't hurt.

And now the batter goes into a preheated oven to bake .

A bit of time later you have yourself a cake.

The scary part. Flip the pan and hope all that grease does it's job and the cake pops out. Lucky me this one popped out like a champ.

One de-panned, let the cake cool for a bit before cutting into it.

And now all you have left to do it eat it, so eat it.

Have a great weekend. Eat lots of tomatoes and make lots of cake.

-C

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Tomato Bundt Cake

Makes one bundt cake

• 2 -1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 -1/2 teaspoon powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2-3 large tomatoes (2 -1/2 cups after blended)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (for a tad sweeter, add another 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup of any neutral flavored oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350

Start by whisking together all the dry ingredients into a big bowl. Take tomatoes, remove core, chop into chunks, and place into a blender. Blend tomatoes until a smooth and frothy puree. Now add in the sugar, oil, vanilla, and apple cider vinegar and blend until incorporated. Pour wet mixture into dry and stir until combined.

Pour the cake batter into a greased (and floured if you want. I find it helps to make sure all the nooks are greases) and stick into preheated oven. Bake for 45-50 minutes until it's a dark reddish golden brown and a tester (I use a fork) comes out clean when stabbed.

Remove from oven and let cool for a minute or two then invert cake, give the pan a few tap taps and hope that it comes out all nice and clean. (don't worry if a piece gets stuck, you can just dust the top with some powdered sugar)

Let cake cool and when ready, cut a slice and eat it up. I was told no glaze, but I was going to make a simple lemon glaze (lemon juice and powdered sugar) for the top. The mr said it was perfect, but glaze would have been pretty.  So glaze it up if you want.