Roasted Rhubarb and Cream Cake

Preheat the oven to 150°C fan/300°F/Gas 31/2 and line your 20cm (8in) round tin (see note below).

To make the cake, cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl using a wooden spoon, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl. Finally, sift in the flour and baking powder until you achieve a smooth dropping consistency. Give the bowl a last scrape to make sure all the ingredients are mixed properly.

Transfer the cake mixture to the prepared tin, smooth the top of the batter with a spatula and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Whilst the cake is baking, prepare the rhubarb. Place the batons onto a baking tray (sheet pan) lined with parchment paper. Zest and squeeze the juice of the orange on top, then sprinkle over the sugar. Place the tray into the oven whilst your cake is baking and roast for 25–30 minutes. Remove the cake and rhubarb from the oven, then pour the juices that have come out of the rhubarb over the sponge. Leave the cake to cool for 5 minutes, then remove from the tin and allow to fully cool.

Next, prepare the whipped cream. Pour the cream into a mixing bowl, add the icing sugar and whisk until you achieve soft peaks. An electric whisk makes this job much easier if you have one, but be careful not to over whip the cream.

Finally, assemble the cake. Add half of your roasted rhubarb to the whipped cream and mix through, then evenly spread it over the cooled sponge. Finish by piling the remaining batons of roasted rhubarb on top of the cake, then serve and enjoy!

A note on how to line the tin:

Disc Method: The most well-known method for lining a round tin is using a disc on the base and strips around the edges, held in place by butter. You can draw around the base to get an accurate size disc, then cut strips wide enough to rise above the lip of the tin. If you’re using springform, you can also try this shortcut: cut a square of parchment paper bigger than the base of the tin, then sit the paper over the loose base, press the collar into place and clamp the spring closed. This will create a lined base without the cutting, drawing or buttering. You’ll still have to line the edges with strips – we haven’t found a hack for that one yet.

No-parchment method: If you’ve run out of parchment, or live in a paperless household, you can always go back to basics: butter up your tin and dust it liberally with flour or cocoa powder. This method is good for tins with a non-stick coating but it certainly isn’t foolproof, and the excess parchment can’t be used to lift your bakes from the tin.