Name: Rhubarb and strawberry buckle
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 120 min
Yield: 10
Ingredients: 250 gm each rhubarb and strawberries, coarsely chopped; 110 gm each caster sugar and rapadura sugar (see note) (½ cup); 160 gm softened butter; 2 eggs; 220 gm plain flour; 40 gm hazelnut meal; 1 tsp baking powder; ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda; 2 tsp each ground ginger and cinnamon; 165 ml buttermilk; To serve: crème fraîche; Hazelnut topping; 80 gm rapadura sugar (see note); 40 gm plain flour; 40 gm coarsely chopped hazelnuts; 20 gm butter, melted

Rhubarb and strawberry buckle

A dense fruit-studded cake with a crumbly, crunchy top.

Serves 10

Prep

30M

Cook

1H 30M

Total

The buckle is a dense fruit-studded cake with a crumbly, crunchy top. We’ve added rapadura sugar for its more-ish, complex caramel-molasses flavour. You can sweeten the crème fraîche with a little rapadura sugar too – it’s a heavenly combination. This cake is best eaten on the day of making.

Ingredients

250 gm each rhubarb and strawberries, coarsely chopped

110 gm each caster sugar and rapadura sugar (see note) (½ cup)

160 gm softened butter

2 eggs

220 gm plain flour

40 gm hazelnut meal

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp each ground ginger and cinnamon

165 ml buttermilk

To serve: crème fraîche

Hazelnut topping

80 gm rapadura sugar (see note)

40 gm plain flour

40 gm coarsely chopped hazelnuts

20 gm butter, melted

Method

Main

1.Preheat oven to 170C. For hazelnut topping, combine ingredients in a bowl, then freeze until required (this stops the topping melting into the cake when it’s baked).

2.Combine rhubarb and strawberry in a bowl with 1 tbsp of each sugar and set aside.

3.Beat butter and remaining sugars in an electric mixer until light and fluffy (4-5 minutes), add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in dry ingredients then buttermilk. Stir in one-third of rhubarb mixture, spoon into a 24cm-diameter cake tin buttered and lined on the base with baking paper. Scatter over remaining rhubarb mixture and hazelnut topping, bake until a skewer inserted withdraws clean (1¼-1½ hours). Cool in tin for 30 minutes, then on a wire rack to room temperature. Serve with crème fraîche.