Aristology etc.: Forced Rhubarb and Pistachio Cake

February isn’t anyones favourite month of the year but, it is a time when the rose pink stems of forced rhubarb are in season, which, along with bunches of daffodils and snowdrops popping up everywhere, provides a welcome reminder that spring is on its way.

Rhubarb lends itself particularly well to orange and is perfection combined with this rich, buttery, green tinged pistachio cake and cool marscapone icing.

This mouth-wateringly tart and floral vegetable (not fruit!), is customarily used in fools and crumbles but can stand up to a range of flavours and effectively cuts through the richness of roast pork or lamb. Stewed, it works nicely on porridge or with a dollop of greek yoghurt. When roasted it keeps its shape and can be used to adorn tarts or accompany smoked mackerel for an easy supper. Dan Lepard suggests using 100g sugar to every 800g rhubarb, and roasting at 170C for about three quarters of an hour. Word of warning though – the leaves can be poisonous when consumed in large quantities and rhubarb shouldn’t be cooked in aluminium as it will react with the acid in the stems.

I made up this cake for my grandmother’s 87^th birthday and it made a yummy and unusual end to a long and boozy lunch.

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter

200g caster sugar

3 eggs (beaten)

2tsp orange blossom water

1 tsp vanilla essence

230g shelled, unsalted pistachios (pistachios can be quite pricey so some can be substituted with blanched or flaked almonds)

50g plain flour (sieved)

1tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

120g ground polenta

zest of 2 oranges

3 Rhubarb Stems

200g sugar

5 tbsp water

250g marscapone cheese (alternatively use cream cheese)

zest 1 orange & squeeze of its juice

1tsp orange blossom water

60g icing sugar (sieved)

The night before you want to make the cake, cut the rhubarb stems on a slight diagonal into 1/2 cm slices. Dissolve the sugar in the water and pour over the rhubarb slices. Leave to macerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease and line a cake tin

Place the rhubarb slices on some greaseproof paper (reserving the syrup).

Bake for about 15 minutes until just tender and leave to cool. If you don’t have time to macerate the rhubarb overnight you could skip this stage but it helps it to keep its shape and gives the syrup a lovely pink tinge. Pour the reserved syrup into a little pan and simmer until the quantity has been halved and it is viscous and syrupy. Leave to cool.

Lay out the pistachios onto a baking tray and toast in the oven for around 3-5 minutes until fragrant. Once cool, blitz in a food processor until fine. Set aside. (Remember to reserve a few roughly chopped pistachios for decoration).

For the sponge, cream together softened butter and sugar with a wooden spoon, electric whisk or food processory until light and fluffy. Slowly trickle in the beaten eggs and once combined add in the vanilla essence and orange blossom water. Then fold in the ground pistachios, flour, baking powder, salt, polenta and orange zest.

Once combined, spoon into the prepared cake tin, smooth over the top and bake for about 35 - 40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed. Place on a wire rack to cool.