Oh summer, you taste so good.

We've been hoarding our rhubarb.  Okay, not really, but we had quite a bit to use up.  I've always been a little underwhelmed by my rhubarb creations so I hunted around for a new recipe and came across Smitten Kitchen's Rhubarb Snacking Cake.  First off, I just have to say that I don't think I've disliked anything I've made from that blog - she has amazing recipes!  And this rhubarb cake was no different.  Amazingly delicious, especially with a scoop of ice cream on top.



Rhubarb Snacking Cake
via Smitten Kitchen

Cake:
1 1/4 pound (565 grams) rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch lengths on the diagonal
1 1/3 cup (265 grams) granulated sugar, divided
1 tablespoon lemon juice (psst, skip ahead and zest it for the cake before you cut it)
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces or 115 grams) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups (165 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 cup (80 grams) sour cream

Crumb:
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (50 grams) light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick, 2 ounces, or 55 grams) unsalted butter, melted

Make the cake: Preheat your oven to 350°F. Coat the bottom and sides of a 9×13-inch baking pan with butter or a nonstick cooking spray, then line the bottom with parchment paper, extending the lengths up two sides. (It will look like a sling). Stir together rhubarb, lemon juice and 2/3 cup sugar and set aside. Beat butter, remaining sugar and lemon zest with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at at time, scraping down the sides after each addition. Whisk together flour, baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon table salt and ground ginger together in a small bowl. Add one-third of this mixture to the batter, mixing until just combined. Continue, adding half the sour cream, the second third of the flour mixture, the remaining sour cream, and then the remaining flour mixture, mixing between each addition until just combined.

Dollop batter over prepared pan, then use a spatula — offset, if you have one, makes this easiest — to spread the cake into an even, thin layer. Pour the rhubarb mixture over the cake, spreading it into an even layer (most pieces should fit in a tight, single layer).

Stir together the crumb mixture, first whisking the flour, brown sugar, table salt and cinnamon together, then stirring in the melted butter with a spoon or fork. Scatter evenly over rhubarb layer.

Bake cake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes. The cake is done when a tester comes out free of the wet cake batter below. It will be golden on top. Cool completely in the pan on a rack.

Cut the two exposed sides of the cake free of the pan, if needed, then use the parchment “sling” to remove the cake from the pan.


It's Friday Night

Tonight is Friday which means... ?  Pizza Night!  I made a new pizza tonight - the BLT pizza.  Super easy and very tasty.  I used my stand-by crust recipe, topped it with a very thin layer of mayo, scattered tomato slices, chopped cooked bacon, cubed fresh mozzarella and baked it for about 15 minutes.  After taking it out of the oven, I threw some torn arugula (from our backyard garden!) on top.  We polished off two pints of farm strawberries and most of the sugar snap peas, too.  Yum yum.  This pizza will be going in our rotation and I can only imagine the taste with garden fresh tomatoes!