Strawberry and Rhubarb Filled Cake
The trick to this cake is being a bit brave with the amount of filling you add into the cake. For those who are a bit nervous that it might sink when turned out or if you like your cakes a little more solid, use only 2/3 to 3/4 of the filling and eat the rest with some yoghurt or ice cream. The recipe for this cake took a lot of fiddling, there were multiple attempts which although were delicious would stubbornly refuse to release from the cake pan in it’s entirety. I found that by pouring the whole cake batter in to the pan first and spooning the filling on top of it, stopped the filling sinking straight to the bottom of the pan. The less filling you use and the less chunky strawberry/rhubarb pieces you have, the more you can experiment with pouring three quarters of the batter in first before adding the filling and then covering with the rest of the batter. Regardless, you get a sweet moist cake balanced with a tangy filling.
INGREDIENTS
Filling:
2-3 stalks rhubarb, trimmed and sliced into 2 cm pieces
250g strawberries, hulled and cut into halves
1/4 cup caster sugar
Cake:
1 cup milk
50g butter, chopped into small pieces.
70g Greek yoghurt
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 salt
2 tbsp lemon juice
Zest from one lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
Extra butter and flour for greasing cake pan
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Prepare 6 cup bundt pan or similar sized ring cake pan by brushing the inside of the pan with melted butter and then sifting a few tablespoons of flour over this. Shake the flour around, till the inside of the pan is well coated and flip the pan over and tap it to remove any excess flour.
To prepare the filling, in a small saucepan, add rhubarb and sugar and stir over low-medium heat with a wooden spoon. Once the rhubarb starts to soften, add the strawberries and continue to cook till they soften. Remove the saucepan off the heat and use the back of the wooden spoon to crush the strawberries and rhubarb. Set aside to cool down.
In a mixing bowl, using a hand whisk, whisk together the baking powder, salt and flour (this saves you from having to sift the ingredients).
Place the milk in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 30-45 seconds till the milk is warm enough to melt the butter. Stir through the butter and then mix in the yoghurt. Set aside.
Beat the eggs using the paddle attachment of a food mixer, till they look paler in colour and airy. Add the sugar and continue to mix till well combined.
Add the dry ingredients and mix till the flour is just absorbed.
Add the milk mixture and once again mix till everything is just combined.
Pour the cake batter into the bundt pan. Carefully spoon the strawberry and rhubarb filling into the middle of the batter, avoiding the sides of the pan and the tube in the middle.
Bake the cake in the oven for 40-45 minutes. The cake is ready when the top is golden, it springs back when touched and when a skewer comes out clean.
Let the cake sit in the pan for 30 minutes before turning it out. Once it’s completely cool, sprinkle icing sugar on top before serving.