Buttermilk and rhubarb cake

Rhubarb is one of my favourite things to eat, so when I saw some lovely and pink, it made my day. We need a bit of colour in this dreary month! I didn't want to make a crumble, so thought about a cake. I'd seen this recipe ages ago on this site Taste of Home, so decided to have a go at changing the cups to grams and to make the cake.

100g rhubarb cut into small chunks
25g + 150g caster sugar
115g unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 tspn vanilla essence
175g plain/all purpose flour
1 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
Pinch of bicarbonate of soda
180ml buttermilk
Brown sugar for the topping



Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.

Put the rhubarb in a bowl with 25g of sugar and set aside.
Cream together the butter and the rest of the sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time and beat in well. Add the vanilla essence.
Sift all the dry ingredients together into a big bowl. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and fold into the mixture. Follow with half the buttermilk, another 1/3 of the dry ingredients, the rest of the buttermilk and the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix gently after each addition, but don't overmix. Finally fold in the rhubarb.
Pour into your tin, sprinkle the top with brown sugar and bake for 30 - 40 minutes till golden brown.
Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before putting on a wire rack.

It's a delicious cake - nice and moist, and the tangy buttermilk works well with the tart rhubarb and the vanilla. The brown sugar gives it a nice crunch on top. I think the recipe would work well with other fruit like raspberries, cranberries or cherries. It's one to be added to my recipe folder to make again.