This ruby red rhubarb and berries crumble is rich in taste. I find it comforting but not in the sense of heavy food. The colour of it is amazing, you can’t wait to put your spoon into it!
Here I have access to red rhubarb, you can do it with green rhubarb, the colour will be a bit different. You can choose not to do a crumble and just keep the compote to have as-is with a biscuit or at breakfast.
Ruby red rhubarb and berries crumble, the fruit compote has boiled over the crumble. The yellow colour of the crumble is due to the use of besan four.
Ingredients:
For the red ruby rhubarb and berries compote:
500 g of rhubarb (1 bunch)
300 g of mixed frozen berries
150 g of white sugar
200 ml of red wine
For the crumble top:
75 g of very soft butter (or 1/2 melted butter)
150 g of flour. You can use gluten-free flour. In the photo, I have used besan flour (chickpea flour)
75 g of caster sugar
75 g of walnut, crushed in your hand
25 g of pistachios
Method:
Peel the rhubarb and wash the stalls. Tip: peeling rhubarb consists in cutting the leaf off, then the bottom bit (the thick end). With the bottom bit will come some of the rhubarb skin in the form of a long string of “skin”. Pull till it comes off.
Cut the rhubarb in 1-2 cm long pieces. Place in a large saucepan with the redberries, the sugar and the red wine.
Cook with a lid on high heat until it reaches a boil then reduce the heat to medium to get a simmer and cook until the rhubarb is tender (about 20 minutes).
You can choose to leave the compote as it is or blend it partially (or fully). I like to blend it a little bit with a blending stick. Keep on the stove a little longer if you wish to reduce the juices further.
Now for the crumble: mix together the very soft butter, flour, sugar, walnuts and pistachios. Rub between your hands until you get a sandy to gravelly texture.
You are now ready to put together the crumble. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Use an oven-proof dish and pour in it 4-5 cm thick of the red ruby rhubarb and berries compote. Cover with the crumble mix
Cook for half an hour or until the topping of the crumble has reached a brown colour. The liquid may come over the crumble, that’s fine.
Cool a little before serving. You can also serve this at room temperature.
Actually double it all up, however I did not take any photo of the first one.
The first cake was a large Paris- Brest salted caramel chocolate ganache. Miam. Indulgent.
The second birthday cake had a few constraints: it had to be a plain cake and have plenty berries on top. Easy for a child birthday cake! For once! What I really like in that cake, is the sponge cake I use to do it. It is the fourth time I use it for birthday cakes (see the unicorn cake and the pokemon cake) and I just love it. This is what I am sharing today. For the full recipe, click HERE.
The sponge cake has hazelnut meal in it. I love that little extra. The rest is pretty simple, you only need to whip some cream and add some berries. I have previously used a raspberry chocolate mousse (based on whipped cream) to fill it, It was beautiful!
I use this hazelnut sponge cake for an afternoon tea of for the base of birthday cakes. I like the hazelnut addition which brings it a special flavour and is also slightly addictive. The recipe is extracted from Gourmet Traveller.
When you are about to make a sponge cake, you must make sure you follow these rules:
Eggs must be at room temperature, allow half an hour out of the fridge before using (or it won’t fluff up enough)
Follow the order exactly (I did once, by mistake, put the butter with the eggs and sugar, I can tell you it will not end up like a sponge cake)
Use a very wide bowl and either a large metal spoon, large spatula or a very large whisk that you use as a large spatula when folding in the butter and then the flour.
Use a tin 20 to 23 cm wide, no wider
If you want to make layers you can cut the cake in up to three layers or choose to bake several cakes of the same diameter.
Ingredients:
190 g of plain flour
50 g of hazelnut meal or hazelnuts
80 g of salted butter (you can use unsalted to)
8 eggs at room temperature
220 g of caster sugar
For the cream and berries filling and topping:
2 punnets of raspberries, 2 punnets of small strawberries, 2 punnets of blackberries and 1 punnet of blueberries
2 pots of 600 mL (or equivalent volume) of thickened cream
1/2 cup to a cup of icing sugar
Method:
Heat up the oven to 160°C.
Melt the butter and let to cool.
Line the bottom of your tin and butter and flour the sides.
If using whole hazelnuts, process them to fine meal and mix with the flour. Sift the flour and hazelnut meal (I use a fine mesh sieve and a whisk).
For those with a food mixer, it is time to use it. If not, make sure to use your wider whisk. Place the eggs and sugar together and mix on full power until triple the size and foamy. With a food mixer, it will take about 8 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl, add the butter slowly and fold in then the flour in three batches.
Pour into the prepared tin and bake for about 25 minutes. When press lightly the top should spring back and the sides would slightly have pulled away from the sides of the tin.
Turn over a wire rack, remove the tin and baking paper, cool completely before using.
Berry and cream filling & topping:
Choose 1/2 cup of berries and add 1 teaspoon of icing sugar. Process in a small food processor to have a coulis
Cut the cake in three layers with a bread knife
Whip 600 mL of cream adding 1/4 cup icing sugar towards the end (this will fill one layer and half of the next)
Place the lower layer of cake on the serving dish, use slightly more than half of the whipped cream making sure to not go over the edges. Place half of the coulis on top and using a fork, swirl it in the cream.
Repeat with layer 2 (you will need to whip the second batch). Place the upper layer of the cake and the remaining of the whipped cream keeping it natural (don’t be tempted to flatten or tidy up the look) . Add berries on top randomly and generously.
Here are a few other birthday cakes made with the hazelnut sponge cake as a basis:
