rhubarb upside down cake

It must be about time for another recipe! 

Not even a remotely healthy one, it's true, but a very delicious one! 

This is so easy that our 13 year old Dj whips it up in no time flat. He is a very speedy lad in general, but really takes the cake when he's cooking (pun intended!)   

It's also very more-ish, especially when still warm and delightfully sticky.

 He's made this often during the summer months and although the rhubarb is coming to an end soon, it's not quite over yet and there's still the occasional cake coming from the kitchen. Sadly, I am also still refraining from grain and sugar but have fallen off my enforced abstinence wagon often enough to have tried several bites slices over the months......hmm, hows that for being truthful, my mother would be proud of me!!! 

Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

250gm fresh rhubarb, cut into 1 cm thick slices (about 6 stalks)

3 tablespoons caster sugar

80 grams butter, softened

240 grams caster sugar

2 large eggs

4 tablespoons ground almonds (almond meal)

110 grams self raising flour

Butter and greaseproof paper a 20 cm round cake tin. 

Mix the 3 tablespoons sugar with the rhubarb.

 Arrange rhubarb over the bottom of the tin. 

Cream the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy then beat in the eggs one at a time.

Stir in the almond meal and fold in the sifted flour.

Spoon the batter over the rhubarb and spread out evenly.

Bake for about 35 minutes at 180 degrees or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes and turn out onto a rack to cool.  

The Dj has made so many of them that now he just whips up a double batch and pours it into a larger rectangular cake tray to save time. When you turn the cake out the paper sticks to the sides of the cake but comes off the rhubarb pretty easily. 

The ones below were made with two different varieties - one, a nice red but less prolific rhubarb and the other with a greener and very bushy sort. 

When I get some time, I'd like to have a play around with the ingredients and see if I can come up with a grain free, sugar free version. The rhubarb needs quite a bit of sweetener so there would definitely be some stevia in there!! 

PS - it's extra delicious slathered with a blob of thick cream....mmmm!

(*Oh dear, I just had a feeling that I'd posted this recipe before..... and after checking, yes I have!!! Talk about a seniors moment!!!! 
After all the translating, I've decided to post it again anyway, slightly improved, I hope!!!) 

Wieder einmal ein Rezept!

Unser junger Dj hat schon denn ganzen Sommer diesen wahnsinnig guten Rhabarber Kuchen hergestellt.

Ganz schnell zum richten und nicht lang zum backen und so so fein zum essen..... überhaupt mit dicke sahne! 

Los geht's....

Gestürzter Rhabarber Kuchen 

250 gram Rhabarber, in 1 cm stücke schneiden  

3 Esslöffel feiner Zucker (Sandzucker?)

80 gram butter, Zimmer temperature 

240 gram Feiner Zucker

Zwei grosse Eier 

4 Esslöffel gemahlene mandeln

110 gram selbsttreibendes Mehl (oder Mehl mit backpulver)   

Eine 20cm runde Form mit fett und Backpapier anrichten.

Rhabarber und die 3 Löffel zucker gut vermischen und am Boden die form legen. 
Butter und Zucker cremig rühren und nach und nach 3 Eier untermischen.
Geriebene mandeln und gesiebtes Mehl dazu geben und leicht untermischen. 
Masse gleichmässig über denn Rhabarber verteilen.   
Bei 180grad Ofen circa 35 minuten, oder bis zu Stäbchenprobe,  backen. 

Etwas 5 Minuten in die Form kühlen lassen, dann auf einen Kuchenrost raus stürzen. Backpapier abnehmen und genießen, warm oder kalt!! 

Bis nächstes mal, viel spaß beim Backen!    

Die zwei Kuchen im untersten Bild würden gebacken mit zwei verschiedene Sorten rhabarber.... der einer grün und der zweite mit rot. 

knitting!! and reading

I'm so excited to be able to join in with Ginny's Yarn Along this week!!! Not only because it inspires me to do a post but simply because it means I'm knitting!! Oh, and reading....sort of! 

It feels like I've been working on this Plain Vest for a very long time - about a month or so. I know, I know, for all you seasoned knitters out there that's ages on one small vest, though it has only been knit in my spare moments while waiting at piano lessons or ballet classes. Sadly I'm not able to knit (or read) while travelling in the car unless the road is very very straight...... and I have to 'fess up that I've frogged it twice - and am feeling very professional using that term *grin*  I worked the first effort up to the sleeve openings and discovered, after trying it on the Little Elf, that it was too small, so it was rippit, rippit!! 

After perusing the Pickles site, and purchasing the bigger sized vest pattern,  I discovered the Plain Tunic and thought I'd try that instead. So, I cast on again but after only getting past the garter stitch bottom I couldn't work out the next part, frogged for the second time...... and started a bigger size in the vest again! 

As a beginner knitter I'd say that the Pickles patterns are not very clear. They are easy, but seem to expect the knitter to know what is meant with very basic instructions. For example - 'on the next row K while decreasing 18 s evenly' (I wasn't sure at first how I was going to get them even until I realised I could divide the stitches) Perhaps it would have helped if they said "on the next row K while decreasing 18 s evenly. Decrease by 1 s every 5 s starting on the first stitch past the front ribbing" or something along those lines. 

Anyway I'm being pedantic, because they are lovely easy patterns if you have a fairly good idea of how knitting patterns are written up, which I don't! 

As for reading, this must be a first for me as I never read fantasy romance novels, but I'm enjoying it none the less. 'Graceling' by Kristin Cashore is actually a good light read and was recommended to my daughter and me by my son's fiancee. Although I'm only half way through, and it is probably a story written for young adults, I think I'll finish it - if and when I can squeeze it in! 

our weekend

Firstly, thanks so much for the wonderful words left in the comments on my last post. It's a bit tricky coming back to blog after a long absence - kind of like walking back into a room full of people when you've been to the loo...... you feel a bit self conscious (well I do anyway).

The weather is definitely cool now although we are having beautiful sunny days with very little wind .... I'm so thankful for the lack of wind. This weekend was spent doing a bit of everything - gardening, cooking, socialising, playing about, even a touch of sewing rearranging of the fabric stash! 

On Saturday we celebrated another birthday - our Dj turned thirteen. Thirteen!!! We now have three teens in the house and only one little one and I'm not sure I'm ready for this lack of under 10's! Many years ago when I had only little ones, I can remember older women telling me to enjoy this time with them, even though it may seem hard and never ending. And now I would tell younger mums the same!!  The simplicity and innocence of young children is fleeting and while it can be tough physically, it's such a beautiful time of exploration, wonder and play. 

I love my teens and grown-up children but I do miss lego strewn around the house, little scraps of kid cut papers and imaginary play. 

 Sunday was garden day. Garlic was finally planted - later than I wanted but still between Equinox and Solstice, so it should do well. I've not been planting by the moon this year, in fact I've not planted much at all for the winter, just too busy with other things, but we hope to remedy that by using the tunnel for some winter greens.

We harvested the first 20kg of potatoes and a really good amount of self seeded pumpkins. I did have seedlings to go in last year, but just didn't do it. So these random ones were are bonus!

Tunnel clean out!! With the help of two daughters and three young pullets, we pulled out most of the spent tomato plants, aubergine bushes and shrivelled cucumber vines. I have mixed feelings about the tunnel - I love it but have some reservations. I'll put pen to paper and attempt to write out my thoughts for a report in a later post. 

I'm using the last of the the pickings this week and then our menu turns to potatoes, cabbage and carrots until the greens are ready in the tunnel (which aren't actually planted yet!) 

Over summer we have been eating most of the tomatoes raw but these last few were baked into a batch of delicious tomato sauce loosely following Hugh's recipe from his book, Veg Everyday. 

Tomatoes, onion, garlic, thyme, marjoram - all of which came from our garden!!!!! - olive oil, salt and pepper. Roasted in the oven for a long time and eventually, after a bit of exercise with the mouli, we have super tasty sauce that is now sitting, in the freezer, waiting to bring us a little taste of summer in the depths of winter! Excuse the dirty oven, please. 

And speaking of tastes of summer, we grew four watermelons in the tunnel!! The last one was eaten as a respite from the weekend work..... a bit floury but sweet enough. When we lived in NSW, we ate melons galore, all summer, but here in Tas it's not easy to grow them and when they do, they aren't ready until the weather is almost too cold to really enjoy them! 

I have lots of memories from my childhood of sitting around on our back verandah cutting fat slices of crisp watermelons and letting the juice run down our chins as we spat the seeds onto the lawn. We continued that tradition with our own children, and they too equate melons with hot summer days and swimming in the creek to wash juice from face and arms. 

Oh I miss those summers so!  

Another little delight that we grew years ago and I'd forgotten about until I saw a plant at the nursery, is the pepino.  An evergreen, shrubby plant, from the solanum family, it has delicious egg shaped fruit that taste a bit like a rock melon. There were three of them but we wolfed down two before I thought to take a pic!

When I googled, I found some photos of huge pepinos but our biggest one was an oval tennis ball size and this one was just like a very large egg. I'd recommend growing a few of these as they really are delicious and underrated. 

So that was our busy weekend. There is still a lot to do in the tunnel and garden as well as all the other day to day stuff. Today its freezing outside, I've made a batch of cottage cheese and am about to start some baking to help warm the house! 

I hope your weekend was a productive one too...... or if not productive, I hope you had a lot of fun having fun!!! 

Unser Wochenende 

Ich glaub endlich wer ich wieder öfter hier sein! Bloggen mag ich so gern und ich muss mir einfach zeit machen damit ich schreiben kann.

Übers Wochenende haben wir ein Geburtstag gefeiert - jetzt sind bei uns drei Teenager und nur noch ein kleines.... schade!!

 Wir waren auch viel im garten und haben alle alten pflanzen von Glashaus aus geräumt. Dabei haben wir eine selbst gewachsene Wassermelone gegessen und ein paar pepino auch. Knoblauch kam in Grund und die ersten 20 Kilo Kartoffel kamen raus. Auch 15 selbst gewachsene Kürbis haben wir geerntet.... sollten gute Suppe machen über die kalte zeit. Mit die letzten Tomaten hab ich gerostete Sauce gemacht und eingefroren für Winter. 

Heute ist kalt und trüb aber ich bin warm ihn meiner Küche - hab Quark gemacht heut früh und jetzt geht's los mit ein bisschen backen für meine Rasselbande!! 

Servus bis nächstes mal.        

Melbourne

Hmm, I seem to be having these long, long blog sabbaticals. I've lost the groove at the moment. Perhaps it's the downward spiral as we travel past the autumn equinox and head towards winter solstice, or maybe it's just the busyness of my everyday life and the lack of creativity.

Whatever it is, I miss the connection with my blogging friends and the soothing process of writing. Most of all, I'm missing the creativeness that's NOT happening in real life or on my blog.

There has also been a little hiccup with my camera lens which has kind of stifled taking any photos in recent times. Thankfully I have a new lens now and although the light levels are dwindling indoors, outside pics may still be an option..... be prepared for all manner of bits photographed on the lawn or in a tree or draped over rocks!! 

On the weekend though, we had a glorious 4 days away from home. For Christmas, our oldest son gifted Stuy and I an airfare for a long weekend in Melbourne..... and last weekend was the one!! I decided not to take my camera (silly me) and missed it everyday - the weather was glorious, the city has some amazing parks, buildings and art installations, and all of it was worth recording. Oh well! I managed to snap a few reasonable pics on Stuy's iPhone. 

We had lunch in this park full of deciduous trees and crunchy leaves. We munched fresh bread and cheese, olives and mascarpone stuffed honeyed figs and pretended we were in Greece! If you go to Melbourne you must visit the Queen Victoria markets - oh how I love all that food, especially the deli section with the delicious smells redolent of Europe.

Can you believe that I have never been to an art exhibition before? Me neither. So when we saw, by chance, that there was a Monet exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, just a short walk from Flinders Street station, I was delighted. 

There were a few interesting pieces in the foyer, including this blue pool which was completely  mesmerising. The bowls moved gently down the centre and back around the sides, only to be driven down the centre again (by a little pump) and each time they 'bumped' into each other they made the most beautiful tinkling sound. Like wind chimes but with the added effect of being visually inspiring as well. We all could have sat there for hours. 

I also went along to my first ever football match - Hawthorn Hawks v Sydney Swans - but will refrain from showing you a photo of me getting into the spirit of things... ahem - and ended the weekend with a trip to the coast near Geelong. 

A big thank you to my delightful future daughter-in-love and her adoring young man for showing us the sights and sounds of the "big smoke"!