1 orange
3.5 c sugar
2 lb rhubarb trimmed and sliced
1 lb strawberries, trimmed and chopped
4 egg yolks room temperature
2 eggs room temperature
1 c whole milk
3 t vanilla extract
3 c cake flour
1T baking powder
12 T butter -- room temperature
1 1/4 c confectioners sugar
8 oz cream cheese -- softened
2 c heavy cream, chilled
Squeeze juice from orange into saucepan. Stir in 2 c sugar. Cook on med. high until sugar dissolves. Add rhubarb, cook 5 minutes until tender. Transfer to bowl and cool. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Add chopped strawberries, refrigerate.
Preheat over to 350. Grease and line bottom of 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper. Grease and flour parchment, and sides of pan. In bowl, whisk egg yolks, whole eggs, 1/4 c milk and 2 t vanilla. Mix flour, baking powder, 1.5 c sugar in separate mixing bowl. Beat in butter, and remaining 3/4 c milk. Add egg mixture in 3 batches, beating well between additions. Divide batter evenly between pans. Bake 20 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes. Loosen sides with knife. Invert cake onto rack. Cool completely.
Place 1 cake on plate. Strain liquid from rhubarb mixture. Spread half of rhubarb on cake, leaving one inch border. Repeat with second cake, and remaining rhubarb. Top with third cake. In large bowl, whisk confectioners sugar, cream cheese and remaining vanilla until fluffy. Slowly drizzle in cream. Whisk on high until stiff peaks form. Cover cake with frosting.
I love dessert. My daughter's 4th birthday was coming up. I thought this would be perfect springtime cake for her. Special, beautiful, interesting flavors, and lots of decorating options with the simple white frosting. Then, I got lazy. My daughter's birthday came, and we ended celebrating with a big pile of donuts in the shape of a cake (BTW -- so fabulous). Then, it was my turn to host our monthly "team building luncheon" at work. By then I had all the ingredients for the cake, so I went for it.
I am not going to lie. This cake is a pain in the b***t to make. Starting with the trimming of the fresh rhubarb, the making of the jam, trying to find 3 8 inch cake pans -- there are no shortcuts. This is definitely not the dessert you want to make for the neighborhood potluck.
I've never worked with fresh rhubarb before. That was a treat -- such pretty color, the texture like a stringy celery..... And I love the smell of a fluffy cake batter. -- General rules of cake baking apply, of course, And don't be fool by the paleness of the cake after 20-30 minutes. It may be done, and be careful so that the bottom doesn't burn. Definitely use the toothpick trick.
Before you assemble the cake, let the filling drain for a while -- it has a fairly liquid consistency, so if you don't drain it off, it'll run all over your cake. By the way -- it tastes AWESOME.
I didn't have enough whipped cream for the 2 cups in the frosting. Apparently after I bought the whipping cream, I decided to use it for other stuff too, and ended up putting a little over a cup in my frosting. So maybe my frosting wasn't quite as fluffy as it could have been. It tasted really good though. And frankly, I may not have been able to handle a much looser consistency frosting.
I made an absolute mess of frosting the cake. I know I suck at it, and today proved that again. I managed to get the strawberry filling into the frosting, so instead of pristine white, my cake has a slight pink tint. Instead of sloppy and messed up, I choose to call it rustic.
I thought the cake was a little -- could have been a touched overbaked, or the three layers were just too thick. The ratio of the cake to the filling was a little off. Or maybe I could have poured a little bit of the liquid that I drained from the filling to soak into the cake (as long as it didn't ruin its integrity).
This was a very labor intensive dessert. I would highly recommend the filling. It's so good. And the frosting is a keeper. The cake needs a little tinkering. If you want to make a cake for someone you care about, or want to spend an afternoon baking, give this cake a try. It'll be worth your while.
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