Rhubarb and custard cake NB leave the cooked fruit to cool before adding it to the cake. If you are making your own custard leave it to cool too.
400g rhubarb
50g caster sugar
Roast the above covered in tin foil at 200C or 180C fan. Reduce the juices in a pan until thick and syrupy and add to the rhubarb. Leave to cool. Could cook in the microwave, or in a saucepan carefully so the rhubarb stays whole. Remove when cooked and then reduce the juices left in the pan.
150g pot of ready made custard or you can make your own. Recipe at the end.
250g caster sugar
250g unsalted butter
250g SR flour, minus 2 tablespoons, replace the flour with 2 tablespoons custard powder.
2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
9inch round cake tin or a tray bake tin lined with baking parchment
Cream butter, sugar, vanilla until almost white.
Beat in the eggs little by little; add a little flour if it begins to curdle.
Fold in the flour and the baking powder.
Put half the mixture into the tin.
Put dollops of rhubarb onto the cake mix, interspersed with dollops of custard.
Dot the remaining cake mix on the top of the rhubarb and the custard.
If baking in a tray bake tin bake for 40 mins at 180C or 170C fan.
If baking in a round tin bake for between 40 mins then cover with foil and cook for a further 15 mins.
...
You can turn this into crumble and custard cake by topping the cake with a crumble mix made with 3 oz plain flour, 1 and 1/2 oz butter and 1 and 1/2 oz of Demerara sugar.
...
You can also make this with apples by using the same amount of prepared apples, peeled, sliced, cored and cut into large chunks. Cooking or eating or windfalls are fine.
Put the apples into a frying pan with 1-2 tablespoons of butter and 3 tablespoons of caster sugar. Fry over a high heat until the apples are just cooked, tender but not mushy, and the juices are reduced and caramelised.
Same method as above and you can top with the crumble mix too.
.....................................................................
You can do this cake with any fruit you have to hand. Gooseberries with a little elderflower cordial, blackcurrants cooked with a little more sugar, plums, black berries, raspberries without cooking them first. Could use these from frozen.
Could use sliced bananas and another variation would be to replace the custard with dulce de leche and bananas and a light sprinkling of sea salt.
...
If you want to make your own custard use 1/2pint milk with 12g custard powder, 23g sugar. Cover with cling film to prevent a skin forming and leave to cool.