Who says skinny fashion girls don’t eat? Heck, we even bake. Here’s a cake recipe I made last week which was actually inspired by fashion giant Topshop. Well, sort of.
The Topshop show space was a favourite venue of many attendees at London Fashion Week in February, and not just because it played host to standout shows from the likes of Mary Katrantzou and Michael van der Ham. The other attraction was the Topshop Cafe – located in the foyer – which doled out countless flutes of champagne and lots of sweet treats to the audience before each show. At the Fashion East show (you can read my review here) I had a piece of cake which had a gorgeous tangy rhubarb topping and a dollop of sour cream on the side.
I’d been on the lookout for rhubarb cake ever since, so when I was allocated the dessert course for my housemate Alicia’s birthday dinner last week I had a go at something similar. I adapted an American recipe I found online called Mom’s raw rhubarb cake by adding few raspberries, and judging from the dinner guests’ reactions (empty plates; murmurs of approval) it was pretty successful. So here it is, handily translated into British measurements, Katie’s raw rhubarb and raspberry cake.
You will need:
300g brown sugar
115g butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
240ml sour cream
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
225g flour
200g cut rhubarb
100g raspberries
Topping:
55g cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
Method:
Cream the sugar, butter, egg, and salt. Stir in sourcream, baking soda, vanilla, and flour. Add rhubarb and raspberries and beat well – don’t worry about the rhubarb being raw, it cooks through in the oven. Pour into well-greased 9 x 13″ cake pan. Sprinkle with topping. Bake at 190 degrees C for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. The mixture is quite wet because of the raw fruit so it may take a little longer.
Serve with whipped cream and a few extra raspberries and it should look something like this…
