Rhubarb and White Polenta Sour Cream Cake with Orange Zest, Rosemary and Hibiscus

This is a great not-so-traditional way to use rhubarb, which is an extremely diverse vegetable (yes, it’s technically a vegetable despite the fact that we always pair it with sugar and sweets) that can be made into both sweet and savory dishes. I made the recipe below but only had yellow cornmeal and didn’t have hibiscus and it was delicious - let me know how the actual recipe goes if you make it exactly.

Ingredients

Roasted Rhubarb

  • 9 stalks (330 grams) rhubarb, washed with ends trimmed (keep stalks whole)

  • 1/4 cup (30 grams) sugar

  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

  • 2 1/2 tbsp water

Tea Cake

  • 2 cups (320 grams) all purpose flour, plus more

  • 1/2 cup (60 grams) whole grain flour mix

  • 3/4 cup (145 grams) white polenta

  • 3/4 cup (75 grams) almond meal or other nut

  • 3/4 cup (175 grams) sugar plus more for sprinkling

  • 1 heaping tsp baking powder

  • 1/4 tsp salt

  • 3/4 cup (150 grams) cold, unsalted butter, cubed

  • ~ 3 tbsp orange zest

  • ~ 2 tbsp rosemary chopped

  • ~ 2 tbsp hibiscus flower, half chopped with rosemary, other half grounded into powder

  • 1/2 cup sour cream

  • 2 brimming tsp honey

  • 2 eggs at room temperature

  • a little lemon juice

  • rose jam or rosewater (optional)

Line a loaf pan with parchment.

For roasted rhubarb, preheat the oven to 350. Place in a baking dish where it will fit snugly (cut to fit if needed) - scatter sugar over then add water and vanilla and toss so sugar is moistened evenly. Bake for 35 min. When it’s done scrape all the rhubarb and it’s juice through a strainer and save the juice for later to add to the finished cake. Let it cool.

For cake, combine flours, polenta, almond meal, sugar, baking powder and salt in a food processor. Add butter and mix until crumbled. Then add orange zest and chopped rosemary/hibiscus and powdered hibiscus. Mix in the food processor so everything is evenly incorporated. Do not over mix.

In a small bowl add sour cream and honey.

In a separate bowl beat the eggs.

In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients with the sour cream mixture. Add lemon juice. Once everything is evenly mixed fold in eggs.

In several batches lightly add cooled rhubarb to mixture - you want streaks of pink but will get an all pink cake if you over mix (still pretty). Feel free to add the reserved rhubarb juice if the cake seems too dry. If it’s too wet add 1 or 2 tbsp of flour.

Add batter into prepared pan, smooth the top and scatter some sugar on top to form a crust.

Bake for 60-90 minutes at 350. Test for doneness after an hour using a skewer - it should come out clean when finished.

When you remove the cake, take the rhubarb juice in a saucepan. Carefully on high heat, let the juice bubble but stir quickly and carefully until the density is thicker and the liquid has reduced significantly (we’re making a candy like sauce so don’t let it sit without stirring or it will burn). When ready, pour it over the cake.

Let cake cool for 10 minutes and then remove from pan and let cool completely before serving.

yum.

Jenny Bourgeoisrhubarb, cake, spring, dessert, almond, polenta, sour cream, orange