SOMETHING GOOD THIS WAY COMES.

Rhubarb! And cake! Say no more.

But you knew I was going to say more.

Rhubarb is a love-hate thing; I’m drawn to it even though I know it will punish me with its tartness. But it’s so beautifully of its season, and so gloriously crimson, it gets me every time.

Did you know: that rhubarb is actually a vegetable, but was officially ratified as a fruit in the United States in 1947, because that was how most people used it.

Well, of course they did. Try eating rhubarb as an unsweetened vegetable and see how far you go. The astringency comes from oxalic acid and it’s what makes rhubarb, rhubarb; in the same way that it makes distant cousin sorrel, sorrel.

To buy: look for crisp, upright stalks with a good vibrant colour. The leaves contain poisonous levels of oxalic acid, so always trim off and discard.

Rhubarb is:

Bolshy in trifles, balanced by custard and jelly.

Brilliant on hot porridge with bananas and maple syrup.

An obvious choice for a crumble or old-fashioned sponge pudding.

Surprising when cooked down with beetroot, for duck, roast pork or sausages.

Pinkly pretty as an ice-cream with meringue or pav.

Really lovely in this messy, buttery, dessert-y cake.

The plan was to arrange the lengths of rhubarb on top of the cake for my good friend Instagram, but of course they sank into the thick, creamy batter as it pillowed up around them and gathered them in. Blow me down though, if that rhubarb didn’t self-train itself to just sit there, embedded in cake, allowing me to cut great, fat wedges and get rhubarb in each one.

The Incredible Disappearing Rhubarb Act of 2023.

I was also going to pile more cooked rhubarb on top for serving, but rhubarb was already winning the battle, so I just dusted everything with icing sugar and drizzled it with the rhubarb syrup and it was divine.

RHUBARB CAKE

Tender of crumb, buttery on the tongue, and spliced with tart rhubarb. Serve as cake whenever one serves cake, or as dessert with cream, ice-cream or yoghurt. Serves 6.

• 200 g butter

• 200 g castor sugar

• 3 x 70 g eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 200 g self-raising flour

• 3 tbsp apple juice

• Cooked rhubarb stalks (see below)

• 1 tbsp granulated sugar

Heat the oven to 180C (conventional), and butter or oil a deep-sided 20 cm springform cake tin.

Beat the butter and sugar in a food processor for 3 minutes until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and a good pinch of salt.

Sift in the flour, and beat until just incorporated. Add the apple juice by the spoonful, beating briefly, until you have a thick and creamy batter.

Pour the batter into the cake tin. Cut the rhubarb into 6 x 8cm lengths and arrange on top anyway you like (I had them radiating out from the centre like a giant asterisk).

Scatter with the extra sugar and bake on the middle rack for 50 to 60 minutes, until the top is golden and an inserted skewer (avoiding rhubarb if you can) comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack before gently removing the sides of the pan.

Cut into wedges, and serve drizzled with rhubarb syrup and dusted with icing sugar; nice and messy. Serves 6.

HOW TO COOK RHUBARB

If you're in a hurry, just chop the stalks and simmer them gently in a covered pan with the sugar and juice for five minutes and you’re done. Mushy, soft, gorgeous.

Otherwise, this is the best way to cook rhubarb, because it keeps the stalks intact even as they soften – and gives you a crystal-clear, vibrant, ruby-red rhubarb syrup to drizzle over cake or yoghurt or both.

• bunch of rhubarb ( 4 or 5 stalks)

• 4 tbsp soft brown sugar

• 100 ml apple or orange juice

Heat the oven to 180C. Wash the rhubarb and trim the stalks, discarding leaves.

Cut into 8 cm lengths or whatever you prefer.

Line a heavy baking tray with baking paper – you don’t want the juices to burn and evaporate.

Arrange rhubarb in neat rows, scatter with sugar and pour over the juice.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the stalks are soft but still retain their shape.

Use an egg slice to lift the stalks onto a platter and pour the juices over the top, or keep the juices in a separate jug for pouring.

This quantity will give you enough for the cake, and leave you with a nice bowl of rhubarb and syrup for breakfast with yoghurt and granola. Or use the rhubarb instead of jam with scones and cream, there’s a thought.

Thanks for dropping by! And as always, thanks for your comments. Special thanks to Terry for bringing back rhubarb when he was asked to buy apples. That worked well.

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I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands and waters upon which I work, live, cook and play; the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I fully support the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to be enshrined in Australia’s Constitution. It’s only fair, folks.