Rhubarb rediscovered: The art of crafting a classic tart
The rhubarb season is still ongoing, and I cannot imagine spring without it. Our grandmothers loved to make compote with it. I believe the sour stalks taste best on a crumbly cake. To provide contrast, I add vanilla pudding. I have the dessert proportions in my head, so I don't need a cookbook.
Browsing the internet for a rhubarb cake recipe, you will come across hundreds of different variations—from traditional yeast cakes to French tarts, muffins, and cupcakes. However, sometimes instead of wasting time scrolling through web pages, it is worth trusting your intuition. For my rhubarb bake, I used a tried and true shortcrust pastry recipe taught to me by my mum.
Many people refrain from buying rhubarb because they don’t know how to handle it. Grandmothers preparing compote from sour stalks believed that nothing could be simpler. The vegetable is very forgiving, and after baking in the oven, its fibres pleasantly soften. You can peel the stalks, but you don’t have to. Just cut off the hard ends, wash, and cut into smaller pieces.
You can remove the peel in a few seconds if it is tough. However, you must be aware that the pink colour will disappear after removing the outer fibres. Inside, the rhubarb is green. In some pictures, the colour of the filling is enhanced by adding rose or strawberry jam. Mixing rhubarb with jam is also a way to soften the sour taste, which I personally consider a big loss.
Recipe for shortcrust pastry with rhubarb
I peeled the stalks because after cutting them into pieces, the peel came off on its own. I didn’t add even a teaspoon of sugar to the rhubarb.
Ingredients:
- 310g plain flour,
- 200g butter,
- 100g sugar,
- A pinch of salt,
- 1 litre milk,
- 2 vanilla puddings,
- 4 large rhubarb stalks (about 500g).
Directions:
- Pour the flour into a bowl. Mix with sugar and a pinch of salt. Add cold butter and chop it with a knife into smaller pieces. Quickly knead the dough into a ball, cover with a lid or wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- In a pot, heat 750ml of milk, and in the remaining milk, mix the pudding powders with 2 tablespoons of sugar (if not already included on the package). When the milk starts to boil, add the mixed pudding and combine energetically until smooth and thick.
- Wash the rhubarb stalks and dry them with a paper towel. Cut off the hard ends and optionally peel off the skin. Cut into pieces about 5-7cm long.
- Remove the dough from the fridge, cut off 1/3 and place it in the freezer.
- The remaining dough should line the bottom and edges of a round baking form. Prick with a fork and put in the oven preheated to 190 degrees Celsius (Gas Mark 5) for 15 minutes.
- Remove the crust and fill with pudding. Arrange the rhubarb on top.
- Remove the remaining dough from the freezer and grate on a coarse grater, covering the arranged stalks. Place back in the oven for about 45–60 minutes—towards the end of baking, you can turn on convection to brown the crumble quicker.
