reading time: 2 min
I remember those early summer days as a child when i was over at my best friend's garden where they had fresh rhubarb growing in one of their patches, and we used to take a stalk of ruby red rhubarb, dip it into sugar and eat it just like that. The sugary sweetness counterbalanced the sourness of the rhubarb, kinda like eating fizzy powder!
So when i saw the first fresh rhubarb in our supermarket, i had to get it and pair it with something sweet. Cake it was!
This cake is, believe it or not, sugar-free except for the raw cane sugar that i sprinkled on top. The sweetness comes from the pears and the applesauce (instead of pears, you could also use sweet apples or peaches), which goes wonderfully with the soft, slightly sour baked rhubarb.
It's the perfect spring & summer cake: Light, fresh, and in pretty pastel colours!
VEGAN RHUBARB CAKE
Preparation time: 1 hour + 30 mins refrigeration
Main ingredients: rhubarb, apple, pear, flour
difficulty level: easy
makes: 1 baking tray
suitable for: vegan, lactose-free, wheat-free, nut-free, soy-free, low-sodium
Ingredients
Crust:
3 cups spelt flour
8 tbsp water
205g (1 cup) vegan margarine or other vegan shortening
Filling:
600g rhubarb
2 large sweet pears
300g applesauce
raw cane sugar to sprinkle on top
vegan whipped cream (optional)
Preheat oven to 356F (180C).
For the crust:
One of the most important parts of any pie - or in my case a sheet cake but you could easily turn this into a pie! - is the crust, which isn't always that easy to make! At least if you want to have a vegan and sugar-free crust that is still nice and flaky.
In a medium bowl, combine flour and water. Add the margarine and mix until crumbly. Using your (clean!) hands knead until all the flour gets incorporated well and everything comes together into a rough ball. Once the dough pulls together and there's no extra flour, cover the dough with plastic wrap, then chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. (to be honest, we skipped this step...)
After 30 minutes, remove the dough from the refrigerator and transfer onto a greased and lightly floured baking tray. Make sure to poke the bottom of the crust all over with a fork.
Why? Pricking holes in the rolled-out dough allows the steam to escape while it's baking. Without this, the steam would puff up in bubbles and pockets throughout the crust, which would make some parts of the crust cook too quickly and also result in an uneven surface for your filling.
Speaking of the filling...
For the crust:
One of the most important parts of any pie - or in my case a sheet cake but you could easily turn this into a pie! - is the crust, which isn't always that easy to make! At least if you want to have a vegan and sugar-free crust that is still nice and flaky.
In a medium bowl, combine flour and water. Add the margarine and mix until crumbly. Using your (clean!) hands knead until all the flour gets incorporated well and everything comes together into a rough ball. Once the dough pulls together and there's no extra flour, cover the dough with plastic wrap, then chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. (to be honest, we skipped this step...)
After 30 minutes, remove the dough from the refrigerator and transfer onto a greased and lightly floured baking tray. Make sure to poke the bottom of the crust all over with a fork.
Why? Pricking holes in the rolled-out dough allows the steam to escape while it's baking. Without this, the steam would puff up in bubbles and pockets throughout the crust, which would make some parts of the crust cook too quickly and also result in an uneven surface for your filling.
Speaking of the filling...
For the filling:
Clean and cut the rhubarb without peeling it. Chop the pears, and combine both in a bowl. At this point you could mix in some sugar - i actually like the bitter-sweet taste of rhubarb so i only sprinkled some on top, but make sure to sweeten to your taste.
Spread a thick layer of applesauce onto the poked dough. Then add the rhubarb pear mix on top and spread evenly. Sprinkle with raw cane sugar or brown sugar.
Bake for 30 - 40 minutes.
I found that this tastes best the first day! And outdoors, under the open sky :)
My sweetest thanks to Stella Lee from Purfylle for featuring me at your Two Uses Tuesday link party AGAIN!
♥
Maisy
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