Rhubarb, marmalade and rosemary cake recipe

You don’t have to glaze this cake with marmalade (just dust the top with icing sugar if you prefer), but I like the touch of bittersweetness it brings.

Timings

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Serves

8-10

Ingredients

• 225g butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing

• 225g caster sugar

• 8 rosemary sprigs

• 125g ground almonds

• 3 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

• 200g marmalade, plus 40g for glazing

• finely grated zest of 1 orange

• 100g plain flour

• 125g polenta

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 275g rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 3cm lengths (or longer, if you like)

• 2 tbsp granulated sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C/150C fan/gas mark 3. Butter and line the base of a 20cm springform cake tin.

2. Put the caster sugar and 2 rosemary sprigs in a mortar and bash with a pestle for a couple of minutes, to infuse the sugar. Remove the sprigs and spines, shaking off the sugar, and discard them.

3. Beat the butter and rosemary sugar together until pale and fluffy. Stir in the almonds, then beat in the eggs a little at a time, mixing well after each addition.

4. Fold in the marmalade, orange zest, flour, polenta, baking powder and a pinch of salt.

5. Lay 3 sprigs of rosemary on the base  of the cake tin. Spoon in the cake batter and lay the rest of the rosemary on top. Toss the rhubarb with the granulated sugar, then arrange this on top of the rosemary.

6. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. You will need to cover it with foil in the last 20 minutes, as it can get quite dark.

7. Meanwhile, gently heat the extra marmalade in a saucepan until it becomes quite syrupy. If you’ve used a shredded marmalade, push it through a sieve to remove any bits of zest.

8. Leave the marmalade to set a little (just enough to make it easily spreadable) then, using a pastry brush, brush the marmalade thickly on top of the cake.

9. Leave to cool, then run a knife between the cake and the inside of the tin and carefully remove the cake. Remove the base and the paper. Slide the cake on to a plate to serve.