Forced Rhubarb and Yoghurt Cake

Rhubarb… Rhubarb… Rhubarb. Great news that Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb has obtained European Protected Designation of Origin under the EU Commissioners Protected Food Name Scheme joining Melton Mowbray Pork Pies & Stilton Cheese.

This scheme covers agricultural products and foodstuffs which are produced, processed and prepared in a given geographical area using recognised know-how this protection rewards.

The protection regimes ensure

• the promotion of products with specific characteristics, particularly those coming from less-favoured or rural areas;
• the improvement of the income of farmers, in return for a “genuine effort to improve quality”;
• the retention of population in rural areas;
• the provision of clear and succinct information to consumers regarding product origin.

In the case the Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb grown in the appointed 9-square-mile (23 km2) triangle in West Yorkshire, England located between Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell

I posted about my love of forced Rhubarb last year , grown in sheds (or using rhubarb forcers at home)  in the sheds it is harvested by candlelight . Forced rhubarb is first new “fruit” of the year. It doesn’t need a lot of cooking or sweetening with tender pink-crimson stalks lovely in crumbles , cakes, jelly and vodka.

The basis of this cake is Spiced Yoghurt cake that is incredibly moist eggless and butterless. As I was looking up the recipe,  I noticed I first started making this cake when I began commuting to London. It was supposed to be two months and it’s been two years!

Once baked in this extra moist cake,  the rhubarb is sweet and sour and with the heat of the ginger spice and richness of cinnamon.

Rhubarb Spiced Yoghurt Cake
250g of self raising flour
200g of light muscavado sugar
250ml of plain yoghurt
1 tbsp of ground ginger
1 tbsp of cinamon
50ml of honey
100g of forced rhubarb ( 2 big stalks) chopped into 1cm cubes

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C line a tin with baking paper.
2. Mix the flour, sugar and cinamon.
3. Add the yoghurt & honey mixture to the flour stir until combined.
4. Place half the cake mix into a lined loaf tin add the cubed raw rhubarb. Pour over the rest of the cake mix.
5. Bake for 1-1¼ hours
6. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Take the cake out of the tin and put it in a plastic bag, close the bag and allow it to cool completely.