Lemon Buttermilk Rhubarb Bundt Cake

I love the smell and taste of buttermilk, lemon and rhubarb, so imagine my reaction when I saw this recipe in one of my cookbooks, 'Rustic Fruit Desserts' by Julie Richardson, who lives in Portland, Oregon, a city where people eat really well! I could barely contain myself when rhubarb began to appear in the market. After making the Irish brown soda bread I had some buttermilk left in the fridge and this recipe just seemed like a perfect way to use it up.


Preheat the oven to 350° and butter a 10 cup bundt pan.

Ingredients

2 & 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, plus 2 tablespoons to sprinkle on sliced rhubarb
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter
1 & 3/4 cups sugar, plus 2 teaspoons to sprinkle on sliced rhubarb
Zest of 1 lemon
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 pound rhubarb, trimmed and thinly sliced, about 3 cups

Lemon Glaze

2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar, I didn't sift and my glaze had little bumps!
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon soft unsalted butter

Directions

1. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl, set aside.

2. Using a stand mixer, cream together the butter, sugar and lemon zest on a medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Stir in the lemon extract.

It is important to use good quality pure extracts, this one smells really good!

4. Stir in the flour mixture in three additions alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, don't forget to scrape down the bowl occasionally. The batter will be thick and scrumptious looking.

5. Toss the rhubarb in a bowl with the flour and sugar. Fold about 3/4 of the rhubarb in the batter and save the rest to sprinkle on top.

I love this picture because the sprinkled rhubarb looks so pretty on top of the cake which will eventually be the bottom of the cake. I also like how it shows the baked cake pulling away from the sides of the pan.

6. Bake the cake for around 60 minutes, rotating the pan half way through. Cool the cake in the pan for about 30 minutes before inverting and removing from the pan.

7. Make the glaze by whisking the sugar, lemon juice and soft butter together. The mixture should be thick or it will run right off the cake and puddle around the bottom, like mine did!
The recipe says to whisk in more sugar to make it thick, I think the glaze needs to stand for awhile and thicken up before spreading over the cake. The glaze should be put on the cake as soon as you remove it from the pan.



This cake, covered with a cake cover or plastic wrap will keep on the counter for 3-4 days.