This vanilla and rhubarb buckle, a brighter cousin to the traditional American-style teatime cake, is perfect for the cold months when forced rhubarb shines

• Preparation and cooking time
  • Prep:40 mins
  • Cook:1 hr and 10 mins
• Easy
• Serves 8

• Freezable

Ingredients

For the crumble topping

• 50g plain flour
• 50g golden caster sugar
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• 50g unsalted butter, chilled
• 25g rolled oat

For the rhubarb filling

• 225g thin, forced rhubarb, trimmed, rinsed and cut into 2.5cm/1in-long pieces
• 50g golden caster sugar
• zest 1 orange

For the vanilla cake

• 100g unsalted butter, room temperature, plus extra for greasing
• 200g golden caster sugar
• zest 1 orange
• 2 large eggs
• 200g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 125ml soured cream

Method

• STEP 1

  Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease a deep 20cm round cake tin and line the base with baking parchment.

• STEP 2

  To make the crumble topping, put the flour, sugar and ginger in a bowl and mix together. Add the butter and rub together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the oats and, using your hands, bring the mixture together into a dough, wrap in cling film and chill until needed.

• STEP 3

  Put the rhubarb pieces in a bowl with the sugar and orange zest, and mix together. Set aside while you make the cake batter.

• STEP 4

  Put the butter, sugar and orange zest in a large bowl and, using an electric whisk, beat together until light and fluffy, about 5 mins. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating together until combined before adding the next.

• STEP 5

  In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, vanilla paste and a pinch of salt together and, in two additions, fold into the butter mixture, alternating with the soured cream. Tip into your cake tin and level out with a spatula. Top with the rhubarb mixture and finish by breaking the chilled crumble into irregular-sized pieces and scattering over the rhubarb. Bake in the oven for about 1 hr 10 mins or until the crumble is golden and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Check the cake after 1 hr – if it is colouring too quickly, cover lightly with foil for the final 10 mins.

• STEP 6

  Allow to cool in the tin for 10 mins before carefully transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely. Will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days, but the crumble will lose some of its texture after the first day.