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Friday 8 May 2009

oh rhubarb


i love this time of spring, when the farmers markets seem to burst with freshness and all these colours are coming back. how i missed them! and there's rhubarb. i like its old-fashionedness, the prettyness of it, the acidity to be matched by plenty of sugar. and it somehow reminds me of my childhood. perhaps because my mum used to make rhubarb compote when we were small, or because we build dams with stones and the big leaves of wild rhubarb on our family holidays until the water in our proudly produced basin was so high it went over the rim of our wellies.

then a couple of days ago i discovered a post over at april's for a rhubarb cake. it came with a lovely photo and with such a nice story that i had to try it. and yesterday i did - it was delicious. thank you april! if you want to try it, take a look. if you can't make sense of it (the recipe is in german) but would like to give it a try, get in touch, i'm sure either of us could supply you with a translation!

(i've taken this photo last year in france, i could go on about that market...)

p.s.: when i made that cake i wondered if i had made a mistake following the instructions - it seemed as if there was more rhubarb than batter in the cake pan. it was fine though, so don't worry if the same happens to you, it's alright :)

12 comments:

julochka said...

hi kristina--i had to check out both blogs. :-) i love rhubarb season too, we've already made a rhubarb crisp three times with ours and it just seems to stimulate it to grow more. i'll have to try out the cake (perhaps i can have husband translate if i can't make it out). :-)

i love that you're a kindred spirit in the no-caps thing! :-) i saw a blog yesterday where the guy had also given up apostrophes, but i'm not sure i can go that far!

happy weekend!
/julie

Unknown said...

We get an organic box every week and this week's was full of rhubarb. My boyfriend knows German, so I'll have it to have a look at that cake!

Palmer and Co said...

Oh, I'm in love with this photo!! The colors are perfect together!

Happy Weekend to you!

...Lisa

jane said...

I love these colors together. So pretty. There is no rhubarb in Spain. How I miss it. Happy weekend!-Jane

Isabelle said...

it is very tempting ...
and I love your photo !!

kristina - no penny for them said...

dear all, thanks so much!

@ julie: i know, i'll make the most of the season. next on my list is trying a rhubarb cake with meringue topping... can't wait!

and the lower caps thing - it's great, isn't it? i think i started around ten years back when i had just moved to london. so maybe it's tied in with life-changing events?!

@ lisa, jane, isabelle: thank you :) when i saw these colours, i just had to take this photo. i think the elderly french gentleman who was selling the rhubarb on the market must have thought i'm completely mad. taking pictures of fruit & veg! and i would have loved to buy it, but i was going to a wedding that afternoon and staying in a little hotel, what should i have done with it? i trust someone bought it and made some delicious cake with it!

@ B: let me know how it goes! i wish i had an organic box, but i think it would be too much and there are at least three organic supermarkets in my neighbourhood plus organic farmers markets twice a week. we are so spoiled...

april said...

liebe kristina, vielen herzlichen dank für diesen wundervollen post und die verlinkung zu meiner kuchengeschichte. ich freue mich riesig, dass du den kuchen nachgebacken hast. und stimmt, ich denke auch immer, 500g ist doch zuviel rhabarber - manchmal nehme ich deshalb auch weniger. soviel wie ich eben grad zuhause habe. dein rhabarber foto gefällt mir super - deshalb mache ich heute, zur krönung auch grad wieder einen rhabarber kuchen. der kleine d. ist bereits am schnipseln in der küche ;-) wünsche dir einen wunderschön sonnigen tag. liebe grüsse*

Kaylovesvintage said...

I will try the cake in the morning,thanks

Schanett said...

!!
du hast ihn gebacken!!
den wollte ich auch noch machen!
jetzt noch mehr, wenn du schon mal getestet hast!
;-)

ich mag rhabarber auch!
was machst du sonst noch daraus?

Allison said...

Ohhhh... I love rhubarb and especially the cakes that you find in Germany, but what I really love is strawberry rhubarb pie. These two just seem to combine so naturally, with the sweetness of the strawberries and the tartness of the rhubarb. Unfortunatelly one cannot find too many pies in Germany. Hope you enjoyed your cake.

kristina - no penny for them said...

@ april: der kuchen war wirklich toll - habe danach noch einen anderen gegessen und der war nicht halb so gut, ehrlich wahr! :)

@ kay: hope you liked the cake, i think it's delicious!

@ schanett: ich werde dieses jahr ganz bestimmt das meiste aus der rhabarberzeit machen... habe eben mit meiner schwägerin telefoniert und mir noch ein weiteres rhabarberkuchenrezept mit baiserhaube geben lassen. das ist das nächste experiment.

@ allison: sounds great! i've also read about rubarb-and-strawberry compote or jam, which sounds lovely. and i think you should make some pie and start a new culinary trend in germany, its got to be a success! :)

outi said...

hello there! thank you for the shopping tour:)
you have a great blog, or two, i visited both. looks good in here!

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