Vanilla-Rhubarb Cakes

Recipe in video

Hey foodies!

Rhubarb season is arriving in Switzerland in just a few days!

I wanted to share a recipe full of freshness and sweetness.

Here are my little vanilla cakes, with a rhubarb compote and a light mascarpone cream.

To make 8 mini cakes you will need:

Rhubarb compote

- 400gr of rhubarb

- 90gr of brown sugar

- 2 vanilla pods

Vanilla cupcakes

- 350gr of apple purée

- 200gr of flour

- 4gr of salt

- 1gr of baking powder

- 3.5gr of baking soda

- 1 egg

- 100gr of rapeseed oil

- 230gr of brown sugar

- 2 tsp of vanilla extract

Mascarpone cream

- 30gr of icing sugar

- 170gr of heavy cream

- 170gr of mascarpone

Decoration

- 5-6 strawberries

Preparing the rhubarb compote

Cut 400gr of rhubarb into rounds of about 1 cm.

You don't need to peel your rhubarb! ;o) I never peel mine.

Pour the rhubarb into a large bowl and add 90gr of brown sugar.

Mix both ingredients well with a spoon.

Finally, scrape 2 vanilla pods and add the vanilla seeds to the rhubarb.

Also place the scraped pods into the rhubarb. We will cook our compote with the pods so that the vanilla infuses as well as possible.

Leave the mixture at room temperature while you prepare the cupcake batter.

Vanilla cupcakes

In a mixing bowl, pour 200gr of flour and 230gr of brown sugar.

Then weigh out 4gr of salt, 1gr of baking powder, 3.5gr of baking soda using a precision spoon scale.

Add these three ingredients to the flour and sugar. Then mix everything together with a spoon.

Add to the mixture 350gr of apple purée, 1 egg, 100gr of rapeseed oil and 2 tsp of vanilla extract.

I used apple purée but you could use another purée (apple-mango, rhubarb...etc) according to your taste.

Make sure to use rapeseed oil (or sunflower oil). Avoid olive oil as it would give too strong a flavour to your batter.

Whisk the mixture for a good 10 minutes at medium speed.

Preheat your oven to 160°C, fan setting.

Take a pitcher, place a 46 cm piping bag in it and pour in the cake batter.

Then get a mini cake pan with suitable liners. Choose your favourite colour. ;o)

Fill the 8 cavities and bake the mini cakes in the preheated oven at 160°C for 30 minutes.

Once the mini cakes are baked, they should be nicely golden on top. Remove them from the oven and let them cool in the pan.

While the mini cakes are baking, we will make our rhubarb compote. You can see that the rhubarb has already released quite a bit of liquid.

Rhubarb compote

Pour the rhubarb with its juice into a saucepan. Keep the vanilla pods in.

Then heat the mixture over medium-high heat for about 30 minutes, until the rhubarb has melted down and the liquid has evaporated.

You will get a beautiful rhubarb compote, nicely pink.

Place it in the fridge (or in the freezer if you're in a hurry) to let it cool down.

Once the mini cakes and the compote are fully cooled, it's time to start assembling.

Personally, I placed my compote and mini cakes in the freezer for about thirty minutes to save time.

Using a very thin knife, cut a rectangle in the middle of each mini cake.

Be generous, cut out enough cake to be able to add plenty of compote. ;o) But don't eat the cut-out cake! Set it aside for now.

Here I was able to fit two good teaspoons of compote into each mini cake.

Then take the piece you cut out and keep just the lid by trimming off the excess cake.

Place the lid back on the mini cake. No one will ever know. ;o)

You can eat the leftover cake pieces this time.

Mascarpone cream

In a large bowl, pour 170gr of heavy cream, 170gr of mascarpone and 30gr of icing sugar.

Then whisk the mixture until you get a soft peak. Be careful not to over-whip your cream. I always whip my cream at medium speed to prevent it from splitting and to keep it light and airy.

Once the cream is whipped, pour it into a 40 cm piping bag fitted with a 9 mm St-Honoré tip.

Pipe the mascarpone cream onto the mini cakes. Then decorate to your liking. Here I used 5-6 sliced strawberries for a pretty decoration.

I already know I'll get some criticism for using strawberries in April. My answer is: there's absolutely no obligation to use strawberries for decoration! Feel free to decorate differently. ;o)

And there you have it, my vanilla-rhubarb mini cakes.

The rhubarb gives a lovely zing to our vanilla cake!

I hope you enjoy the recipe! ;o)

Wishing you a lovely Sunday!

Karin

P.S.: All the equipment used can be found at the bottom of the recipe.