RECIPE | CINNAMON AND VANILLA CUSTARD CRUMBLE CAKE

I have created a masterpiece! My latest cake invention is perhaps my best yet.

Combining the warming sponge laced with cinnamon, a thick vanilla custard and a crumble topping, the Cinnamon and Vanilla Custard Crumble Cake is born.

Ingredients:

Cake:

175g Caster Sugar

175 Butter

3 Eggs

1 1/2tsp Vanilla Essence

175g Self-Raising Flour

1 1/2tsp Baking Powder

3tsp Cinnamon

2tbsp Milk

425g Custard

Crumble Topping:

110g Plain Flour

80g Butter

1tsp Cinnamon

3tbsps Demerera Sugar (and a little extra to sprinkle on top)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C and grease and line an 8" loose bottomed cake tin.

2. Cream the sugar and the butter until light in colour and fluffy in texture.

3. Add to this the eggs, vanilla essence and 2tbsps of the custard and mix until combined.

4. Fold in the flour, baking powder and cinnamon to form the cake batter - loosen this with the milk if needed.

5. Place the cake batter into the cake tin and spread evenly.

6. Pour the rest of the custard over the cake batter and spread evenly to form a thick layer.

7. In a bowl, add the flour and the butter for the crumble ingredients and rub the mixture together until it resembles small breadcrumbs (this can take a good five minutes). Add the sugar and the cinnamon to this mixture and then scatter onto the top of the cake with an even coverage.

8. Sprinkle the cake with some extra demerera sugar and bake in the oven for 50 minutes.

It is delightfully good served warm with extra custard or ice cream, but is just as nice as a a slice on its own with a good cup of (Yorkshire) tea.

RECIPE | RHUBARB CRUMBLE CAKE

It's September! Yes. For me that means Autumn is officially on it's way.

Even though we're only into day two there is definitely a cooler wind breezing about in Leeds and I love it.

On Saturday I was lucky enough to be given a veg box from the lovely local Whiteley's Farm in Pudsey. Thank you to Millies in town for providing me with the box and asking me to test out some wonderful local produce to experiment with in the kitchen. Amongst my box of wonders, including smoked garlic, romanesco broccoli, kale and flat-leaf parsley were three magnificent sticks of rhubarb.

I jumped at the chance to try out a crumble cake. A three layer wonder... something I see quite often on blogs and has always caught my eye. It's perfect for this overlap period between the last Summer days and early Autumn. In a month or so it will be proper crumbles all the way but for now in cake form it does the trick!

Rhubarb Crumble Cake

Ingredients:

Sponge:

175g Butter

175g Caster Sugar

3 Eggs

1tsp Vanilla Essence

175g Self-Raising Flour

1tsp Baking Powder

1-2tbsps Milk (Only if needed to loosen the batter)

Rhubarb:

2 large sticks of Rhubarb

4tbsp Granulated Sugar

Crumble:

130g Butter

100g Plain Flour

30g Oatbran

3tbsp Demerera Sugar

1tsp Mixed Spice

1tsp Cinnamon

1tsp Baking Powder

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 and line a 24" loose bottomed cake tin with butter and baking parchment.

2. Chop the rhubarb into inch thick slices and coat in the granulated sugar and leave to one side.

3. Now for the sponge. Cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light, fluffy and pale in colour. Add the eggs and vanilla essence and continue to mix together. Fold in the flour and baking powder until all ingredients are combined into a smooth batter. If your batter is too thick then you can add some milk to loosen the mixture.

4. Spoon the cake batter into the cake tin making a nice even layer. Assemble the sugar coated rhubarb in another layer on top.

5. For the crumble topping, place all ingredients in a bowl and rub together the dry ingredients with the butter until you have a mixture that resembles bread crumbs. Place this mixture on top of the cake.

6. Bake in the middle shelf of the oven for 40-50 minutes or until baked (you can test this by inserting a skewer into the cake - if it comes out clean then the cake is baked).

7.  Lovely served warm with lashings of custard, or just on it's own cold with a good cup of Yorkshire tea!