Rhubarb Custard Cake (2024)

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A stunning Rhubarb Custard Cake with a thick custard layer baked in the centre of the cake. Delight your family and friends with this beautiful rhubarb cake.

Bee-Sting Cake

My parents used to sell a cake in their bakery, called a Bee-Sting Cake, which was made of two brioche-like sponges, sandwiched together with a thick, bright yellow custard and sprinkled on top with flaked almonds.

A Bee-Sting Cake is a German dessert called a Bienenstich, a funny name for a cake which I didn’t think much about as a child, preferring to concentrate my efforts on how many slices I could eat before my mum would put the remaining slices out on the counter to sell.

Rhubarb Custard Cake

When I first flicked throughThe Cake Stall by The Australian Women’s Weekly, I came across this recipe forRhubarb Custard Tea Cakeand was instantly reminded of the Bee-Sting Cake.

But unlike the Bee-Sting where the custard is added after the cake is baked, here, the custard layer is baked as part of the cake, producing a wonderfully layered cake straight from the oven.

The Rhubarb Custard Cake itself tastes delicious and is sure to impress at any afternoon tea party.

I was relieved to find that the custard layer was firm upon slicing, yet with still enough wobble to provide a contrasting texture to the cake.

Which Type of Rhubarb to Use

For this rhubarb cake, I think forced rhubarb works best.

Forced rhubarb is a very bright pink colour and which has a wonderful ability to keep its colour upon cooking and baking.

Regular rhubarb is generally deep red in colour at the base and pale green towards the top (like those pictured in the photo above).

In the northern hemisphere, forced rhubarb can be found at the farmers’ markets and in the supermarkets from about January to March.

If you can only find regular rhubarb, it will still work well in this recipe, but you won’t have the vivid pink pattern on top of the cake. If you can, try to use the red part of regular rhubarb for more colour on the cake.

Custard Powder

Being an Australian Women’s Weekly recipe, this rhubarb cake is fairly easy to put together, not least because the custard layer is made using custard powder.

The custard powder is also incorporated into the cake batter to provide some colour (yellow), add flavour (vanilla) and also create lightness (from the cornflour or cornstarch).

I used Bird’s custard powder in this recipe, but you could use any brand you like.

How to Make Rhubarb Custard Cake

Although the original recipe stipulates 300 g (about 4 stalks) of rhubarb, I found that I barely used one stalk.

My husband would be the first to tell you that maths is not my strong point, and I couldn’t for the life of me work out how to fit more rhubarb onto the cake, particularly if I was using the photo in the book as a guide.

The rhubarb shrinks ever so slightly on baking but more or less keeps its shape.

One way to squeeze more rhubarb into the cake is to chop the rhubarb into small pieces (about 1cm thickness) and to arrange them on top of the cake like shown below.

A Few Tips

Thank you to those who have tried this wonderful cake and have left some valuable feedback. Your comments are always much appreciated, both for me and other readers who would like to try this recipe.

When making this cake, please bear in mind that, because the batter does not contain any liquid, it will be quite thick but it should still be spreadable.

So rather than pouring the batter into the cake tin as you would usually, here, you will be spooning and dolloping the mixture into the tin, coaxing it with a small spoon or spatula to make it cover the area of the tin.

When applying the batter on top of the custard, one trick is to dollop small spoonfuls across the surface, and to then use a small spoon or spatula to join up each dollop before evening out the layer. This is much easier than dolloping half the batter onto the custard and trying to spread it out!

Despite these tips to handle the thick batter, this recipe is rather simple to follow and I hope you will give it a try 🙂

More Rhubarb Recipes

If you are looking for rhubarb recipes, you might also like:

Rhubarb Compote

Rhubarb and Vanilla Friands

Rhubarb Custard Cake

5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star

4.6 from 12 reviews

Author: eatlittlebird.com
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 1 hour 30 mins
Total Time: 2 hours
Yield: Serves 6-8
Category: Cakes
Method: Bake
Cuisine: Australian

A stunning Rhubarb Custard Cake with a thick custard layer baked in the centre of the cake. Delight your family and friends with this beautiful rhubarb cake.

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Ingredients

For the custard (see Kitchen Notes)

2 tablespoons custard powder
55 g (1/4 cup) caster sugar (superfine sugar)
250 ml (1 cup) full cream milk
20 g (1 tablespoon) unsalted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the rhubarb cake

200 g (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
110 g (1/2 cup) caster sugar (superfine sugar)
2 eggs
185 g (1 1/4 cup) plain flour (all-purpose flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
40 g (1/3 cup) custard powder
1–2 fresh rhubarb stalks
20 g (1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, melted
4 teaspoons granulated sugar

Instructions

To make the custard (see Kitchen Notes)

Mix together the custard powder and caster sugar in a small saucepan.
Whisk in the milk.
Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently.
The mixture will start to thicken very quickly and, when it does, take the pan off the heat.
Whisk in the butter and vanilla extract.
Place some clingfilm directly onto the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming and leave to cool.

To make the rhubarb cake

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) (without fan).
Cream the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy.
Beat in one egg at a time, together with a tablespoon of the flour to help it all come together.
Add the remaining flour, baking powder and custard powder, and mix well. The batter will be quite thick because there is no liquid, but it should still be spreadable.
Line the bottom of a 20 cm (8 inch) springform cake pan with baking paper and grease the sides of the pan.
Use a small spatula to spread half of the batter in the cake pan. Remember that it is a thick batter so you will have to make sure that it covers all of the surface.
Spread the now cooled and thickened custard over the first layer of the cake batter.
Dollop spoonfuls of the remaining cake batter over the custard and carefully spread the cake batter to completely cover the custard. Again, a small spatula works well here.
Chop the rhubarb into 10 cm lengths and slice them lengthwise, about 1 cm thick.
Arrange the rhubarb as in the photo, trimming them where necessary.
Brush the top of the cake with melted butter and sprinkle generously with granulated sugar.
Bake for about 1 hour to1.5 hours, or until a skewer inserted in the top cake layer comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the pan and cool on a wire rack.

Kitchen Notes

WHICH TYPE OF RHUBARB TO USE
Forced rhubarb, i.e. the bright pink rhubarb, works really well in this recipe because it keeps its colour upon baking. However, the regular type of rhubarb (i.e. the red and green variety) would also be great in this recipe.

VARIATION
As a slight variation to the cake above, and as an attempt to squeeze more rhubarb into the cake, slice the rhubarb into 1 cm pieces and arranged them randomly on top of the cake before sprinkling generously withgranulated sugar.

SUBSTITUTE FOR CUSTARD POWDER
Ifcustard powderis not available where you live, I would suggest replacing thecustard powderin the cake batter with an equal quantity ofcornflour(cornstarch) plus 1-2 teaspoons ofvanilla extract.

MAKE THE CUSTARD FROM SCRATCH
If you cannot findcustard powder, making a custard from scratch is very easy to do. Heat 300 ml (1 1/4 cup) double cream (heavy whipping cream) in a small saucepan with 1 split vanilla bean. In a medium bowl, whisk together 3 egg yolks, 3 teaspoons of cornflour (cornstarch) and 2 tablespoons of caster sugar (superfine sugar). When the cream has nearly come to a boil, remove thevanilla bean. Slowly pour the cream into the egg mixture, whisking constantly as you do. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and continue whisking over medium heat until the custard has thickened substantially. The custard needs to be thick such that it is not runny and can hold its shape. Leave the custard aside to cool while you proceed with the rest of the recipe.

RECIPE CREDIT
Recipe adapted from The Cake Stall by the Australian Women’s Weekly.

OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer’s handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly.