what we ate

Strawberry Rhubarb Messy Cake

(Adapted from All Recipes Entry) 

filling:

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch (flour works)

2+cups chopped fresh rhubarb

1 plastic container of fresh strawberries

2 tbsps lemon juice

cake:

3 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Start with cutting up rhubarb and strawberries; bring to boil over medium heat for 2 minutes to thicken.  Stir in lemon juice and let cool.  Any extra filling is great on ice cream.

Make buttermilk: 1 cup milk to 1 tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice.  Let sit for 5 minutes.

Make cake; in large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda.  Pour in melted butter and mix until mixture is crumbly.  In a medium bowl beat eggs, buttermilk and vanilla.  Stir into crumb mixture.

In greased, ceramic casserole (roughly 13x9x2 inches, though I used a circular pan) add two-thirds the batter.  Pour in cooled filling and add remaining batter.

Bake at 350f for 45 minutes, or until edges are browning.  All Recipes calls for an additional crumb topping to make the cake a crumb cake; I think that'd be too much.  You'll see, it's pretty decadent!  

My initial plans were to make the cake and flip it onto a cake stand.  As you can see, there's no way it was going on the stand, it barely stayed in the dish I cooked it in!