Rhubarb and custard kisses

Years ago (here, actually) I made delicious custard biscuits which incorporated custard powder into the dough. The other week in one of my baking related ponderings I wondered if I could substitute the cornflour for custard powder in my Granny's recipe for kisses. . . So I tried it.

The custard powder gave the kisses (a shortbread sandwich biscuit) a lovely, golden yellow colour which the camera on my phone mostly decided to capture as a radioactive glow. The powder also gave the biscuits a sweet, vanilla-y, custard flavour.

For the filling I used a vanilla butter icing and some of last year's never-ending supply of rhubarb based jam. (I made more rhubarb jam than you can shake a stalk stick at.)

Basically I'm trying to find ways to use up the multiple jars of rhubarb jam I made last year. Despite giving away a large amount as Christmas presents (or just to any accepting friend or family member) I still have at least 10 jars left. 

Admittedly very little jam was used in this bake but the idea of rhubarb and custard kisses appealed to me and I'm happy my baking pondering was successful.

Granny's kisses with a rhubarb and custard twist

6oz margarine

2 1/2 oz Icing sugar

2oz Custard powder

6oz Self-raising flour

2oz Butter, softened 

4oz Icing sugar

A few drops of vanilla extract 

A few drops of boiling water

(Optional) A drop of pink food colouring 

A jar of rhubarb jam

Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/ 200C/ 180C Fan. Line two large baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

Cream together the softened butter and icing sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add the custard powder and self raising flour and mix together until it forms a dough.

Form the dough into 24 small balls and set onto the baking sheets, spacing them apart. Slightly flatten them with a fork. Bake in the oven for approx. 12 minutes or until the edges start looking slightly golden. Leave to cool on a cooling rack.

For the icing mix together the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract until fluffy. If it needs softening slightly add a few drops of boiling water. Admittedly I rarely weigh out my butter or icing sugar for making icing so my written quantities here are a rough guess.

Once the biscuits are cool, sandwich them together with a dollop of butter icing and a smaller dollop of jam. A little jam goes a long way. You should end up with 12 kisses.

Orange, rhubarb and almond cake

This cake is the lovechild of two BBC Good Food recipes: Berry Bakewell cake and Stewed Rhubarb. 

I've made the Bakewell (almond) cake countless times over the years with various berries and substituting the vanilla extract for almond extract or ground spices. It's satisfyingly simple and adaptable - my favourite kind of cake.

The stewed rhubarb and orange is a recipe I only discovered last year. I absolutely loved the flavour combination so was keen to make it again this year when my rhubarb was ready to harvest.

When I was making a batch of stewed orange and rhubarb last weekend I had a brainwave to combine the two recipes. I had previously made the cake with stewed rhubarb (no extra flavours) with great success (see here) so it wasn't much of a change to include orange.

For the cake batter I added the zest of an orange and instead of adding berries I put a few dessertspoonfuls of the (cooled) stewed rhubarb in the middle of the cake. I smoothed it out as a jammy layer before topping with the remaining cake batter and flaked almonds.

It's not a flashy looking cake but it is very tasty and with most almond bakes the flavour improves the following day. The orange lifts the cake, adding a subtle, sweet zing to both the sponge and the squidgy rhubarb vein running through the centre. 

I'm delighted that I have created another successful variation of this almond cake. It's the recipe which keeps on giving!