Rhubarb and custard cupcakes

It seems a shame to waste the garden rhubarb while it’s still growing, so this week it had to be rhubarb and custard cupcakes. While garden rhubarb will never yield the glorious pink of its forced cousin, it has its own tart beauty and, as I didn’t want these cupcakes to be overly sweet, it was the perfect ingredient.

I left the cooked rhubarb on the tart side – obviously this is a question of taste so I recommend you don’t add too much sugar at the start.

This is my version of the rhubarb and custard cupcakes featured in the Love Bakery cookbook. My ‘tweak’ is to add some of the rhubarb’s poaching syrup to the buttercream – perhaps I should’ve added more to increase the flavour as it did work well; first you got the rich custard taste then an acidic tang, not dissimilar to a rhubarb and custard boiled sweet.

After ‘coring’ the cupcake I filled it with my cooked rhubarb....

....topping this with some custard:

Definitely one of the most popular cupcakes I’ve made in recent times! By the way, if you’re thinking my photos look better this week I owe it all to Mr CC who generously bought me a new camera (an Olympus XZ-1). I’m not the most technologically minded person and cameras panic me a bit if I’m required to do anything other than point and click but I am slowly learning how to get some stunning photos...such as this one (the brilliant ‘food’ setting on the camera should take some of the credit):

Thank you Mr CC!

Ingredients

For the rhubarb (this will be used in both sponge and buttercream):
2-3 sticks rhubarb, washed and chopped into 2-3cm chunks
4 tablespoons water, but add more if the mixture looks dry
2 tablespoons caster sugar (if you’re using forced rhubarb use less sugar initially; I used garden rhubarb which is much tarter)

For the cupcake sponge (this will make 12 cupcakes):
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
125g self raising flour
2 tablespoons milk

To fill the cupcakes: cooked rhubarb (recipe above), if you wish, you could also fill with some of the ready made custard

For the buttercream (enough for 12 cupcakes):
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
250g icing sugar
1 tablespoon rhubarb poaching syrup
1 tablespoon ready made custard

Method

Start by cooking the rhubarb: place the rhubarb chunks, water and sugar in a saucepan and simmer gently – with the lid on – until the chunks are tender and have released a lot of juice. You don’t want them to collapse completely, although most probably will. Taste, and add more sugar if you think it is too tart.

If you hear the rhubarb sizzling, add more water to the pot.

Strain the chunks from the syrup making sure you retain the syrup.

Put to one side and leave to cool.

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 190°C/fan oven 170°C/375°F/Gas mark 5.

Line a cupcake pan with paper cases.

Beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs, flour and milk.

When the mixture is well combined, spoon into the paper cases.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cupcakes comes out clean. Mine took 15 minutes.

Leave to cool on a wire rack and remove from the tin when cool enough to handle. (You can make up to this point a day before serving – simply store the cupcake sponges in an airtight container. Make the buttercream on the day you wish to serve the cupcakes)

On the day of serving, core the cupcake sponges and fill the cavity with the cooked rhubarb (and custard, if using).

Now make the buttercream: whip up the butter until it is light and fluffy.

Beat in the vanilla and icing sugar.

Beat in the rhubarb poaching syrup and custard.

Pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes. You can use up any leftover rhubarb chunks by either hiding them under the buttercream i.e. place on top of the cupcake and pipe over them, or by using them as cupcake toppers.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have made.

Eat.