there we are. it´s rhubarb time! rhubarb is the very first fruit of the garden season and this is my very first cake with own fruits ever, as in the past years all the apples, pears and plums, strawberries, raspberries and so on have not been enough to garnish a cake with.
and by the way this rhubarb is something really special to me. it is an offshoot of a rhubarb plant my grandma planted many many years ago. the cake recipe as well is a descent of my family, as it is my mom´s recipe and the one and only way i ate rhubarb for years. to me the sweet scent of this cake makes an unique sunday feeling. although the harmony of the sunday sometimes was endangered as the whipped egg whites topping deflated after opening the oven. attention!

3 egg yolks
110 g butter
1 tsp baking powder
50 g sugar
210 g flour

1 bunch sugared rhubarb
1 package vanilla pudding
1/4 liter rhubarb juice or water

1 cup of sugar
1 cup of rhubarb juice
3 egg whites

first of all you have to sugar the rhubarb to get some juice. this will take a while, therefore i recommend to do this the day before.

to prepare the dough, add the egg yolks and the soft butter to a large bowl and mix to combine. than add the sugar and beat until it becomes a well combined cream. now stir in the baking powder and flour. it will now look like crumbles. finally take your fingers and knead the dough and form a ball. let it rest for about half an hour in the fridge.

in between you can prepare the rhubarb. strain off the rhubarb juice. if you have enough juice heat 1/4 liter for the pudding, if not just take 1/4 liter water. stir in the pudding powder and mix in the rhubarb. at this point i am always sure something is wrong and my cake is completely ruined. if your rhubarb and pudding mixture looks strange to you, just ignore it and continue. everything is fine.

butter the cake tin and if my mum´s dough is hard to roll out, just cut the dough ball into 1 cm slices, place them into the cake tin and press it with your fingers until the sureface is completely filled. keep some dough to make an edge in the same way. place the rhubarb and pudding mixture on the cake and bake it for 15 minutes in the preheated oven at 190°C.

in the meantime beat the 3 egg whites and while beating stir in the sugar slowly and the rhubarb juice teaspoon by teaspoon or by a very thin spurt. stop beating once the consistency is really compact and solid. after the 15 minutes, cover the cake with the beaten egg whites and bake for another 20 minutes.

once the baking time is over, you have to be very, very careful not to destroy the whipped egg whites. i recommend just to turn off the oven and to let the door closed. leave the door ajar until the temperature has gone down. if you are patient enough, you will be rewarded when you remove the cake.

good luck and enjoy!