Rhubarb and strawberry crumble cake

An easy and delicious spring-summer bake: shortcrust pastry with rhubarb and strawberries. Perfectly sweet, with a delicious crumble topping made from the same dough as the base, so there’s very little extra work. This makes a generous traybake, so there’s plenty to go around ;). Perfect for a May bank holiday.

Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry:

• 375 g plain flour
• 50 g ground almonds
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 220 g cold butter
• 190 g caster sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place all the pastry ingredients in a food processor and process until the dough starts to form crumbs. Alternatively, prepare by hand: cut the butter into the flour, add the remaining ingredients and quickly bring the dough together. Transfer the dough to a bowl, cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for 30–60 minutes.

After chilling, place half of the dough in a 23 x 34 cm baking tin lined with baking paper. Press it firmly and evenly over the base. Refrigerate for another 30 minutes. Pre-bake at 180°C for 15–20 minutes, or until lightly golden.

Ingredients for the rhubarb and strawberry filling:

• 300 g rhubarb, cut into 1 cm pieces (there is no need to peel it)
• 300 g strawberries, quartered
• 3 tbsp potato starch
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

Place all the filling ingredients in a bowl and mix together. Set aside.

Assembly:

Spread the rhubarb and strawberry filling evenly over the pre-baked pastry, which can still be hot from the oven. Remove the remaining pastry from the fridge and crumble it evenly over the top.

Bake the rhubarb and strawberry crumble cake at 180°C for about 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. You can dust with icing sugar before serving.

Enjoy!