Rhubarb and Cinnamon Muffins. A winner.

In my past life working in a London law firm the office was unusually woman heavy.  As a result cake-day was practically every day with the seasonal competitions attracting some pretty incredible creations.  This one wasn’t the most stunningly decorated cakes but it was certainly the most delicious one charity bake-day.  The wife of an employee sent it in and wonderfully she passed the recipe on to me.  I was planning on recreating her circular cake for 12, but ingredients are pretty sporadic out here and  I was only able to get my hands on a third of the rhubarb needed.  So I’ve made a muffin version.

If you want to make a cake just triple the ingredients and bake it in a 24 cm springform tin.  Although I reckon that the muffins work jolly well, they are lighter than a typical dense muffin and are perfect warm for breakfast or popped in a packed lunch.

Ingredients (makes 6-7 muffins)

20 g unsalted butter

100 g soft brown sugar

1 large free-range egg

a couple of drops of vanilla extract

a small pinch of salt

100 g self-raising flour

1/3 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/3 tsp ground cinnamon

150 g crème fraiche

125 g rhubarb

1/3 orange zest

For the topping

25 g brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 C, grease a muffin tin.  Cut out squares of greaseproof paper and line the tin, or use cases.

2. Cream the butter and sugar using a handheld whisk.  Then add the vanilla and egg.

3. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon and add to the butter and sugar, whisking again until combined.

4. Add the crème fraiche, orange zest and rhubarb and stir until well combined.

5. Scrape the mixture into the muffin cases.

6. Mix the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the top of the muffins, then place in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

They are delicious warm with another dollop of creme fraiche, or custard, but then again they are pretty perfect just on their own with a coffee for breakfast.  Thank you Mrs Tait for the recipe.