A Cheer-Up Rhubarb Cake

Goodness me it's another tart.

Yes I called it a cake in the subject line and yes that was only to lure you in.

Now that you're here... It's another tart suckers!!!

I fooled you and I fooled you well.

You loved it though.

When a beautiful friend is feeling a bit down, and its freezing outside, there is only one solution. A tea party! With yummy pastries to put in your face!

Rhubarb makes everyone happy. So does tea. So does Champagne. So does this amazing new discovery I have found called semolina cream.

Semolina cream = happiness. It's like a custard only better. Waaaaay better.

Rhubarb Tart with Semolina Cream:

adapted from Gourmet Traveller

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

1 2/3 cups plain flour
50g icing sugar, sifted
125g cold unsalted butter, chopped into cubes
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 a bunch of rhubarb (washed) trimmed to fit a circular tart tin

Process flour, icing sugar and butter with 1/4 teaspoon salt in a food processor until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add egg and pulse until combined. The mixture should still look like breadcrumbs with bits of butter still visible. Bring the dough together into a flat disk shape with your hands. Wrap in cling-wrap and refrigerate for 1/2 an hour.

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface to approx. 3mm thick and place into a tart tin, pressing in the edges and trimming off excess pastry. Refrigerate for 20 mins. Line the tart shell with baking paper and fill with baking weights or beans. blind bake for 15 minutes, remove weights and bake for another 15 minutes until the shell is dry and golden. Cool.

Semolina Cream

1 2/3 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup semolina
2 thinly peeled strips of lemon rind
3 egg yolks

Combine milk, cinnamon, sugar, semolina and lemon rind in a saucepan and stir continuously over low-medium heat until mixture boils and thickens, then stir for another two minutes until the mixture is very thick, the consistency of custard. Remove from heat, discard lemon rind, then whisk in the yolks one at a time, until well combined. Cover semolina cream closely with plastic wrap and cool to room temperature.

Spoon semolina cream evenly into the tart shell and place rhubarb lengthways over filling. Sprinkle with caster sugar then cover loosely with foil. Bake at 190 degrees C for 20 minutes, remove the foil and bake for a further 15 minutes or until the semolina is set and the rhubarb is tender. Serve warm. The tart is best eaten the day of making.