Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Mushy Mystery


Sorry about the ugly picture, but it's a necessary evil. I got some rhubarb in my last organic order and decided to make something a little more interesting than your average rhubarb/strawberry crisp. I decided to make a strawberry rhubarb coffee cake (recipe here), recruited Ruby to help me whip it up, and stuck it in the oven. I baked it for the specified time, stuck a toothpick in it and... mush. I put it back in the oven for 10 minutes. Still mush. I baked it for TWICE as long as the recipe called for and except for the outer edges, it's more of a pudding than a cake. A gross, inedible pudding at that.

So, what did I do wrong? Rhubarb too ripe? Possible typo in the recipe? I know my oven's temp is pretty much on, so that's not it. After a tough week (our house is full of antibiotics), I didn't really need a failed cake in my life. Boo.

1 comment:

Jenn said...

The same thing happened to me when I was making strawberry rhubarb pie. I think the reason why the pie didn't solidify and your cake was mush is because the strawberries and rhubarb juice while they cook! I ended up cutting a piece of pie away and draining the juice. I threw it back in the oven for another 20 minutes and viola! Pie! For the cake, I'd try reducing the liquid ingredients and adding more dry. The batter would seem thicker than normal, but when the strawberries and rhubarb juice, it'll make the batter normal and should bake up just fine. I think you can cut the strawberries and rhubarb up and leave them covered in the fridge overnight, and they should juice themselves, then just drain and prepare as called for. Hope that's helpful.