Celebrate: Bunya Nut & Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

If you’re in the mood for celebrating, we’ve got something that should hit the spot! We’ve partnered with our good friends at Lighthouse Baking to bring you a selection of delicious cakes using native ingredients that are perfect for the festive season and beyond – this week, behold our beautiful Bunya Nut & Rhubarb Upside-down Cake. Serve with a generous dollop of Greek yoghurt for a dish that’s as colourful as it is delicious. You’d be nuts not to!

Base

1kg or 5 stalks of rhubarb, washed and trimmed into 5cm lengths

3/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

Cake

3/4 cup raw caster sugar

4 eggs separated, plus 2 extra whites

1/4 cup rice bran oil

100ml milk or milk alternative

1 cup Lighthouse Premium All Purpose Self Raising Flour, sifted

1/2 cup bunya nuts (or macadamia nuts), ground

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

unsweetened Greek natural yoghurt, to serve

Method

Preheat oven to 180C or 160C fan forced. Grease and line a 23cm springform tin and cover the outside with foil (to prevent a syrupy mess in the bottom of your oven during cooking).

Arrange the rhubarb in your desired pattern at the bottom of the tin, making sure there are no gaps. Place sugar and water in a saucepan and stir until sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook for 15 minutes until thickened, but not coloured. Pour over the rhubarb and set aside.

To make the batter, place egg yolks with 1/2 a cup of the sugar into a bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high until thick and pale. Keep beating and slowly drizzle in the milk and then the oil until just combined. Add the flour and ground nuts, and mix until well combined.

In another bowl, whisk your 6 egg whites to soft peaks (if using an electric mixer bowl to mix egg whites after the batter, be sure to clean your bowl well in preparation of whisking your whites – a little wipe with vinegar always helps). Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the apple cider vinegar, whisking to form stiff peaks.

Fold 1/3 of the meringue mixture into your batter until just combined, and then add the remainder.

Pour the batter over your rhubarb and bake for 1 hr 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool your cake completely before tipping your tin upside down onto a platter and unveiling. Serve with a generous dollop of unsweetened Greek natural yoghurt.

Recipe: Naomi Zavackas, Styling: Lyndel Miller, Photography: Mindi Cook. Created in collaboration with Lighthouse Baking.