Upside down rhubarb and Earl Grey cake {dairy free, sugar free, gluten free – paleo}

A few weeks ago I got a package from Mariana, inside was the latest ingredient to feature in our Anglo-German food exchange. It was Earl Grey tea, is there anything more British than that? The package also contained a note from Mariana saying that she chose said ingredient to make my life easier.

I did get a bit nervous because although Mariana wanted to make my culinary journey a little easier all I could think about after I got the tea was cake, which is a hard task for me at the moment as I am following the Paleo diet consequently any cake I eat needs to contain no flour, milk or sugar. So it was now beyond a simple culinary exchange, it was a full on challenge to whip up a paleo cake. Milk is not actually an issue, I haven’t used milk for years in my kitchen and I can now find so many great substitutions. But what about flour and sugar?

This challenge entailed a lot of scientific research on Pinterest. I studied and tested a few recipes made by others at first in order to get used to ingredients, before trying one that was 100% mine. In the end I decided to adapt a recipe from Healy Eats Real. This all coincided with the rhubarb harvest from our allotment, so it was decided: upside down rhubarb and Earl Grey cake. If you’re not a fan the rhubarb is easy to substitute for your favourite fruit.

Upside down rhubarb and Earl Grey cake

4 rhubarb stalks

2 tbsp honey

50g coconut flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp salt

3 eggs

135ml coconut oil, melted

60ml water

2 Earl Grey tea bags

90ml maple syrup or honey

1/2 vanilla pod or 2 tsp vanilla essence

2 egg whites

Grated coconut to decorate

Method:

1. Line a round loose-bottomed cake tin (22 cm diameter) with greaseproof paper. Slice the rhubarb into pieces of around 1cm thickness. Mix the rhubarb with 2 tsbp of honey and line the bottom of the cake tin with the mixture.

2. Preheat the oven to 180C. Place the tea bags in 60 ml of boiling water and leave it to brew for 15 minutes, you want the tea to be very strong!

3. Mix the coconut flour, bicarbonate and salt. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, coconut oil, tea, vanilla and maple syrup. Mix the wet and dry ingredients until they both mixtures are well incorporated.

4. In an extra clean bowl beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and slowly fold the whites into the cake mixture. Be gentle and patience at this stage, it is very important!

5. Pour the cake mixture on top of the rhuibarb and bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, test it with a skewer, when it comes out clean the cake is ready! Let it cool before taking it out of the tin. Sprinkle coconut on top.