German Strawberry Rhubarb Meringue Cake

A German cake that will please your palate

Capitola is about three miles down the road from where I live. It is a cute little seaside village that attracts many visitors from near and far. Each Labor Day there is a Begonia Festival. Local businesses, friends and families decorate floats with begonias and parade them down Soquel Creek under a bridge into a lagoon near the beach. It is a lot of fun and a wonderful Labor Day tradition. The floats are all uniquely beautiful—how can they not be with all those beautiful flowers? This festival has been going on since 1951. Major growers of these tuberous begonias are located in the Santa Cruz area and in late summer they are in spectacular bloom.  ​

Originally, I had planned to post an Italian giant cookie cake. I will do that next. Last Sunday, Ronald, my strawberry farmer, had some beautiful ones and sold me a whole flat: 12 pint baskets of strawberries just picked that morning, sweet and juicy. I had already made strawberry jam from an entire flat the previous week, so I used half of the strawberries to make more jam. We ate quite a few fresh ones and sliced some for my husband’s morning cereal. I had two baskets left. I also had some green rhubarb in my dried out tiny garden. After a quick search on the internet, I found a German recipe I like and this cake was born. It was easy to make and I couldn't stop eating it after it came out of the oven. My husband said it was not his favorite, but he still managed to eat quite a bit. I hope you enjoy this cake as much as I did.

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Ingredients

10 TBS  (150 g) softened butter
1¼ cup (150g) all purpose flour
1½ TBS baking powder 
½ heaping cup (80g) cornstarch
1 cup (150g) brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 egg yolk

½ cup sliced almonds 
1 TBS sugar

14 ounces (400g) rhubarb
14 ounces (400g) strawberries

4 egg whites
a pinch of salt
1/3 cup (60g) sugar
½ cup + 2 TBS (80g) powdered sugar
2 TBS lemon juice

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Directions

Preheat oven to 375º Fahrenheit (200º Celsius). 
Grease a 9½-inch round cake pan with a removable bottom.
Clean and peel the rhubarb and cut it into ½-inch pieces.
Wash and slice large strawberries into halves, leaving the small ones whole.
Beat soft butter and brown sugar in an electric mixer for 5-8 minutes, until the dough doubles. Add the two eggs and the egg yolk, one at a time. Mix the flour with the cornstarch and baking powder and add to the dough in 2 or 3 portions. Put the dough into the greased cake pan and flatten it with a spatula. Mix the almonds with the tablespoon of sugar and sprinkle it over the dough. Put the rhubarb on top of the almonds.

Bake the cake for 30-40 minutes. I used the convection bake function on my oven and I baked my cake on the lower rack. If you don’t have that function, you will have to bake it longer. Make sure you don't burn the cake, as I almost did. Remove the cake from the oven and  let it cool for little while.

Beat the 4 egg whites with the pinch of salt until very stiff, add the 1/3 cup of sugar, the powdered sugar, the lemon juice and continue to beat for a couple of minutes.
 Add the strawberries to the cake and then the meringue. Bake at 375º for 15 minutes until the meringue is lightly colored. Test the cake to see if it is baked in the middle by inserting a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done. 


Let the cake cool a bit and remove the sides of the pan. I used a knife to cut around the inside of the cake form before releasing the cake pan. 


Guten Appetit
Recipe translated from chefkoch.de
adapted by © sunnycovechef.com ​