It’s rhubarb season, and this prolific and delicious fruit is growing like a weed in my garden. It’s a good thing my family loves it. Rhubarb has a tangy flavor but with a texture similar to celery. It is a wonderful addition to fruity desserts, giving them a bit of tang along with the sweetness. My rhubarb pudding cake is a great way to serve this plentiful fruit. This cakey pudding has a caramelized top (kind of like a crème brulee), a creamy custard-like middle, and sweet rhubarb on the bottom. One of the steps to make this cake requires pouring boiling water over the entire batter in the pan. You feel like you’re ruining it, but this is what makes the sweet, crunchy topping as well as the smooth pudding cake underneath. My rhubarb pudding cake is simple to make and gives you a good reason to grow more rhubarb.

Belle’s Rhubarb Pudding Cake

3 cups of rhubarb, coarsely chopped

1 ¾ cup sugar, divided

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

¾ cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup sifted flour

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2/3 cup boiling water

Cover the bottom of an 8 by 8 baking pan with fruit. Mix 3/4 cup of the sugar, the butter, baking powder, salt, the almond and vanilla, milk, and flour together in a bowl. Mix the remaining sugar and cornstarch in another bowl and then sprinkle over the mixture in the pan. Pour the boiling water over the top. Don’t mix! Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped topping if desired.

Brenda Stanley is the mother of five children, including two sets of twins, and a grandmother of eight. She is a cookbook author and novelist. For more recipes and information, visit her website www.talesofthedinnerbelle.com.