Rhubarb and Raspberry Yoghurt Cake

I've made various versions of this cake over the last few days.  This is the third time I have made it, and after giving the previous two cakes away, we are devouring this one with great enthusiasm.  My 3 girls had two pieces in quick succession and my husband had three pieces before pausing then eating a fourth. 

We have had a glut of rhubarb and raspberries in our back garden and I decided to put them to good use as a filling for this cake.  I have used just rhubarb as a filling, which works well, but decided to add the raspberries as an extra flavour boost.

For the rhubarb filling:

Put 700g rhubarb, trimmed and washed then cut into 1cm chunks into an ovenproof dish and sprinkle with 2 Tblsp caster sugar. Bake at 180C for around half an hour or until the rhubarb is tender.

For the cake:

160g caster sugar
200g butter, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large free range eggs
375g self-raising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
260g natural yoghurt, I used Total Greek
4 Tblsp/60ml milk
1 or 2 handfuls of fresh raspberries
3 tsp demerara sugar

Preheat your oven to 180C. Grease and line a square cake tin with non-stick baking paper, mine is 23cm square.

Using a stand mixer or electric beater, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together until they are pale and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time with 1 Tblsp of flour, beating well after each addition until all the eggs have been added and the mixture is well combined.

Stir in the rest of the flour, ground cinnamon, yoghurt and milk. When the cake mixture is ready to be baked, spoon half of the mixture over the base of your prepared cake tin and smooth the top. Spoon over the rhubarb filling, sprinkle over some raspberries and leave a little border so that the filling doesn't spill out of the cake.

Spoon over the remaining cake mixture and smooth the top. Sprinkle over the demerara sugar just before you bake the cake.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean, without any crumbs sticking to it. Take the cake out of the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes in the tin before turning out on to a wire rack to cool completely.

I have submitted this recipe to the SIMPLE AND IN SEASON recipe challenge devised by Ren over at Fabulicious Food and hosted this month by Fleur on her blog, Homemade by Fleur. 

Do take a look at the other recipes in the challenge for some fabulous seasonal cooking inspiration and delicious recipes.