Strawberry Rhubarb Sundae Cakes

Ahhh, it's rhubarb season again. When I was a kid, every house I ever lived in had rhubarb growing wild at the back of the yard against the fence. Every single house, I swear. To me, it was an edible weed and my mom would let me take a bowl of sugar out on the back porch and dip a stalk of rhubarb into the sugar and munch happily away on it, disregarding the fact that it was most likely covered in dog pee. My mom was cool like that.

Nowadays, rhubarb is $4 a stalk at the market and has become super trendy and I no longer live in a house with a yard so I can grow my own wild rhubarb by the fence for the dog to pee on so I have no choice but to pay $4 a stalk for it, hopefully dog pee free at these prices. The Kid adores rhubarb so I whipped up a bit of strawberry rhubarb compote for him to eat all week however he sees fit.

Beware, this recipe is a bit tart because he likes his rhubarb a bit on the sour side so feel free to add another 1/4 cup of sugar if you like it sweet. He eats it on ice cream, in a bowl with a drizzle of maple syrup over some greek yogurt or on toast. If I let him, he would most likely just grab a spoon and it straight out of the jar. I would let him do that if I had free dog pee rhubarb.

Let's be honest here. Apart from the strawberry rhubarb compote, this is not a home made, super woman cooking it all from scratch dessert. I am sure I could make the sponge cake myself and if I wasn't going to use the PC dulce de leche, I would still most likely just simmer a can of condensed milk forever and go South American style but Shack does love those little cakes and we all love the PC dulce de leche and it makes a really fast, easy, delicious week night dessert this way. It's not pretty but it is really good and The Kid has had two of these for dessert every night this week.

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

1 lb rhubarb
1 cup sliced strawberries (I used frozen but either fresh or frozen is fine)
2 tbls finely chopped candied ginger
1/4 cup sugar (1/2 cup if you like it sweet)
1/4 cup water





Wash your rhubarb and cut the rough ends off (make sure to cut off the leafy end too because the leaves are supposedly poisoned and I don't want anyone dying out there)
Chop the rhubarb into 1/2" dice. If you are using fresh strawberries, wash and hull them and cut them into quarters and if you are using frozen there is no need to thaw them out or anything.
Put the fruit, sugar, ginger and water into a small pot, bring to a boil and let simmer over med heat for about ten minutes, until all of the fruit has broken down.
Remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes. Pour the mixture into a heat proof glass jar and let it cool in the fridge for at least an hour.


Strawberry Rhubarb Sundae Cakes


Strawberry rhubarb compote

vanilla ice cream

PC Farmer's Market individual Sponge Cakes ( yes I know but Shack loves those pre made sponge cakes you get at the grocery store and I like to make him happy)

PC dulce de leche

When it's time to assemble your dessert, take the ice cream out of the freezer so it can soften a bit while you prep everything else.
For each serving, put one of your little sponge cakes on a plate. Place a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of that and then pour about 1/4 cup of the strawberry rhubarb sauce (or more to taste if you are my kid). Drizzle some dulce de leche on it (I warm a big spoonful up in the microwave for ten seconds first) and grab a fork.