French Food Friday...Rhubarb Croissant Bread and Butter Pudding Cake

 

photo and recipe from here

Bonjour mes belles,

When I saw this recipe, I knew that it was for me and would you believe it comes all the way from New Zealand. We quite often have a surplus of croissants chez nous hence this recipe will come in very useful and satisfy French Boyfriend's sweet tooth. The French love cakes and have been known to eat them for breakfast.

 

Rhubarb Croissant Bread and Butter Pudding Cake

5 good quality big stale croissants, each torn into 3-4 pieces

4 eggs plus 2 egg yolks

3/4 cup whole milk

1 cup cream

1 1/4 cups caster sugar

3/4 cup ground almonds

1 tsp cinnamon or 1/2 tsp almond essence

1/3 cup flaked almonds

1 tbsp caster sugar

Preheat oven 180˚C (350˚F) and put rhubarb in a single layer in a baking dish. Sprinkle over sugar, zest and vanilla extract and bake for 15 minutes (until tender) then leave to cool. Line the base and sides of a 23cm spring form cake tin with baking paper. (It needs to be a really water-tight spring form tin - if it's old or a bit gappy/leaky, it'll make a mess in the oven)

In a big jug, beat eggs, yolks, sugar, milk and cream until pale. Layer half of the croissants into the prepared tin, covering the base fully. Sprinkle over half of the rhubarb. Layer up with the remaining croissants and top with the rest of the rhubarb in big blobs. Press down gently, but leave a few bits of pointy croissant sticking up - they'll go lovely and crunchy. Pour the cream, sugar and egg mixture over the croissants, coating everything fully. Leave to stand for 20 minutes and preheat the oven to 160˚C (325˚F). Sprinkle with flaked almonds and sugar and bake for an hour. The custard will probably puff up a little in the oven, then sink when you remove it - this is fine, it will set into a delicious creamy mix with the croissants. Leave to cool for at least half an hour before serving with whipped cream and/or vanilla bean ice cream. Serves 8 - 10.

 

très bon vendredi à tous, Leeann x