Bay, rye and hazelnut loaf cake with poached rhubarb

Method

1. Start with the rhubarb. Find a wide shallow pan for which you have a lid (a deep-sided frying pan is ideal). Pour the sugar and 300ml cold water into the pan. Use a peeler to peel the zest from the orange and add this to the pan, then halve the orange and squeeze the juice into the mixture as well. Set over a medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Turn off the heat as soon as it begins to boil.
2. Add the rhubarb batons to the hot syrup, arranging them so they sit in a single layer. Cover with a lid and leave overnight or for 4 hours at a minimum. The warm liquid will very gently cook the rhubarb so it becomes soft without losing its shape. It will also, magically, become pinker.
3. Now for the cake. Line the loaf tin with baking paper and heat the oven to 195°C/175°C fan/gas 5½.
4. Put the flours, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder in a bowl and stir together. Whizz half the hazelnuts in a herb chopper or the small bowl of a food processor until they resemble coarse sand. (Take care not to over process or they’ll turn greasy and claggy.) Add the ground hazelnuts to the flour bowl. This is your dry mix.
5. In another bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and finely chopped bay leaves until light and fluffy. Gradually add the whisked eggs, beating thoroughly before adding the next glug. If you fear this mixture might curdle, add a spoonful of the dry mix with each glug of egg.
6. Fold the rest of the dry mix into the buttery bowl. Stir in the yogurt and milk to loosen the batter, then spoon the batter into the prepared loaf tin and smooth out the top. Press the whole bay leaves into the top and sprinkle over the remaining chopped hazelnuts and the demerara sugar.
7. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when pushed into the centre. Leave in the tin for 15 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Serve in slices with a spoon of drained poached rhubarb see Don’t Waste It) and a good dollop of crème fraîche.