Rhubarb and custard cheesecake: a true romance of flavours

Sometimes, when I am planning a pudding, it can feel like there is a hitch in my brain, a little sticky spot that I catch on, and have to release myself from before I can move on. That hitch, that sticky spot, is rhubarb and custard. I know that there are other pudding bases, sweet dishes that are more original, more popular. I know that there exist other marvellous fruits that deserve the spotlight, that there are chocolate concoctions that will ooze and impress, bitter caramels that will shock and delight. But in order to get to them, I have to move past my first instinct which is always: rhubarb and custard.

It’s not simply that it is a default combination in my mind. ‘Default’ suggests something boring and uninspired, like toast for lunch, or tomato pasta for supper – not unenjoyable, but not exactly interesting. For me, it is the opposite: that rhubarb and custard is such a wonderful combination, that it is so interesting, that it can be difficult to think of anything else.

Most classic combos are classic for a reason, but rhubarb and custard has its own particular charm that goes above and beyond this, I think. Looking at rhubarb and custard makes me feel like I have synaesthesia, like I can taste the colours. The highlighter pink of the rhubarb stem tastes as sweet-sharp, as simultaneously mouth-puckering and candied as it looks. Whereas the buttermilk-coloured custard that contrasts is as cool and calming, as mellow and rich as it appears. The two together bring out the best in the other: their contrast is their strength. It’s no real surprise that it is my first port of call when there is a need for pudding.

Here I combine them in a baked cheesecake. A cheesecake base is – surprisingly for a dish containing over half a kilo of cheese – something of an empty vessel for flavour, and allows the aromatic vanilla to shine and hold its own alongside the stirred through rhubarb compote.