Easy Rhubarb Cake - A Tarty Taste Of Spring

We love rhubarb and every spring we wait for the rhubarb harvest with great anticipation. The wonderful tart flavour of rhubarb is the perfect addition to many sweet desserts and recipes. The first recipe of the season was an easy rhubarb cake, and it was absolutely delicious.

Rhubarb arrives just as the kids are finishing the school year. Our memories of rhubarb are connected to summer vacation and the anticipation of the upcoming gardening season.

We love to use this delicious plant in our cooking and recipes, and grab it while we can, as the season is short.

Rhubarb is a perennial plant, and the rhubarb grows once a year in early spring.

The stems are the parts of the plant that can be used in cooking.

Don't touch the leaves or the roots for cooking, as they are not edible.

Wait until the stems or stalks have turned colour with a blush of pink. There are many different varieties of rhubarb, and some will turn pinker than others.

When the rhubarb is ready to harvest, it's time to get cooking.

Inspiration For The Cake

The first recipe that we made this year was an easy rhubarb cake, inspired by Mary from Lovefoodies. We adapted the recipe, using a little less rhubarb and added brown sugar for the streusel topping. We also held the ginger.

This cake is absolutely delicious, with a perfect combination of sweetness and tart.

The rhubarb contributed lots of moisture to the dish and we ended up cooking it for just a little longer.

In the end the whole family enjoyed their first taste of rhubarb for the season.

Do I Need To Peel Rhubarb?

The flesh on rhubarb stalks tend to peel like the skin on a celery stalk. You will notice this as you cut it into tiny chunks, and some pieces may peel back.

If your rhubarb is fresh and tender there is no need to peel the skin for this recipe. The skin will cook and become tender and moist.

If the skin is thicker and more coarse you can peel some of these pieces off. When the rhubarb is cooked however, you will probably not even notice this part of the stalk.

Some rhubarb growers force an early crop of rhubarb by "forcing" the growth of the plants. This is achieved by covering the plants and growing them in the dark.

Forced rhubarb stalks are milder and sweeter with less of a tarty flavour. As well, the forced rhubarb stalks are tender and will not require any sort of extra peeling.

How Do You Cut Rhubarb For A Cake?

The easiest way to cut rhubarb for a cake is to chop it up into bite sized morsels. The size of the pieces is up to the baker, and there is generally no need to remove the skin from the stalk.

Cutting rhubarb for a cake is a personal choice, and the size really depends on how much rhubarb you would like to have in a spoonful of cake.

We cut our rhubarb into one inch chunks, and the topping of rhubarb even smaller. This size was perfect for the cake and allowed just enough rhubarb and cake together in a spoonful.

How Do You Make Rhubarb Cake From Scratch?

This easy cake was very simple to make from scratch.

We doubled the recipe for a 9 x 13 pan, although this made the cake slightly deeper and the rhubarb made it more moist.

We cooked the doubled recipe an extra ten minutes and it turned out beautifully in the end.

Ingredients

• Fresh chopped rhubarb- 2.5 cups

• Juice of one half of a fresh lemon

• 1 ⅓ cups of white flour

• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

• ¾ cup of butter

• 1 cup of white sugar

• 3 eggs

• 2 teaspoon vanilla

Streusel Topping Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon of butter

• 2 tablespoons of flour

• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Directions

• Prepare an 8 x 8 inch pan by greasing and lining with parchment paper.

• Preheat your oven to 350° F.

• Chop the rhubarb into small chunks about an inch in length.

• Place rhubarb in a bowl and add the lemon. Toss the rhubarb in the lemon juice and set aside.

• Prepare the cake ingredients by adding all together in a mixing bowl, minus the rhubarb which will be folded in after the mixing.

• Mix the ingredients until they form a smooth batter.

• Fold in 1.5 cups of rhubarb into the mixture. Save the other cup of rhubarb for the topping.

• Add the cake batter to your baking pan.

• Smooth out the batter, then add the remaining rhubarb to the top of the cake.

• We cut the remaining rhubarb for the topping into smaller half inch pieces.

• Prepare your streusel topping, and sprinkle over the top.

Cooking And Serving The Rhubarb Cake

• Bake at 350°F for 60 minutes, or until the cake is cooked firmly through when tested with a skewer, or as in our house an uncooked spaghetti pasta noodle.

• Rhubarb tends to hold a lot of moisture and the centre of the cake can be quite moist.

• Additional cooking time helped, and the moist cake was divine.

• We served ours up warm with a dollop of ice cream, then again the next day just plain. It was so tasty and tart.

• You can also serve with fresh whipped cream for a light and creamy alternative.

Does Rhubarb Cake Freeze Well?

Rhubarb cake freezes very well.

We placed a few pieces away for a later time, however unfortunately they did not last long, as someone had a craving and they had to be eaten.

Have you ever made rhubarb cake? Be sure to leave a comment below and share your experience!

If you have made this recipe, we would love to hear back from you on how it turned out.

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