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Every once in a while, I try to use an ingredient that I have never used before. Do you ever try new ingredients? Rhubarb is an ingredient that you do not see often. It looks a lot like a celery but when it is cooked, it gets very sweet. So if you are going to a friend’s house, and want to impress them, go for rhubarb. This Rhubarb Coffee Cake is really quite easy to make but looks really cool. I do not think it looks like simple but it is.
Rhubarb Coffee Cake
I made this Rhubarb Coffee Cake for brunch at my brother and sister-in-laws house. My sister-in-law is a great cook. She called and asked that I make a coffee cake. I really need to up my game if I am going to get some appreciation for my creation. I have seen rhubarb used a few times but I am not familiar with it. So like I have suggested before when you do not know how to do something. Google it. I learned that when you cook rhubarb it gets very sweet. The amazing thing about life, is how something that comes up in your life keeps coming up. For me, that was rhubarb. Almost the next evening after making my coffee cake, my wife and I were at our friend’s house. What were they growing in their garden? You guessed it. Rhubarb. Now, I understand where it comes from and what it looks like. It looks like a red celery. Unlike celery, there is only one stalk.
- 1/2 pound rhubarb, diced
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1 3/4 cups cake flour
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons softened butter, cut into 8 pieces.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray an 8-inch-square baking pan.
- For filling, slice rhubarb in 1/2 - 1 inch pieces and toss with sugar, cornstarch and ginger. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk sugars, spices and salt into melted butter until smooth.
- Then, add flour with a spatula or wooden spoon. It will look and feel like a solid dough. Leave it pressed together in the bottom of the bowl and set aside.
- In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla.
- Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Add butter and a spoonful of sour cream mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened.
- Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds.
- Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula.
- Scoop out about 1/2 cup batter and set aside.
- Pour the remaining batter into prepared pan.
- Spoon rhubarb over batter.
- Dollop the set-aside batter over rhubarb.
- Using your fingers, crumble the crumble mixture all over the top.
- Sprinkle it all over cake.
- Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean of batter 45 to 55 minutes.
- Cool completely before serving.
Rhubarb Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
The rhubarb is mixed with sugar, corn starch and ginger.
Rhubarb & Sugar
The crumble is white and dark sugar mixed with melted butter.
Crumble
The cake is mixed and then poured into the baking pan.
Cake Added to Pan
Then the rhubarb is added, topped with more cake batter, and finished, with the crumble.
Rhubarb Added to Cake
Cake Topped
Crumble Topped
The final dish.
Rhubarb Coffee Cake
A good looking rhubarb cake – here in Scandinavia,we love to bake cake with rhubarbs – tasting especially good with orange zest/juice and almond paste in the batter.
Jams – combined with strawberries are really nice, also good for chutneys and served as a side to fat fish-types..
We also make a cold rhubarb dessert soup who is loved by everyone:)
I think we are especially enthusiastic because it’s the first vegetable/fruit who is showing up from the garden late spring/early summer;)
~ I have a question about the beatiful peach(?)cake in your logo on your blog – do you have a recipe or could you please direct me to as close as possible recipe/name of this cake?
Best wishes from mayK – Norway/Scandinavia
May, thanks for stopping by. I will definitely have to look up some more rhubarb recipes. You are showing me a number of really good ideas. Sorry but the peach picture was a stock photo.
This looks so good, love all the flavors! Perfect cake for hot summer days!
Thx Florian.
I ate a lot of rhubarb growing up because we used to grow it, but I don’t see it much here. This coffee cake looks so good and must taste so good with the rhubarb.
It certainly is not common. Not sure why. It is really good.
I’m not too familiar w/ rhubab either but this looks really satisfying and delicious. I’m a huge fan of coffee cake anyway so this is just the icing on the cake for me, so to speak 🙂