Despite having a rhubarb plant in my backyard growing up, I had never eaten rhubarb as the star ingredient in a recipe until this cake! Every time rhubarb season arose, my mom would cut our rhubarb and then pick (or buy) strawberries to make her pie, tart, or jam recipe.
I certainly didn’t understand the nuance of flavors to comprehend why we paired rhubarb and strawberries so often, but now that my mouth has been trained (lots of eating!), I can wrap my head around the fact that the sweetness of the strawberries offsets the tartness of the rhubarb (#science).
Since I happen to love tart desserts, the moment I saw this rhubarb cake in Bon Appetit, I knew I had to try it. I wanted to make this more of a breakfast cake, so I reduced the amount of sugar (from 1 1/2 cups to 1 1/4), but feel free to keep the original amount if you like it sweeter!
I served this with unsweetened whipped cream and it made for the perrrffeect breakfast.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In a separate large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs and egg yolk together until the mixture becomes pale and thick. It will take about 1 minute of non-stop whisking. When the mixture ribbons off the whisk, you know it’s done!
Add in the cooled melted butter, sour cream, vanilla extract, and citrus zest of your choice (I used lime).
Whisk to combine.
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and fold with a spatula until the batter just comes together and you can no longer see any large lumps in the batter.
Pour into your prepared baking pan and place into the fridge for at least 10 minutes before moving to the next step. This is very important, as it gives the batter some structure so your rhubarb won’t sink to the bottom!
Place the rhubarb atop the batter, trimming pieces to fit your pan. Don’t press the fruit into the batter – just place it on top.
Sprinkle with 1/2 tablespoon sugar to evenly coat the top of the cake.
Bake until cake is golden on top and browned around the sides, this will take between 40-45 minutes.
Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cake cool in pan 10 minutes.
Remove from pan using the foil (or slide a knife around sides of cake to loosen and unmold if using springform).
Place onto rack and let cool completely – enjoy as-is or with unsweetened whipped cream.
Adapted from: Bon Appetit
Makes: 8-12 servings
Prep: 15 minutes, Cook: 30 minutes, Total: 45 minutes
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1 cup all-purpose flour
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3/4 teaspoon baking powder
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1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
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4 tablespoons butter
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2 large eggs
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1 large egg yolk
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1 1/4 cup sugar, plus 1/2 tablespoon for sprinkling
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1/4 cup sour cream
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2 tablespoons vanilla extract
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2 teaspoons finely grated lime (or lemon) zest
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8-10 (about 8 oz) fresh rhubarb stalks
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In a separate large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs and egg yolk together until the mixture becomes pale and thick. It will take about 1 minute of non-stop whisking. When the mixture ribbons off the whisk, you know it’s done!
Add in the cooled melted butter, sour cream, vanilla extract, and citrus zest of your choice. Whisk to combine.
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and fold with a spatula until the batter just comes together and you can no longer see any large lumps in the batter.
Pour into your prepared baking pan and place into the fridge for at least 10 minutes before moving to the next step. This is very important, as it gives the batter some structure so your rhubarb won’t sink to the bottom!
Place the rhubarb atop the batter, trimming pieces to fit your pan. Don’t press the fruit into the batter – just place it on top.
Sprinkle with 1/2 tablespoon sugar to evenly coat the top of the cake.
Bake until cake is golden on top and browned around the sides, this will take between 40-45 minutes.
Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cake cool in pan 10 minutes.
Remove from pan using the foil (or slide a knife around sides of cake to loosen and unmold if using springform).
Place onto rack and let cool completely – enjoy as-is or with slightly sweet whipped cream.
Crunchy Salty Sweet 