Rhubarb Cake
At the bottom of our garden in my childhood home in England, we had a large rhubarb plant. Every now and again, my step-mum used to send me down to pick a few stalks, which she’d usually make into rhubarb and apple crumble. I loved its tangy sharpness.
As soon as I had a garden of my own, I got a rhubarb plant. The first year, I didn’t harvest it. The second year, I picked a few stalks. And every year after that, it just grew huge and I felt overwhelmed by the amount of rhubarb it produced and didn’t know what to do with it all.
Last spring, I offered some to our new neighbors, who were delighted. They made rhubarb cake. And gave me the recipe.
Perhaps I was already overwhelmed with rhubarbness (or a new baby) last year, but I didn’t make any rhubarb cake. This year I have. Twice. Plus I gave the recipe to our babysitter.
I think the recipe comes from a Moosewood cookbook. It’s called Erma Mabel’s Rhubarb Cake. My version is dairy-free (for Kevin):
1/2 cup earth balance margarine
1 cup sugar (you can use a little less than 1 cup)
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups organic white flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup organic soy milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 to 3 cups rhubarb chopped into 1-inch pieces (4-6 stalks, depending on their size)
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray the baking dish with spray oil. (I use an oval baking dish, but something about 7×11 is the right size).
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after adding each one. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, alternating with the milk and vanilla.
Spread a little more than 1/2 the batter in the baking dish, Sprinkle on the rhubarb. Add the rest of the batter, spreading evenly. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Eat! Eat! Eat! 
This is one yummy cake — even dairy-free. It comes out golden brown on top. The cake itself is sweet, and the rhubarb is perfectly soft and tangy.
3 Responses to “Rhubarb Cake”
Leave a Reply
Yum-o. I love rhubarb, we had two massive plants when I was growing up too. I have a baby plant this year… can’t wait until it gets bigger! Printing the recipe off to save…
OMG, I am so going to try this. I think that dairy free baking is something great to get into as far as opening a bakery. If you have any other recipes, I would LOVE to see them.
Basically, substitute soy milk for milk/butter milk and dairy-free margarine or oil for butter. Don’t use buttermilk or powdered milk and you’re good to go. I should post my cinnamon roll recipe sometime. (I’ll need to make some to take pics, of course. hehe)