There is this old, slightly tattered piece of paper that I love, and on it is written my grandmother’s recipe for rhubarb cake. It might seem silly to love a handwritten recipe, but for me that paper holds the memory of my grandmother—the sound of her voice, the smells of her kitchen, and the warm welcome of our summertime visits.
It’s written in my aunt’s neat cursive, carefully copied down decades ago for my mom, who passed it on to me. It is a treasured piece of my personal history.
It is also a simple and perfect recipe.
When we moved into our house, one of the things I was most excited about was the little rhubarb patch that came with it. I grew up with rhubarb, and have always had a deep, undying love for it. I’ll put it into anything and everything I can think of: jams, pies, cakes, applesauce, fruit crisp. Inexplicably, one of the things I haven’t put it in yet is sweet breads—I don’t even know how it’s possible I never thought to do that. But it will be remedied soon, I can tell you that much.
When it comes to fruit desserts, I like mine with some zip and zing to balance out the sweet, and rhubarb delivers that in spades. This cake of my grandmother’s is a perfect example of that. Every bite is a heavenly combination of sweet and tart. A light, moist vanilla cake with pockets of tangy rhubarb beneath a crispy cinnamon and sugar crust. I mean, does that sound like perfection or does that sound like perfection?
The recipe calls for “3 cups cut-up rhubarb (or more)” and I always opt for the “or more” because, just like my grandmother apparently knew, you can never have too much rhubarb. Well, maybe you can…but I haven’t discovered the tipping point yet. (I’ll keep trying and let you know.)
I only made one minor change to the original—substituting butter for shortening. I’m not a big fan of shortening, and in reality, there are very few things I use it for (in fact, I can only think of one recipe at the moment).
Even though I took it out of this recipe, let’s talk about shortening for a moment. Most shortenings are made with partially hydrogenated oils. You know that they are evil, right? No joke—not only do they raise your bad cholesterol, they also lower your good cholesterol. They’re so bad for you, in fact, the FDA even agrees they shouldn’t be in our food. They ruled that partially hydrogenated oils are “not generally recognized as safe” and that removing them from processed foods “could prevent thousands of heart attacks and deaths each year.” So, do your heart a favor and steer clear, my friends. (Check labels, it’s an ingredient in many processed foods.)
If you must use shortening, choose a brand that is not partially hydrogenated, like Spectrum, which is what I use. You’ll likely find it in the natural food section of your local grocery store.
You’ll also find rhubarb at your grocery store, local farm stand, or maybe even in your own garden. It’s such a perfectly simple cake that with just a few other ingredients that you likely already have on hand, it can be dessert on a beautiful summer evening (tonight!) or a delightful breakfast coffee cake. Or both. Make it for dessert and enjoy it for breakfast the next morning!
If you love this cake, you’ll also adore Bec’s Yogurt Apple Cake. (Ooh! You could even throw some rhubarb in with the diced apples!!)
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup sour milk (1 cup milk + 1 teaspoon lemon juice, let it sit 5 minutes)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups all purpose flour (or 1 cup whole wheat + 1 cup all purpose)
- 1/4 cup ground flax meal (optional)
- 3 cups (or more) rhubarb, sliced
Topping
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup chopped or ground walnuts (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F/ 177 C. Grease and flour a 13 x 9 baking pan.
- Cream sugar and butter together. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat well.
- Alternate adding dry ingredients and sour milk. Mix well. Fold in rhubarb, and pour batter into prepared pan.
- Mix topping in a small bowl, then sprinkle on top of batter.
- Bake at 350 F/ 177 C for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick in the middle comes out clean. Let it cool completely before cutting.
Notes