Thursday, July 02, 2009

Rhubarb cake recipe

If you watched yesterday's Road Trip video, you know I enjoyed some rhubarb cake at a family reunion in Owatonna, Minnesota last Saturday. I don't think I've ever posted a recipe on this blog, but friends have been e-mailing, so I'll just drop the recipe here (Thank you, Gloria!) and point everyone to the link.

I don't know where this recipe originated, so I'm calling it:

Cousin Gloria's Minnesota Rhubarb Cake

1½ cup brown sugar
½ cup shortening
2 eggs
pinch of salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 t. vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1½ cups rhubarb
2 cups flour

Spread in a 9 x 13" greased pan, then mix topping:

½ cup sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts

Add topping and bake at 325° for 45 minutes.


I just got the recipe today and haven't tried it yet, so let me know if I've got something wrong. Gloria didn't say whether she used frozen or chopped fresh rhubarb, but I'm sure either would work.

This is a fairly coarse snack cake, and not terribly sweet. I'll serve it with morning coffee or afternoon tea rather than as a dessert. The rhubarb adds a wonderful tartness.


UPDATED AUGUST 20, 2009:

Can't believe I made such a dumb mistake, but I neglected to include the baking soda in this recipe! My deepest apologies to those of you who tried the cake and wondered if you had done something wrong. (The recipe you see above has been corrected.)

A Twitter friend has asked about the topping. I assured her it is not a streussel topping--no butter, no flour. Just sugared nuts.

My husband made the cake last weekend. It's a very simple snack cake, but we loved its moistness, its sugary, nutty topping, and the tang of the rhubarb (he used fresh, uncooked).


4 comments:

ME said...

Yum! I love rhubarb and if they have any at the farmer's market tomorrow, will test recipe and let you know how it goes.

ME said...

Hey Brenda, I tried the recipe and found the cake had quite a dense texture. Also, the topping didn't quite melt up like I expected. Still good. The tinkerer in me tried it again and this time I added 1/4 cup of fine coconut to the batter as well as to the topping and substituted brown sugar for white sugar on the topping and it worked much better. Thanks for the recipe.

Sally Ferguson said...

Ummm coconut sounds like a great addition.
I have a strawberry rhubarb cobbler recipe that is a summer favorite!

Brenda Coulter said...

Oh, Caroline (and Sally and everyone else)! I feel like such a dunce!

I left the baking soda (1 tsp.) out of the recipe. No wonder you ended up with a dense cake! I'm so sorry. If you'll look at the post again, you'll see the updated version with some extra notes.