Rhubarb Almond Crumb Cake

This is probably the best rhubarb recipe that I've made.  Seriously delicious.  I recently saw this on Chow Chow Linda, a very nice blog that I follow full of great Italian recipes, but it is originally from a contest winner at Food 52.  I'm sure Linda, being Italian, was attracted to the fact that it has a slight Italian twist to it with the almonds in the crumb topping and almond extract in the cake.  I was worried how the almond flavor would taste with the rhubarb but it wonderful! 

This was such a delicious cake that I can't wait to try it with other seasonal fruit.  The nuts in the topping could be varied with the type of fruit also. The bonus was that it tasted even more delicious the second day after the moisture from the rhubarb had a chance to blend into the cake. It's a perfect coffee cake for the morning, for snacking in the afternoon, or you could make it an after-dinner dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  You can see my rhubarb plants are still going strong in the background. 

I did reduce the amount of sugar in the cake batter from 1-1/4 cups to 1 cup and I think I could have even cut back to 3/4 cup easily as I don't like overly sweet desserts.  I also increased the amount of rhubarb from 1-1/2 cups to 2 cups.

We are hosting our gourmet group a week from Saturday - the first day of summer!  My husband and I will be busy getting the yard manicured and all the other things that need to be organized for hosting our group of 10 for this fun event so you will likely not see me posting or visiting as we get closer to the date. Until then - Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there and Happy Summer Solstice to all!

Rhubarb Almond Crumb Cake

Adapted from Food 52

Printable Recipe

Serves 8 to 10

For the crumb topping:

2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 tablespoons slivered almonds, chopped
2 tablespoons rolled oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

For the cake:

An 8-inch spring form or deep cake pan

Butter for greasing the pan

2 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon almond extract
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cups rhubarb, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Melt the butter and set aside to cool slightly. Butter the sides of an 8" spring form or deep cake pan.  Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of the pan.

For the crumb, combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Using a fork or your fingers, gently work in the butter until small clumps form. 

Combine the eggs, sugar, salt, and almond extract in a large bowl. Beat the mixture on high until it triples in volume, about five minutes. Fold in the melted butter, flour, and rhubarb. Evenly spread the thick batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the top.

Bake for 60 to 75 minutes, until the topping is deeply golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place the pan on a cooling rack and remove the cake when it’s completely cool.