Dairy Royal Rhubarb Cake

Where, oh where did June go?  One week left and I can hardly believe it.  It's been a hectic, somewhat stressful time here at Savoring Time but not in an awful way...unless you count jury duty as awful :-)  Yes, I was summoned to appear at the Milwaukee County Courthouse for jury duty last week on the first nice day we had in almost a week.  Each time a list of 30 names was called for a jury panel, I held my breath.  Eventually, I made it through the long day without being called and had fulfilled my obligation.  But, not without coming down with the most awful chest cold I've had in several years.  Down.For.The.Count sick for several days and am still not quite 100% but getting there.  

If you ever get summoned for jury duty, please be sure to have a movie or two downloaded on your device, if you have one.  Or, at least bring a book or two to read.  The day can be very long and boring if you aren't called for a panel.  

In addition, my husband and I bought a very small investment home at the beginning of June.  This means I am the paint color, flooring, cabinets, countertops, appliances, light fixtures, and (just about everything else we need to purchase for the house) researcher and selector!

That is why this recipe has been in draft mode since June 3!  

Although it may not be the prettiest rhubarb cake, it makes up for it's humble appearance many times over in the taste department! It has a very moist crumb due to the sour cream used in the batter.  Topped with a plain cinnamon sugar, I made quick work of several pieces during and after taking these photos  :)

This recipe was given to me by my niece, who got it from a fellow teacher who shared it in the teacher's lunch room.  

Did you know that the earliest recorded rhubarb cultivation was in 2700 BC China?  It was originally use for medicinal purposes only (a purgative).  The word spread through Marco Polo and the first European cultivation was in Italy in the early 1600s and then about 30 years later in England, where it was also first used medicinally.  In the late 1700s there was the first recorded instance of rhubarb used as a food in Europe, mainly as a filling for pies and tarts.  Around 1800, the first American rhubarb was cultivated by a gardener in Maine who obtained root stock from Europe.  He introduced it to other growers in Maine.  Rhubarb spread quickly throughout the Northeast and Midwest as sugar became increasingly available.  

In the last 3 weeks, things have come and gone in the garden...although I am still able to pick rhubarb :)

The containers are finally starting to fill out.  Yellow, Purple, and Blue are definitely the colors of summer here.  

Enjoy!

Dairy Royal Rhubarb Cake

Printable Recipe

Note: I reduced the original recipe by about one-third and used a 9 x 9 inch pan. My amounts are in parentheses. If you make the full recipe, please use a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. 

2 1/3 (1-1/2) cups flour 
1 (1/2 + 1/4) teaspoon salt 
1 (1/2 + 1/4) teaspoon baking soda 
1-1/2 (1) cup brown sugar 
1/4 cup (2-1/2 tablespoons) butter, softened 
1 (2/3) cup sour cream 
1 (2 tablespoons + 1-1/2 teaspoons) egg... (take one small egg and break it into a cup, whisk and then measure)
1 (1/2 + 1/4) teaspoon vanilla 
4 (2-2/3) cup. fresh rhubarb cut in 1/4 inch slices 
3/4 (1/2) cup sugar 
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (I used cinnamon) 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In large mixing bowl, sift flour, salt and soda. Add brown sugar, butter, sour cream, egg and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Fold in rhubarb. Pour into 9 x 13 (9 x 9) greased cake pan (I use Bakers Joy).

Combine sugar and nutmeg (or cinnamon) and sprinkle over top of cake batter. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Cool and serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if desired.

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.

Rhubarb-Strawberry Cake with Orange Peel

This was the second rhubarb recipe that I've made this year, and the first one that I could actually tell you about.  I won't cry about the jars of rhubarb jam that turned out like...Well, I won't. 

This was a success!  So delicious, that I couldn't help cutting off half of the 1 inch edge of the cake and devouring it before the first slice hit the plate.

My inspiration was a post on this sweet Italian blog.  Hers calls for lemon and poppy seeds. One smell and I knew my poppy seeds were past their prime.  However, while I searching for another unopened container of poppy seed I found a jar of Penzey's California dried orange peel that I knew it would make a delicious adaptation.  Does anyone else have their spices arranged in alphabetical order like I do? That's how I found the Orange Peel stored right next to Poppy Seed :) 

My cake turned out much more moist than the one that inspired me, even though I carefully measured the ingredients in grams with my digital scale. I did not have Italian 00 flour and perhaps that was the difference.  The moist and spongey cake didn't bother me at all!  Truly delicious. I had some with my coffee the following morning and, while it was still delicious, I can say that this cake is best eaten the same day it is made, so a small 8x8 or 9x9 inch pan is perfect for this recipe. 

I hope my rhubarb keeps producing so I can try a few more rhubarb recipes after this as I have quite a list!

I'm still spending lots of time in the garden keeping up with watering, weeding, mulching, adding more ties to support all of the the quickly climbing clematis.

I am loving all of the white blooming in the garden right now.

They are so pretty at dusk, my "glow-in-the-dark" white flowers.

Rhubarb-Strawberry Cake with Orange Peel

Adapted From Here

Printable Recipe

Recipe makes one 8x8 or 9x9 inch square baking pan (I used 9 x 9)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 large egg

1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons dried orange peel

2 cups of clean and sliced rhubarb and strawberries (I used 1-1/2 cups rhubarb and 1/2 cup strawberries)

Preheat oven to 350F.  Cut a piece of parchment paper so that 2 sides are longer than the sides of the pan to use as 'handles' for removing the cake from the pan. Spray pan with Bakers Joy or other non-stick spray. 

In a bowl, beat the egg with the sugar. Add the oil, milk, yogurt and orange peel. Add the flour and baking powder and whisk until just combined.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Distribute the cut fruit evenly over the top of the batter. 

Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until lightly golden on top. 

Cool on a baking rack and remove to a platter.