Simple Classic Rhubarb Cake for Spring

I spent Easter week in the German countryside this year, where my partner has a gorgeous garden behind his childhood home.

The spring is such a fun time to garden and see what’s starting to grow, but it’s also prime time for slugs, who especially love to munch on anything that grows close to the ground.

Although Raph’s rhubarb has been steadily growing over the past few years, it has also been a slug magnet due to its proximity to the soil, and so its fate was questionable.

This year we were happy to return to a flourishing rhubarb plant with plenty of healthy stalks. Although the fate of my baked goods can also sometimes be questionable, I decided to take advantage of the bounty and bake this a classic rhubarb cake before I came back home to France.

I modified this recipe by halving the sugar, using more cinnamon, adding vanilla, opting for quark and yogurt instead of sour cream, and swapping spelt for all-purpose flour. It turned out absolutely delicious.

There are ways to make it free of dairy and gluten if needed, too, as noted below.

Note: I personally approach baking from a very experimental standpoint, so if you desire more / less / no cinnamon or vanilla, you want to double the sugar like the original recipe, or you need to add more / less flour or yogurt to find you desired cake-batter consistency, don’t be afraid to play a bit 🙂

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Simple Classic Rhubarb Cake for Spring

Rhubarb Cake Ingredients

• 2 cups / 240g all-purpose flour (sub spelt or gluten-free flour)
• 3/4 cups / 125g raw sugar (sub coconut sugar)
• 1 tsp baking soda (sub 3 tsp baking powder)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon, to taste
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp vanilla powder, to taste (optional)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs, beaten (sub 2 Tbsp chia seeds with 6 Tbsp warm water, let rest for ~5 minutes)
• 1 cup / 250g yogurt or sour cream (sub coconut or dairy-free yogurt)
• 3 cups / 375g rhubarb, chopped or diced

Streusel Topping Ingredients

• 1/2 cup / 100g raw sugar
• 1/4 cup / 4 Tbsp butter, softened (sub olive or coconut oil)
• 1/4 cup / 30g all-purpose flour, adjusting as needed (sub spelt flour or gluten-free flour)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F / 175 C.
2. Grease and flour a 9×13-inch baking dish or cake pan, or use parchment paper – it worked for me.
3. For the cake: Stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.
4. Stir in eggs, yogurt / sour cream, and vanilla until smooth, then fold in the rhubarb – it might seem like a lot of rhubarb, but it will cook together nicely.
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish and spread it out evenly.
6. For the streusel: Mix together the sugar and butter in a medium bowl until smooth. Stir in the flour until the mixture is crumbly – I used my hands for this to get my desired texture.
7. Sprinkle the streusel on top of the cake, then dust with a bit more cinnamon if desired.
8. Bake in the preheated oven until you can stick a toothpick or knife in the center and it comes out clean, about 45 minutes depending on your oven.
9. Let cool on a wire rack and enjoy – serve with a dollop of yogurt or fresh whipped cream if desired.
10. Store thecake at room temperature in glass tupperware for about 3 days, or in the fridge.