After a recent impulse buy of some rhubarb, I looked for some recipes to put it to use. The first one I selected was Luisa Weiss' "Rhabarberkuchen/Simple Rhubarb Cake" from Classic German Baking. This cake is very simple. You make the batter from high-fat butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon peel, flour, baking powder, salt, and milk. The recipe yields a small amount of batter and I was skeptical when I poured it into the specified 10-inch buttered and parchment-lined pan; the layer of batter was very thin. I topped the batter with chopped rhubarb that had been tossed with a little sugar. The recipe specifies "1 pound 2 ounces/500g rhubarb, trimmed," and I honestly wasn't sure if the quantity specified was supposed to be pre-trimmed weight or post-trimmed weight. I ended up using 450 grams of trimmed rhubarb and it seemed like plenty; Weiss notes that it will seem like a lot of rhubarb.
I baked the cake for an hour and was delighted with the bright pink hue of the rhubarb topping, which hadn't faded at all. I dusted the cake with powdered sugar before serving. Weiss recommends sweetened whipped cream as the traditional German accompaniment for any rhubarb cake and the headnote actually says, "Served with whipped cream, always." Since I was taking the cake the work, I skipped the whipped cream and the cake was still wonderful. You could definitely taste the rhubarb and cake itself sort of plays second fiddle; it was just sweet enough to offset the tartness of the rhubarb. But this simple cake with lots of rhubarb was quite lovely.
I still had some rhubarb left over, so I also made Flo Braker's "Almond-Rhubarb Snack Cake" from Baking for All Occasions. The recipe is meant to be baked in a 9-inch springform pan and calls for 130 grams of rhubarb, but I had enough rhubarb for two cakes, so I doubled the recipe and baked it in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan. To make the cake batter you beat room temperature butter with sugar; add vanilla and almond extract, followed by eggs; alternately add the sifted dry ingredients (cake flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder) and buttermilk; and fold in thinly sliced rhubarb.
I spread the batter into a parchment-lined 9-inch by 13-inch pan and put it in the oven. While it was baking, I made the almond topping by briefly cooking butter, flour, heavy cream, and sugar over low heat. I poured the topping over the cake 10 minutes before I expected it to be done cooking, sprinkled on some blanched flaked almonds, and put the cake back in the oven. The recipe says you should cook the cake until the topping just begins to bubble, which took 15 minutes. I let the cake cool in the pan.
I might have overbaked the cake -- or more specifically the topping -- because the topping was brittle and flaked off as I sliced the cake. The recipe does not provide any description of the almond topping, so I don't know if it was supposed to be crispy or not. I was a little disappointed that all of the rhubarb had sunk to the bottom of the cake, since I had been careful to slice it thinly and the headnote says that "Cutting the stalks into thin slices ensures that they'll cook through quickly and prevents them from sinking to the bottom during baking."
The slices of the snack cake were huge; it had risen right up to the top of the 2-inch tall pan. And even though it looked messy, the cake was indulgent and delicious. I would characterize it as an almond cake that happens to have rhubarb in it -- while the Luisa Weiss cake is clearly a rhubarb cake. Since I'm an almond lover, it's probably not surprising that I liked the Flo Braker cake more between the two. It wasn't particularly refined, but it was buttery, springy, and very almond-y with an irresistible crunchy candy-like topping. I think "snack cake" is an apt description for it. But either of these two cakes is a great use of rhubarb.
Recipes: "Rhabarberkuchen/Simple Rhubarb Cake" from Classic German Baking by Luisa Weiss and "Almond-Rhubarb Snack Cake" from Baking for All Occasions by Flo Braker.
Previous Posts:
I still had some rhubarb left over, so I also made Flo Braker's "Almond-Rhubarb Snack Cake" from Baking for All Occasions. The recipe is meant to be baked in a 9-inch springform pan and calls for 130 grams of rhubarb, but I had enough rhubarb for two cakes, so I doubled the recipe and baked it in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan. To make the cake batter you beat room temperature butter with sugar; add vanilla and almond extract, followed by eggs; alternately add the sifted dry ingredients (cake flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder) and buttermilk; and fold in thinly sliced rhubarb.
I might have overbaked the cake -- or more specifically the topping -- because the topping was brittle and flaked off as I sliced the cake. The recipe does not provide any description of the almond topping, so I don't know if it was supposed to be crispy or not. I was a little disappointed that all of the rhubarb had sunk to the bottom of the cake, since I had been careful to slice it thinly and the headnote says that "Cutting the stalks into thin slices ensures that they'll cook through quickly and prevents them from sinking to the bottom during baking."
The slices of the snack cake were huge; it had risen right up to the top of the 2-inch tall pan. And even though it looked messy, the cake was indulgent and delicious. I would characterize it as an almond cake that happens to have rhubarb in it -- while the Luisa Weiss cake is clearly a rhubarb cake. Since I'm an almond lover, it's probably not surprising that I liked the Flo Braker cake more between the two. It wasn't particularly refined, but it was buttery, springy, and very almond-y with an irresistible crunchy candy-like topping. I think "snack cake" is an apt description for it. But either of these two cakes is a great use of rhubarb.
Recipes: "Rhabarberkuchen/Simple Rhubarb Cake" from Classic German Baking by Luisa Weiss and "Almond-Rhubarb Snack Cake" from Baking for All Occasions by Flo Braker.
Previous Posts:
- "Pretty Cake, Please -- With Sugar on Top!: Rhubarb-Almond Cake," July 31, 2015.
- "Impulse Baking: Rhubarb Tart with Brown Butter Streusel," May 23, 2014.
- "A Cloud That Really Shines: Lemon Cloud Tart with Rhubarb Compote," June 14, 2013.
- "A Measure of Rhubarb Redemption: Rhubarb Mascarpone Mousse Cake," June 20, 2012.
- "Only the Color Is a Washout: Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake," June 15, 2012.
- "A Softy for Tarts: Rhubarb-Streusel Tart," June 7, 2012.
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