I finished up my rhubarb baking binge with Julie Richardson's "White Chocolate Rhubarb Downside-Up Cake" from Vintage Cakes. The recipe is meant to be baked in a 9-inch round pan but I doubled it and baked it in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan. The first step is to make caramel by cooking sugar with water and lemon juice until it is amber, and then finishing off the caramel with some butter. I also threw in a pinch of salt even though the recipe doesn't call for it. I poured the caramel into the parchment-lined pan and it set up pretty quickly. Then I neatly arranged thin slices of rhubarb on top to cover the entire bottom of the pan.
This cake uses a high-ratio mixing method even though it's not a high-ratio cake (it contains more flour than sugar by weight). You put all of the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, ground ginger, and salt) into a bowl; mix in softened butter and buttermilk; add eggs and vanilla; and pour in white chocolate that has been combined with boiling water. I splurged and used some Valrhona Ivoire 35% for the recipe. I spread the batter over the rhubarb and carmel in the pan, baked the cake, and let it cool for an hour before unmolding it.
When I turned out the cake, quite a bit of liquid caramel came pouring out. Also, the top (the side with the rhubarb) cracked in a few places. This is because the cake was taller in the middle than it was around the edges and it was still warm when I unmolded it -- so when I inverted the cake onto a cutting board it flexed and caused some tears. In retrospect, I wish I had waited until the cake was done cooling before unmolding it. Fortunately, the cracks were relatively straight lines. After the cake was completely cool, I trimmed the uneven edges of the cracks to clean them up a bit. The cake was none the worse for wear and I lost very little cake. While I was trimming up the jagged edges, I noticed that the cake had an exceptionally fine crumb and that I could slice off paper thin slivers.
The cake itself was really good. It had a fine and delicate texture, but a distinct richness from the white chocolate (although I would say that when it comes to white chocolate cake, Rose Levy Beranbaum's White Chocolate Whisper Cake is superior). Nonetheless, this was my least favorite rhubarb dessert from this season. I thought the caramel-rhubarb topping was cloyingly sweet and didn't pair well with the white chocolate cake. But that's okay -- I got my fill of delicious rhubarb desserts this spring!
Recipe: "White Chocolate Rhubarb Downside-Up Cake" from Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson.
Previous Posts:
This cake uses a high-ratio mixing method even though it's not a high-ratio cake (it contains more flour than sugar by weight). You put all of the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, ground ginger, and salt) into a bowl; mix in softened butter and buttermilk; add eggs and vanilla; and pour in white chocolate that has been combined with boiling water. I splurged and used some Valrhona Ivoire 35% for the recipe. I spread the batter over the rhubarb and carmel in the pan, baked the cake, and let it cool for an hour before unmolding it.
The cake itself was really good. It had a fine and delicate texture, but a distinct richness from the white chocolate (although I would say that when it comes to white chocolate cake, Rose Levy Beranbaum's White Chocolate Whisper Cake is superior). Nonetheless, this was my least favorite rhubarb dessert from this season. I thought the caramel-rhubarb topping was cloyingly sweet and didn't pair well with the white chocolate cake. But that's okay -- I got my fill of delicious rhubarb desserts this spring!
Recipe: "White Chocolate Rhubarb Downside-Up Cake" from Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson.
Previous Posts:
- "Sweet, Tart, and Hot: Roasted Rhubarb and Ginger Streusel Tart," June 21, 2018.
- "Hearty and Bright, a Simple Delight: Rhubarb, Marzipan, and Citrus Cake," June 11, 2018.
- "Go with the Grain: Rhubarb Custard Cake," June 7, 2018.
- "Only the Color Is a Washout: Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake," June 15, 2012.
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