Rhubarb Cake

When you mention rhubarb to folks, they often let out a happy sigh while saying "strawberry rhubarb pie".

And, while I imagine strawberry rhubarb pie to be yummy, I'm just not a pie person. (I know, I know, this is incomprehensible to all of you - including my husband -- who love pies. But, it is the truth.)

Nevertheless, I have a whole lot of rhubarb to put to use, so I went in search of a rhubarb cake recipe. I found a recipe that sounded yummy on Allrecipes.com (I adapted ever so slightly) -- what cake with buttermilk isn't yummy?

Despite the fact that my oven went on the fritz while baking (it shot up to 500 degrees despite the fact that I had set it at 350 degrees!), the cake was a HUGE hit with both my family and the company we shared it with.  (I am afraid, however, I have no photos to share as the cake was quite charred on top!)

Rhubarb Cake

What You Need:

For the Cake
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp of vanilla extract
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk (if you don't have, just mix one cup of milk with 1 tablespoon of vinegar and let stand for 10 minutes)
2 cups of rhubarb, chopped and tossed with 1 tablespoon of flour

For the Crumble Topping
1/4 cup butter
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar

How to Make:

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla extract.
2. In another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. (As indicated in previous posts, I don't sift, so I didn't sift!)
3. Alternate adding buttermilk and flour mixture into creamed mixture.
4. Add rhubarb. Stir into batter. 
5. Spoon batter (it's pretty thick!) into a butter 9x13 pan. Smooth.
6. Using a fork, mix the contents for the crumble topping. Sprinkle evenly over batter.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

How to Serve:
Truth is, because the top of my cake burned, I didn't serve it. But, my family and company insisted on eating it - right out of the pan! If all things had worked as planned, I would have served on a plate with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.