Tart and tasty, this easy rhubarb cake is a great way to use seasonal rhubarb. Enjoy a slice on its own with your afternoon tea, or smother with cream or custard for a dessert with a difference.
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Soft and moist rhubarb cake
I always look forward to rhubarb being in season so I can make this creamy rhubarb cake. There’s no butter in this cake, and the fat content is provided by double cream. It’s loosely bsed on my recipe for fresh pear cream slice which has a similar batter.
I love making cakes using cream instead of butter for so many reasons:
- the texture of the cake is sosoft and moist, and the it stays fresh for ages.
- because there’s no butter in this cake, there’s no creaming of butter and sugar, you just dump all the ingredients into mixing bowl, whisk it up and you’re good to go.
- it never fails to deliver – I haven’t yet had one of these cakes not turn out perfectly.
Other reasons I love this cake:
- you can vary the cake to suit yourself. Once you’ve mastered the basic recipe you can add whatever fruit you like.
- this cake is moist enough to to be cut into slices and served at tea-time, or you can add cream or custard and serve it as a dessert.
How to make a creamy rhubarb cake
You can get the exact measurements and full instructions on the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
Ingredients
First of all, you need to gather your ingredients. There are not too many.
- Rhubarb – this should be sliced into half-inch pieces (just over1 cm) and you will need sufficient to cover the top of the cake.
- Double cream – this is used instead of butter. It must be double or heavy whipping cream, for the fat content.
- Caster sugar – caster sugar dissolves much more easily than granulated sugar, and because you don’t have to cream the butter and sugar together in this recipe, caster sugar gives a better texture to the cake.
- Self-raising flour – if you don’t have self-raising flour you can use plan flour, with one teaspoon of baking powder per cup of flour.
- Milk – I normally use full-fat milk for my cakes, but semi-skimmed will be fine.
- Egg – you will need a large egg. If your eggs are very small you can use 2. The standard weight of a large egg is about 2 ounces, or 57 grams).
- Demerara sugar – this is used for cooking the rhubarb before it is added to the cake batter.
- Salt – optional, but I think half a teaspoon of salt added to the cake mixture improves the flavour.
Instructions
- Start off by cutting the rhubarb into half-inch slices and then place it in a saucepan with the demerara sugar. Heat gently for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar melts and the rhubarb starts to soften. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
- If you prefer you can skip the above step and arange slices of raw rhubarb on top of the cake before putting it in the oven. Sprinkle with the demerara sugar before baking.
- Now place the remainder of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk thoroughly with a balloon whisk until they are well combined.
- Pour the batter into a greased 8″ x 8″ baking dish (that’s 20cm x 20cm). If you prefer a round cake, this recipe will be sufficient for an 8″ (20m) round springform baking pan.
- Arrange the cooled rhubarb on top.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven (180C / 360F) for 25 to 30 minutes until a wooden skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out cleanly.
- If you find the cake is browning too rapidly, simply cover the baking tin with a piece of tinfoil.
Allow the cake to cool before serving. Sprinkle with icing sugar / confectioner’s sugar / powdered sugar if desired.
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Frequently asked questions
No, there is no need to peel the rhubarb first, just rinse the stalks in cold water and pat dry on kitchen towel before slicing.
Stored in a covered container, this cake will stay fresh for about 5 days in the refrigerator. You may find that as the rhubarb releases moisture into the cake the top of the cake may become damp and sticky.
If you want to serve this cake warm with custard, you can warm individual portions at full power in the microwave. Heat at 15-second intervals until the cake is warmed through.
I would not freeze this cake as the rhubarb would make the cake too watery once defrosted
Yes, you can vary this cake by substituting the rhubarb with any other fruit.
Apples or pears would work well, as will blueberries or raspberries.
Additional resources
Don’t forget to check out my handy Cookery Conversion Calculator if you want to convert any of your recipe measurements from grams to cups, ounces, tablespoons or millilitres and vice versa. You can also use the calculator for converting oven temperatures between Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Gas marks.
If you live at a high altitude you may find you need to adjust your baking recipes to compensate for this. You can read all about it in this post on baking at high altitudes.
Pin for later
If you would like to make this rhubarb cake, why not pin the recipe to one of your Pinterest boards so you can find it again easily. Just click the image below.
Other cakes you may enjoy
While you are here, why not take look at some of my other cake recipes:
- German bee sting cake
- Pineapple coconut cake
- Easy lemon meringue pie
- Quick mix chocolate cake tray bake
- No-bake strawberry cheesecake
The recipe
Rhubarb cake with a cream batter
(Click the stars to rate this recipe)
Equipment
- Balloon whisk
- 8" x 8" square baking pan
Ingredients
- 2 – 3 stalks rhubarb sufficient to cover the top of the cake
- 1 cup (140g) self-raising flour
- ¾ `cup (170g) caster sugar
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup (180ml) milk
- ½ cup (120ml) double cream
- 1 tablespoon demerara sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Slice the rhubarb into ½-inch slices and place it into a saucepan with the demerara sugar.
- Heat gently for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has melted and the rhubarb has softened.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
- Pre-heat oven to 180°C/360°F
- Place the remainder of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk thoroughly with a balloon whisk until they are well combined.
- Pour the batter into a greased 8" x 8" baking dish (that's 20cm x 20cm). If you prefer a round cake, this recipe will be sufficient for an 8" (20m) round springform baking pan.
- Arrange the cooled rhubarb on top.
- Place the cake into a preheated oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until a wooden skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out cleanly.
- If you find the cake is browning too rapidly, simply cover the baking tin with a piece of tinfoil.
- Allow the cake to cool before serving. Sprinkle with icing sugar / confectioner's sugar / powdered sugar if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
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