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Author:
Franco Salzillo
Rhubarb, the pink spring vegetable, is a lovely ingredient for sweet and savory food and drinks. The unusual stalk is also a fantastic ingredient for bakes, including coffee cakes! Here’s the deal. Rhubarb adds a unique flavor and the loveliest color to the cake, making it much more exciting than regular coffee cakes. It’s somewhat healthier as well, and it certainly has a wow factor.
Topped with crispy and crumbly streusel, this is one special coffee cake that’s perfect for when having friends over for a good chat and a cup of coffee. Learn how to make it below.
To make a rhubarb coffee cake, you’ll need two cups of finely chopped rhubarb stalks. The real deal, and as fresh as possible. You’ll also need a few baking staples, including sugar, flour, eggs, baking powder, milk vanilla and a splash of oil.
To make the streusel topping, we’re using brown sugar, cinnamon and butter, that’s it — this one comes together in the food processor or a mixing bowl. Make sure you have an 8-inch square baking pan or a loaf pan for this one.
To make a rhubarb coffee cake, you first combine the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt, our dry ingredients. The wet ingredients are combined in a second bowl, and it all comes together in a stand mixer along with the rhubarb for a smooth dough that’ll rise nicely in the oven.
Some people like layering the rhubarb in the cake, which looks nice, but the recipe below incorporates the rhubarb in the batter for a speckled look; both options are nice. Either way, the rhubarb will soften and caramelize nicely in the oven.
For the streusel:
Preheat the oven at 350°F and grease an 8-inch square pan.
Combine the sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl.
Combine the oil, eggs, vanilla and milk in a second mixing bowl.
In a stand mixer, combine the dry and wet mixtures. Fold in the rhubarb. Pour the batter into the cake pan.
For the streusel, combine the sugar and the cinnamon in a food processor to form crumbs.
Cover the cake pan with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes, uncover, carefully top with the streusel mixture and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes.
