There are three elements to this moist Rhubarb Sour Cream Coffee Cake. There’s a layer of caramelized rhubarb, and a moist a layer of streusel. When the cake is inverted, the streusel becomes the crust. The rhubarb becomes tender with just the right balance of sweet and tart.
Is rhubarb a fruit or vegetable? Apparently, in the US it’s considered a vegetable. The only way I’ve eaten is is in desserts. So, I say it’s a fruit. Yes?
Spring is when rhubarb makes it’s appearance in the produce section. Where we live, we can buy it until late fall. They resemble celery stalks with vibrant colors of red and green. The only recipes I’ve used rhubarb is in Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie or Fruit Crisps. The strawberries give a sweet contrast to the tartness of the rhubarb, in a good way. It’s even better with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
One of the reasons I was anxious to make this coffee cake is that rhubarb is the star of the show– and I thought that the caramelized rhubarb looks really pretty, once the cake is inverted on a platter.
The cake has sour cream added, which pretty much guarantees plenty of moisture. The third element is a layer of crumb topping, which becomes the bottom once the cake is inverted!
To begin with, the rhubarb is sliced at a very sharp diagonal, about 1/2″ thick. Sugar is added and then set aside.
The ideal pan for baking this cake is this 9×3 inch cake pan. Butter it generously. To make the topping, the ingredients are flour, sugar, a little salt and melted butter. (A printable recipe is at the end of this post.)
The rhubarb has softened and has a pretty shiny appearance. What you can’t see is that I dotted the bottom of the pan with additional pieces of butter. This will help to caramelize the rhubarb. Layer the rhubarb along the bottom of the pan. Pretty!
The streusel topping is simply stirred until combined, and that is also set aside. Preheat the oven to 350F.
The cake is quite simple, actually. For the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour (I always used unbleached), baking powder and salt. For the wet ingredients, one stick of room temperature unsalted butter is creamed with sugar. I originally wanted to add orange zest and orange juice. Since the fruit bowl was absent of oranges I went with lemon zest and lemon juice…then two eggs.
Last, the dry ingredients are added — alternately– with once cup of sour cream. The batter is delicious!
Gently spoon the batter on top of the fruit, and even out the top (being carefully not to move the rhubarb around).
Rhubarb Upside Down Cake
Ingredients
TOPPING:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- Coarse salt if using table salt, decrease amount by half
CAKE:
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter room temperature, plus more for buttering pan
- 1 pound rhubarb trimmed and cut on a very sharp diagonal about 1/2-inch thick
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- Coarse salt if using table salt, decrease amount by half
- 1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange zest plus I used lemon zest and lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp fresh orange juice
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
Topping:
- Stir together butter, flour, sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon coarse (not table) salt until moist and crumbly.
Cake:
- Butter a 9-inch round cake pan (3-inches deep). Dot with 4 tablespoons butter (cut into pieces).
- Toss rhubarb with 3/4 cup sugar; let stand for 2 minutes. Toss again, and spread in pan.
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt. (If using table salt, decrease amount by half.)
- Beat remaining stick butter and cup sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy.
- Beat in zest and juice.
- Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl.
- Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with sour cream, until smooth.
- Spread evenly over rhubarb. Crumble topping evenly over batter.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and top springs back when touched, about 1 hour.
- Let cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake, and invert onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
This looks wonderful to me. Trolls are not that intelligent as far as I am concerned. I will try it. I have always said a cake with either sour cream or cream cheese in the batter is just about as good as it gets.
Thanks, Susan. I'm with you on sour cream or cream cheese. They make the best coffee cakes, for sure!
I'm a big rhubarb fan and I think your cake is beautiful, Debby. Why people make unkind remarks is beyond me. Thank heavens not many readers feel compelled to do it.
Well gosh. I think it looks wonderful! I too am a big fan of rhubarb. One of the nice things about a recipe like this is that can so easily be adapted to use other, colorful fruits. I make a nearly identical cake using small, 'black' (dark purple) Italian plums. Once can also combine fruits. Hmm. Thanks Deb.
I think, scientifically speaking, that it's a veggie but whatever it is, I LOVE IT. This upside down cake is just stunning!
What is not pretty about this cake ?? Throw a few mint leaves or a few strawberries on top with a swirl of whipped cream to garnish it if you want it over the top ! Some people just aren't familiar with rhubarb….. its great.
I’ve been looking for an upside down rhubarb cake & I chose this one because of how beautiful it looked!
I don’t get how someone would think otherwise unless they were not used to natural foods in real life & their different textures that come through when baking. So Looking forward to serving this as soon as it comes out of the oven!
I sincerely hope that you have success with this recipe. Thank you for visiting my website!
I got a bag full of rhubarb from a neighbor, and my husband is a fan, so I found this recipe as an alternative to another strawberry rhubarb pie. It does create a beautiful cake. I used a Wilton 9” pan and it did not overspill when baked, but I also decided not to add the last few pieces of rhubarb after I had a solid layer in the pan. If I make this again, I will cut back on the salt by half, maybe more. I love the orange with the rhubarb, and the sour cream cake was a great consistency, but the taste of salt got in the way for me and my family. Thanks for the inspiration and a unique recipe!
Interesting on the salt. Did you use table salt or coarse salt? Tables salt is stronger than coarse and that’s why my ingredient lists coarse salt. I’ll edit the recipe to emphasize to use half the salt, if it’s table salt. I’m glad you liked the cake. Thank you for stopping by.
I had a little difficulty following the required butter amounts but after re-reading process a couple of times, I think I got it right.
I used a deep enough baking pan but it was a sping bottom so it leaked in the oven. My cake didn’t come out as pretty as yours but still very tasty.
I’m so sorry that you cake leaked! It sounds like you still had good results. Thank you for stopping by.
This is a Martha Stewart recipe, word for word. She should be credited at the top.
Sigh. There’s always that one person who has to be a critic. Attribution is given to the recipe card. Read it.