Moist Rhubarb Cake

Post Updated: June 9, 2020 (Originally posted: May 12, 2012)

For over eight years now, this rhubarb cake has consistently been in the top three of my most popular recipes at The Baking Bookworm.

Why you ask? I have a few ideas ...

A) Rhubarb is awesome. 

B) It's one of the few plants I can successfully grow in my wee plot of land in my backyard so I have a tonne of it and many other people clearly have loads too!

C) We can use "I have too much rhubarb so we need to eat cake" as a good excuse to inhale cake. Waste not, want not.

D) It's s'darn good.

This cake is moist, super easy to whip up for dessert or lunches/snacks, is loaded with lots of 'da barb' and is liberally topped with a sugary cinnamon and nutmeg mix that brings it to a whole new level. It may even have magical qualities because my pickiest kid loves this cake. Ya, there's definite magic involved.

So if your rhubarb is growing with abandon and you want to eat cake, may I suggest that you cull the herd and whip up a pan of this cake. It's magically delicious! 

Moist Rhubarb Cake
Yield: one 9x13-inch pan

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk (see note below)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup white flour
2 cups raw, sliced rhubarb 

Topping
3 tbsp white sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375F.  Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until smooth.  Add egg and salt.  Stir in buttermilk, sour cream and vanilla.

In a medium bowl, blend together the flour, baking soda and baking powder.  Mix and add to the butter mixture.  Gently fold in the rhubarb.  Pour (batter will be very thick) batter into the prepared pan.

Combine white sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl.  Sprinkle over batter.  Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Note: I never buy real buttermilk.  Instead, I add white vinegar to 1% milk (1 tbsp of vinegar for every 1 cup of milk).  Let it sit for 5 minutes and voila! An easy (and slightly chunky) substitute for buttermilk.  Don't let the wee chunkies scare you. 

Tip: This recipe could easily be made into muffins.  Just decrease the baking time (try 15-20 minutes at 375F).