What a winner! Noticing the recipe called for no fat, I was tempted to add a 1/2 stick of butter and I'm so glad I didn't and stuck to the recipe as written, only adding 1 tsp. of vanilla to the batter. This was SO nice and moist with a perfect amount of rhubarb. Any more, I fear, might have made this soggy rather than cakey, particularly after the first day. I was afraid of glopping on the cinnamon by shaking it over the topping, so rather than take a chance I mixed maybe 3/4 tsp. of cinnamon in with the topping ingredients. Good call I think! This is simply a great, old fashioned coffee cake - nice balance of rich, moist cake, delicately flavored with rhubarb and topped with a buttery, crackly, streusel. Grandmas always seem to know how to do it best!
Easy, simple and delicious! I didn't have sour cream on hand so I substituted plain yogurt. I used 3/4 cup of packed brown sugar instead of white sugar (personal taste preference) and also added 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts to the topping. I'll make this again. UPDATE May 8, 2011: If anyone is interested in cutting back calories - I've made this using 3/4 cup sugar in the cake and only half the topping. Still delicious with a crusty crunchy top. This may depend on how sour your rhubarb is. Also, try using a cup of red currants in place of 1 cup of rhubarb.
Very moist and flavorful cake. I got great reviews. However, if the topping was suppose to be a crumb topping like a crumb cake, mine did not turn out that way. More flour would have been needed. I will be using this recipe again in the near future. I used frozen rhubarb.
This cake is amazing! I followed several other suggestions, and used 4 cups of diced rhubarb, and 1/4 cup brown sugar in the cake and all brown sugar in the topping. I had slightly less than a cup of sour cream, so I made up the rest with some vanilla yogurt. The rhubarb taste is very subtle, even with four cups of fruit. This was yummy as a morning coffee cake; yummy with afternoon tea, and especially terrific served warm with a scoop of strawberry ice cream for dessert! Alas, the cake lasted less than a day!
This review is for all you high altitude bakers out there. I live at 7500 feet. Not extremely high but not sea level either, so many of these cakes don't turn out the same for me as they do for people even 2000 feet lower.
The recipe, as written, didn't work that well for me. Although it was tasty and moist, it was dense and somewhat tough/chewy. Not what I thought a cake should be like. Usually I just give up at that point, eat my failure and mark a par for the high altitude course. BUT...this recipe has received 5 stars from a LOT of people. So, I just had to try it again with high altitude adjustments.
Below are the adjustments I made, for what turned out to be a completely different cake - moist, yet light and cakey, with a crunchy/crumbly top. I am so excited by the result I just had to share.
For the batter:
- moved the butter from the topping, down into the batter
- reduced sugar in batter to 1c.
- reduced the baking soda to 1/2 tsp
- added 1 tsp baking powder
- added 3T flour
- added an egg
I started out creaming the butter and sugar. Added eggs and sour cream. Slowly stirred in the dry ingredients, not stirring too much. Then folded in the rhubarb.
The topping:
2/3c brown sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
Temp/time:
- temp up to 375 deg
- 30 min until golden brown
It wouldn't be fair to give the recipe less stars b/c of my altitude. I gave it, 5 stars because my end result is what I think the author intended - and it's darn tasty!
I made it as above (well I had an extra cup of rhubarb- so I just dumped it there too). Fantastic!
Wow...Wow! YUMMY is all I can say about this cake...I actually just got this recipe from a friend and came on here to see if anything like this was already posted - this is the exact same recipe and it is amazing! Not too overwhelming with rhubarb but something different than pie or jam. Definately a keeper - you MUST try this!
Excellent recipe! My husband's grandmother called me for the recipe...and I've been bragging that grandma wanted one of my recipes! It was so moist.
I was initially drawn to this recipe because of the minimal fat. I adapted the recipe a bit to try and make it a little healthier: I used 1/2 the amount of sugar (by using Splenda brown sugar) and used whole wheat flour in both the cake and topping. I added 2 tbsp of egg white as I found the cake batter a little dry. And I also used 2 tbsp of apple sauce instead of the oil for the topping. It was REALLY more like a paste, so I had to put it on top by spreading it out by hand. I also baked them in muffin trays as they're a little more portable, but my rhubarb chunks were a little large, so they tended to collapse a bit. I also added the cinnemon as well as ground cloves and allspice into the topping. But VERY moist and delicious cake! Will DEFINATELY make again and look forward to adapting even more!
This recipe was not to my liking.
