If you love great recipes, you are going to love this easy Old-Fashioned Rhubarb Cake Recipe. Just like Grandma's rhubarb cake, a moist cake with a delectable crunchy topping, perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack cake.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (see notes for high altitude) and line an 8x8 pan with parchment or grease well. Cream ¾ cup of sugar and butter together until light and fluffy.
Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Stir baking soda into buttermilk, slowly add to creamed batter. The batter will look curdled.
Scrape sides of bowl, slowly add flour, salt and cinnamon, until just combined. Fold in or slowly mix in the rhubarb.
Pour into prepared pan and then mix cinnamon sugar topping and sprinkle on top of the rhubarb coffee cake. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
Notes
High Altitude Rhubarb CakeThe only adjustment needed is that you will bake this recipe at 375 degrees between 30-40 minutes. It’s done when toothpick inserted comes out clean.Variations
Rhubarb Muffin Recipe | Line cupcake tin with cupcake liners or spray well, scoop batter into cupcake liners, filling until about ⅔ - ¾ full. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes until tops spring back when lightly touched and toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.
Make a brown sugar streusel topping | Replace the granulated sugar with brown sugar for a more caramel sugar topping.
Gluten-Free Rhubarb Recipe | In my experience it’s easy to convert recipes like this to gluten-free! Replace all the flour with gluten-free all-purpose flour, my favorite is either Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 or King Arthur’s Cup for Cup. Also try a combination of GF AP Flour, almond flour or oat flour.
Different fruits | Add sliced strawberries (a classic with rhubarb), cherries, raspberries, apples, whatever fruit you have on hand, even frozen will work! Just make sure the total volume equals one cup.
Instead of baking in an 8x8 pan, line aloaf pan with parchment paper and bake, you might need to bake it a bit longer.
Add some zest! Lemon zest, orange zest would be delicious added to the tart rhubarb batter.
You can always replace some of the buttermilk for sour cream in this sweet cake.