Rhubarb upside-down cake
This is a very easy recipe for rhubarb upside-down cake, this cake is delicious and effortless to make. The cake batter is made with flour, sugar, eggs, yogurt, oil, vanilla extract, orange or lemon zest, and chopped rhubarb.
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Fruity upside-down cakes are a perfect way to use seasonal fruit in a cake. When I was a kid, pineapple upside-down cake was my favorite cake and was usually my birthday cake request. Back then I didn’t know that you could make an upside-down with other fruits, I thought it was only a pineapple cake. These days I know better and will make them with a variety of fruits: berries, apples, pear, banana, persimmon, peaches/nectarines, mango, etc.
There’s something irresistible that the caramelized mix of butter, brown sugar and fruit will add to a simple cake. For this rhubarb upside-down cake I also added chunks of rhubarb to the cake batter. This cake batter recipe is adapted from my friend Rossana’s yogurt vanilla cake. It’s a simple no-fail cake recipe that is so easy to customize with your favorite fruit.
I also the way you can play around with the pattern of how you arrange the rhubarb slices on the bottom of the cake mold. You can get very creative or just put them in a simple way. The rhubarb pieces will reduce when the cake bakes, so feel free to really stuff them in and make the pattern as tight as you want.
Also, the edges of the cake tend to get more caramelized/darker so if you have rhubarb stalks with different colors (usually ranging from dark green to reddish/pink) then add the more boring-colored pieces (ie the green ones) on the edges. Then place the more brightly colored ones in the center.
Rhubarb upside-down cake
Ingredients
For the caramelized rhubarb layer:
- 2 large rhubarb stalks cut into small slices
- 2 oz of butter
- ¾ cup of brown sugar
For the rhubarb cake:
- 240 grams of all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 3 eggs – room temperature
- 140 grams of regular sugar
- 5.3 ounce container of vanilla yogurt 5.3 ounces = 150 grams
- ½ cup of oil
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract
- 1 tbs orange or lemon zest
- ½ cup rhubarb diced, mixed with 2 tbs sugar
Instructions
- Heat the butter and mix in the brown sugar, cook until the sugar is melted. Pour this mix into a round or square cake mold.
- Arrange the rhubarb slices in the melted sugar mix. You can play around with patterns or just arrange them tightly covering as much of the surface of the cake pan as possible.
- Pre-heat the oven to 350F.
- Sift the flour with the baking powder.
- Use an electric hand mixer to beat the eggs with the sugar.
- Beat until the mix is pale and creamy.
- Add the oil and mix until well incorporated
- Add the vanilla yogurt, the vanilla extract and the orange/lemon zest. Mix well.
- Add the sifted flour and baking powder, mix well using the electric mixer.
- Stir in the ½ cup of diced rhubarb/sugar mix to the cake batter and mix with a spoon.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan.
- Bake at 350F for ~45-50 minutes on until golden on top and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the rhubarb cake rest for 10 minutes and then flip it over gently on to a cake platter.
- You can serve the cake as is or with ice cream or whipped cream.
Notes
Step by step preparation photos for rhubarb upside-down cake:
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