Rhubarb crumb cake
A snacking cake for every season!
We have approximately 30 minutes left of rhubarb season and this recipe is here to help you soak up every last bit of it! That being said, I’m not actually rhubarb’s #1 fan. I like its fruity, tart flavor and the way it feels somewhere between a stalk of celery and a green apple. But it’s far from my favorite fruit. I much prefer a raspberry or a strawberry, if you’re asking.
What I love about it is not necessarily the flavor, but what it represents. The moment you see those happy pink stalks at the farmers market, you know for sure that winter is more or less behind us. It’s an early sign of spring and for that, I love it. Same goes for ramps, green garlic, and fiddlehead ferns. It’s far from my favorite produce, but seeing them makes my heart sing all the same.
This is a recipe that can carry you all the way through summer. Right now, we’ll celebrate the season we’re in by simmering rhubarb into a compote with a little bit of sugar and lemon, because it’s what we have. But, later in the summer, I’ll top the same batter with fresh raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries (Heck—I might even mix them into the batter and bake them that way!). Once stone fruit season is here, I’ll dice up fresh peaches and scatter them over the top. In the fall, I’ll dice up apples and stew them down with cinnamon, clove, and lemon to bake between the batter and streusel.
Thanks to the hefty amount of fat in the batter (shout out to sour cream and butter), this recipe is virtually un-fuck-up-able. Incorporate the fruit into the batter itself, cook it into a compote, or skip it altogether, it doesn’t really matter. The cake will come out delicious all the same. It’s rich, moist, and always garners a lot of compliments (my primary motivator).
A note on streusel: Typically, streusel is made by pulsing together cold, cubed butter with flour and sugar. Here, I have you melt the butter and stir it into the flour and sugar to create more of a crumbly dough. Both work—I prefer this method because I find it easier to make. It yields a more cookie-like streusel, whereas using cold butter yields more of a crumbly crunch on top. It’s up to you. You can use the same quanities below to make either method.
