Little Bee Baking’s Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake
Makes one 9-inch cake; serves 8
Use up the trimmed ends of the rhubarb by making syrup. See note below.
The caramel
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
The cake
4 to 6 stalks rhubarb (about 1 pound), trimmed, ends reserved (see Note)
1½ cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon kosher salt ½ cup (1 stick or 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Grated zest of ½ orange (optional)
1. Make the caramel.
Combine the butter and sugar in a round, metal 9- by 3-inch cake pan and place the pan directly on a burner over low heat. Cook, stirring, until smooth and emulsified, 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
“If you start with soft butter and stir constantly, your caramel will be nicely emulsified instead of separating and becoming clumpy,” Pierce says.
2. Prepare the rhubarb.
Cut the rhubarb stalks into into 2-inch lengths, then cut each piece lengthwise into batons about ¼-inch thick. Arrange the rhubarb batons over the caramel in a circular pattern, red side down, piling it up as necessary.
“I add a lot of fruit,” says Pierce, as she generously layers the rhubarb into the pan. “It cooks down a lot, and I like the finished cake to be equal parts fruit and cake.”
Strawberry and rhubarb are a favorite flavor combination, but Pierce doesn’t like the look of cooked strawberries. “They taste great, but aren’t beautiful.” To compensate, she sometimes adds a layer of sliced berries on top of the rhubarb before spooning in the cake batter.
You can also experiment with other fruit. Peeled peaches, nectarines and blueberries in summer; apples or poached pears in fall, and cranberries and thinly slice citrus in winter.
Note: Instead of tossing the trimmed ends of the rhubarb stalks, Pierce puts them in a small saucepan, adds water to cover, then boils them until they’re soft and the water is a brilliant pink. She strains the liquid, discarding the solids, then sweetens it to taste. This rhubarb syrup is great in a cocktail or with a splash of soda water.
3. Make the cake batter.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or in a bowl with a hand mixer) combine the butter and sugar and beat until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Mix together the milk and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk and ending with the flour mixture. Mix until well combined. If using orange zest, add it now and stir to mix.
Pierce uses a Microplane-style grater and grates the orange zest directly into the batter. “It’s less likely to clump if you grate it right in,” she says.
4. Bake and serve.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread over the fruit, making sure no rhubarb is poking out through the batter. Transfer the cake to the oven and bake, rotating it once, until it is golden brown, springs back when you touch the center and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool 10-15 minutes (do not let it cool completely). Run a knife around the edge of a turn out onto a plate. Let cool completely before serving.
“Cool the cake until it’s warm to the touch before turning it out,” says Pierce. “If the fruit is too warm, it will slide right off the top of the cake.” Too cold, and the cake may stick to the pan.
Per serving: 440 calories, 5 g protein, 64 g carbohydrates, 19 g fat (12 g saturated), 102 mg cholesterol, 198 mg sodium, 1 g fiber.