--- title: "Rhubarb coffee cake" url: "https://probablyworthsharing.com/newsletter/rhubarb-coffee-cake/" author: "Marko Savic" published: "2023-05-28" type: "newsletter post" description: "The alternate world where I am The Rhubarb Lady. I love rhubarb. I think in another life, had I not gone to therapy, I could have grown up to be the…" source: "https://probablyworthsharing.substack.com/p/rhubarb-coffee-cake" --- # Rhubarb coffee cake *The alternate world where I am The Rhubarb Lady* I love rhubarb. I think in another life, had I not gone to therapy, I could have grown up to be [the rhubarb lady](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfTx1lHWo-4). My mom was the rhubarb lady, but with a Serbian accent, in every interaction in every part of her life. Rhubarb is my favourite part of the weird Spring to Summer transition. You can get it very early in Spring, when it’s sweet and tender. You can get forced rhubarb, which is grown in the dark and tastes like candy. You can get it during strawberry season, for flavours that are made for each other, like a Hallmark movie romance. I have a few staples I always make with rhubarb every year: * [Whole wheat upside down cake](https://probablyworthsharing.com/recipes/any-fruit-whole-wheat-upside-down-cake) – the upside down cake nature makes the rhubarb very tender and caramelized, at the expense of not being very Instagrammable * Rhubarb cobbler (I don’t have a recipe, I make it up every time – use the compote ingredients + crumble recipes below as a starting point!) * Strawberry rhubarb pie (I don’t have a recipe, I make it up every time) * Strawberry rhubarb compote (use the recipe below, but with half strawberries) * Strawberry rhubarb iced latte (put 2 tbsp strawberry rhubarb compote into your iced coffee) This year I’ve already had two stellar rhubarb experiences. ### Rhubarb… Sushi? This week there was a rhubarb surprise waiting when I went to [The Humble Lotus](https://humblelotus.ca), my neighbourhood sushi restaurant. I asked Jared for a surprise roll – I like creative surprises in my food. He put together this roll with sea scallops, brown butter, and rhubarb compote. It was one of the best food surprises I’ve ever had. It’s a mind blowingly delicious sushi roll, I don’t know if you can get it from them anymore, but I’m so glad this kind of creative food exists in the world and in my community. ![](https://probablyworthsharing.com/images/newsletter/rhubarb-coffee-cake/ef11006d-9a2e-40d2-bf6f-89e35a67be2f-151569.jpeg)\*Sushi with sea scallops, rhubarb compote, and brown butter – made at The Humble Lotus in Kitchener (on King St. at Cedar, beside Nova Era)\* Unrelated to rhubarb,I filmed the video below at The Humble Lotus when Jared made a special roll for me when I was sad. This roll doesn’t have rhubarb, but it is named after me (the “Marko roll”). It will be on their Summer menu and it’s very good. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfNVhfzXjaY ### Rhubarb coffee cake A few weeks ago I was having a dinner party and wanted to make a rhubarb cake that would pair well with coffee. Rhubarb’s tartness works very well with coffee. I believe that coffee cake is meant to pair with coffee, not be filled with coffee. (For the best coffee coffee cake, see [James Hoffman’s coffee coffee cake with coffee sous vide butter](https://www.jameshoffmann.co.uk/the-ultimate).) The problem with rhubarb is that as the season gets on, rhubarb gets woody and stringy. The beautiful long pieces that decorate Instagrammable cakes can get stuck in your teeth like celery. And you never get enough rhubarb taste, it’s just a small amount in each bite. ![](https://probablyworthsharing.com/images/newsletter/rhubarb-coffee-cake/02d186f5-3580-41b1-83df-f3a39cb2e176-274d2f.jpeg)I decided to riff on [Claire Saffitz’s excellent coffee coffee cake](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE1RqKSa1z8), which has a layer of coffee caramel in the center. Instead of coffee caramel, I made a very intense rhubarb compote. I upped the spices and added lemon. I used yogurt and milk in place of sour cream and coffee. I swapped some butter for olive oil, as the flavour goes very well with rhubarb and coffee. Oil-based cakes keep fresh longer and taste even better 1–2 days later – perfect for a large cake like this. I served this to friends at a dinner party a few weeks ago and it was a hit. I made two 13x9 cakes and everyone took pieces home. I then made another one just for me. It was so delicious I didn’t get very good photos because I was too excited to eat it. You can use this as a base recipe with summer fruits\* – the same technique would work for strawberries (or strawberry-rhubarb), cherries, peaches, and Concord grapes. While there are a lot of ingredients, this cake is straightforward for any skill level baker. It keeps well. It tastes great with coffee. It tastes great at midnight. You will want to eat it all summer long. \* Rhubarb is a vegetable. ![](https://probablyworthsharing.com/images/newsletter/rhubarb-coffee-cake/43d87e40-6083-4176-828a-75b0ddfa4703-454f3d.jpeg)\*The magic of this recipe is the rhubarb compote layer, which gives you an intense level of sweet/tart in every bite, plus the very tender melt-in-your-mouth thin strips of rhubarb combined with the buttery crunch of the crumble. It’s very, very good.\* ### Rhubarb compote #### Ingredients * 42g | 3 tbsp brown sugar * 3 g | 1 tbsp cinnamon * 500g | 1lb rhubarb, chopped * 60ml | 1/4 cup water * Pinch of salt #### Method Place a medium saucepan on medium heat. Add all the ingredients, stir, and cover. Simmer for 20–30 minutes until the rhubarb is very soft and can be mashed with a fork or potato masher. Mash and set aside to cool. You can use this compote in this coffee cake recipe, on toast, in an iced latte, and on sushi apparently. Replace with the same quantity of any other soft fruit, like strawberries, grapes, or peaches. ### Cardamom and lemon crumb topping #### Ingredients * 160g | 1-1/4 cups all purpose flour * 100g | 1/2 cup brown sugar * 1 tsp ground cardamom (6 pods if grinding yourself) * Zest of 1 lemon * 1/4 tsp salt * 115g | 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces #### Method Add all the ingredients, except the butter, into a medium bowl. Mix with your hands to combine. Add in the butter pieces, then break them up between your fingers. You don’t want to see individual pieces of butter – you want a crumbly, uniform texture that sticks together when you squish it. Set aside. ### Coffee cake #### Ingredients * 455g | 3-1/2 cups all purpose flour * 10g | 2-1/2 tsp baking powder * 6g | 1-1/2 tsp salt * 1/2 tsp baking soda * 170g | 2/3 cup yogurt * 115g | 1/2 cup milk * 1 tbsp vanilla extract * 115g | 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature (plus more for buttering the pan) * 115g | 1/2 cup olive oil * 200g | 1 cup white sugar * 150g | 3/4 cup brown sugar * 200g | 4 large eggs, room temperature * 6 thin rhubarb stalks #### Method **Prepare your rhubarb and cake pan:** Pre-heat your oven to 350°F. Generously butter a 13x9” baking pan and set aside. Optionally line the pan with parchment, giving you handles to easily remove the cake after it bakes. For the rhubarb, you want to use relatively thin stalks if you can, so they get creamy and melty all the way through in the oven. If your rhubarb is more than 1/2" thick, slice it in half lengthwise. Cut the rhubarb so it’s 2” shorter than the length of your pan (11”). If you’re making this with another fruit, use your best judgement (peaches: slices; strawberries: halves; grapes and cherries: whole). **Make the cake batter:** In a medium bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Mix to combine and set aside. In another medium bowl, add the yogurt, milk, and vanilla. Mix to combine and set aside. Cream the butter, oil, and sugar. You can do this by hand or in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Add the butter, oil, white sugar, and brown sugar, and beat until very fluffy – around 5 minutes. Try to beat as much air into this mixture as possible. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until the mixture is homogenous before adding the next egg. Add 1/3 of the flour mix and beat on low speed until just combined. Add 1/2 the yogurt/milk mix and beat on low until just combined. Repeat with another 1/3 flour, then the remaining yogurt, then the remaining flour. Use a spatula to ensure everything is evenly combined and you see no flour remaining. **Assemble the cake:** * Pour half the cake batter into the prepared 13x9 baking pan. * Then using a spoon, drop the rhubarb compote across the surface of the cake batter. Use an offset spatula to smooth it out into a roughly even layer. * Using a spoon, drop the remaining cake batter across the surface of the rhubarb compote. Use an offset spatula to smooth it out into a roughly even layer – some of the compote will rise to the top and that’s okay. * Scatter the crumb topping evenly across the surface. * Place the thin rhubarb stalks across the surface and gently push them down. **Bake, cool, serve:** Bake until the cake is golden brown and a paring knife comes out clean, around 40–45 minutes. The center will still be wobbly. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before serving. If you used parchment paper, you can use it as handles to easily remove the cake from the pan. Cut into a 4x3 grid, giving you 12 slices. It will keep at room temperature for a few days.