By Melissa Clark
- Total Time
- 2 hours, plus cooling
- Rating
- 4(917)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This tender poundcake has slivers of vanilla-poached rhubarb running across the top and shot through the center, adding a tangy sweetness to the buttery crumb. For the most vivid stripes, use the reddest rhubarb stalks you can find. They will fade to hot pink after poaching and baking. Green rhubarb also works; the cake won’t be quite as striking, but it will be equally delectable. This cake is best served within a day of baking. After that, the rhubarb will start to dry out.
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Ingredients
Yield:12 servings
- 8ounces rhubarb stalks (about 3 to 4 large stalks)
- 1cup/200 grams granulated sugar
- ½vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped with the tip of a knife and reserved
- 1cup/225 grams unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan
- 1⅔cups/200 grams cake flour, plus more for flouring the pan
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- ½teaspoon fine sea salt
- ⅓cup whole milk
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped with the tip of a knife and reserved
- 1cup/200 grams granulated sugar
- 4large eggs, at room temperature
For the Rhubarb
For the Cake
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)
359 calories; 17 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 48 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 34 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 157 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Cut rhubarb stalks to fit crosswise inside the top of a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. (They should be about 5 inches, but they could also be a little less.) You’ll need enough rhubarb to cover the top of the cake in the loaf pan, plus a few extra pieces in case any split during poaching.
Step
2
In a medium pot, combine sugar, 1 cup water and the vanilla bean and seeds, and bring to a boil. Simmer until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Stir in rhubarb, simmer for 1 minute, then remove from heat. Cool to room temperature, then slice rhubarb in half lengthwise so you have long, thin pieces. Reserve poaching liquid.
Step
3
Heat oven to 350 degrees, and butter and flour the loaf pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
Step
4
In a small bowl, whisk together milk, vanilla extract and vanilla seeds.
Step
5
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl between each addition. Beat in half the flour mixture until just combined, then beat in milk mixture until barely combined, scraping the sides of the bowl. Beat in remaining flour mixture until just combined.
Step
6
Scrape half the batter into prepared pan, then lay half of the rhubarb slices in an even layer on top of the batter. Cover with remaining batter, smoothing the top.
Step
7
Bake cake for 20 minutes to set the top, then remove pan from the oven and quickly lay the remaining rhubarb slices next to each other on the top of cake. Return pan to oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the cake's center comes out clean, another 30 to 50 minutes.
Step
8
While cake is baking, bring rhubarb-poaching liquid to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer; continue to simmer until thickened and syrupy, about 10 minutes. Brush some syrup on top of cake once it comes out of the oven. Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack before serving, at least 2 hours, then carefully remove the cake from the pan and serve.
Ratings
4
out of 5
917
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Cooking Notes
Francine
How much sugar to add to water and how much to use in batter?
Audrey Schneider
Hey Francine, I’ve misread recipes in the last. Hopefully the repliers just meant to be helpful but since some sounded really critical to me I thought I would reassure you that you are not the first (not will you be the last) to miss something in a recipe. I hope it turns out well for your
Sean
I know poaching will soften the rhubarb, but is it still stringy or overly chewy? I just can't get my head around whole rhubarb in a cake...
Jenn
This cake is delicious! The only modifications I made was to use 12 oz rhubarb, poached 2-3 minutes in 3/4c water with 3/4c sugar and to use 11 tbsp butter in the cake. The cake was still quite buttery.The rhubarb was not stringy, and remained lightly tart. Don't skip concentrating the poaching liquid - it MAKES the cake, providing a concentrated sweet-tart flavor on the top of the cake, and the leftovers are great on pancakes.
rhea
Baked in a 9”round springform cake pan so it would fit on my cake plate. Cut the rhubarb to 2 1/2”-3” pieces instead and arranged them in a radial pattern both times. Second baking only took 30 minutes as the cake pan was more shallow than a loaf pan.Quite lovely and delicious!
GR
Will the Melissa videos make a reappearance? I always found them so helpful in seeing the technique.
AMR
Made this 'not-too-sweet' poundcake for Mother's Day and it was total winner. Added a few slices of fresh ginger and star anise to the sugar syrup lending interesting flavor/spice. Middle layer of rhubarb nearly sunk to the bottom of the cake, so next time I'll start out with a bit more than half the batter in the pan before adding that first layer of rhubarb. Otherwise, this cake was both beautiful and delicious - and Mom loved it.
Jenn
No, you'll spoon half the batter into the pan, then add half the rhubarb, and then spoon the rest of the batter into the pan. During the initial 20 min it does not rise to the top. Then take the pan out and add the remaining rhubarb to the top, and then finish baking. You'll need enough rhubarb to cover the length of the pan TWICE (1x in the middle, 1x on the top), so you'll likely need more than 8oz rhubarb (I used almost 12oz)
Juliet Jones
Which way do you cut this when serving? Cross-wise, so each person has a full slice of rhubarb, or the other way? It seems to me that it would be difficult to cut neatly the "other" way, as rhubarb is stringy, but a whole stalk of rhubarb per serving makes for a strangely long, thin slice.
Mary Clare
Placed half the flour mixture in dish topped w/ softened rhubarb and then spooned the rest of the mixture over top. Baked it 45 mins til golden. Poked holes in top w/fork to absorb syrup. Delicious! Great w/whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. :)
Max
The rhubarb pieces in the middle led to a separated cake when taken out of the mold. Next time, I may try smaller pieces so that the batter can go all around the pieces
Clementine
Kristen, There is a time lag between when people answer a question, and when it is approved and posted for all to see. In that interim, sometimes many readers try to be helpful and 'simultaneously' reply before they've had a chance to read the first reply by another reader.I do notice that the only hint of snark in replies is by 2 readers who may not be female.
Stu
According to AmTestKit, red and green rhubarb have the same taste and sweetness. I grow the red 'barb, but my neighbor grows the green. I can't taste any difference. It all depends on how young the leaves are when they're pulled. Only buy rhubarb early in the season for best quality. If you grow it, fertilize very heavily just as it begins to come up. Keep it very well watered. My rhubarb is almost too pretty to pick, but I have to try this recipe.
Mary Clare
Found it unnecessary to cut rhubarb after poaching as it softened up nicely and also didn't put add'l rhubarb on top. Poached rhubarb for ten mins which resulted in a soft texture. My flour of choice in baking is organic, enriched, white spelt flour. It has a light crumb and bakes beautifully in cookies, cakes, muffins, pies, etc. Also use heavy cream in place of milk in recipes for added richness/flavor and reduce sugar a bit so not as sweet.Continued below on next note...
Irma
I cut up all the rhubarb into chunks to poach and folded it all into the batter and baked it all in one go. Came out very nice and the fruit didn't all sink to the bottom (always afraid of that...).
Maya
I love Melissa but this was not it. The rhubarb was wet and sank to the bottom and made the entire cake soggy. Smelled amazing but the texture made it completely unappealing to eat.
Eliza
I sliced the rhubarb, put half in the middle and half on top (kept the pinker pieces for the top). I didn't have vanilla beans or extract, so used about a teaspoon of almond extract instead.
Sydney
This is the 2nd time I’ve made this cake. This time, after simmering the stalks, I reserved half of them for the top of the cake but chopped up the remainder to use in the center. I think this will make serving a little less messy.
Susan
Anybody else have this problem? I agree this cake is delicious but I had an unexpected problem. The top of the cake gets soggy and appears under-cooked -- I made it twice to verify I followed the directions exactly. Delicious as long as you eat it right away? Don't store covered? I did added the reduced syrup lightly and assume everyone does?
Yikes on Bikes
Woof. Please heed the step about baking it naked without the rhubarb for 20 mins before layering on the topping.
Françoise
The trick to preventing the fruit pieces sinking to the bottom is to coat them in flour first. Easily done in a bowl or paper bag. Then a quick stir into the batter.
Anna
I don’t know if anyone has answered this yet but I thought I’d shout into the void: I have a bunch of frozen rhubarb slices from my garden last summer, does anyone know whether I can just sub in frozen blanched rhubarb? I don’t see why not..
Fritz
Frozen rhubarb can be used in cakes and other recipes so I don't see why you couldn't use the slices in this recipe. I think the slices would look very nice! Also, FYI, rhubarb doesn't need to be blanched before freezing unless you are trying to preserve as much color as possible. I use frozen unblanched rhubarb in jam recipes so the color isn't really an issue but the taste isn't affected by not blanching.
Claire
I made this using 1/2 Bob's Red Mill Cup for Cup GF flour and 1/2 almond flour. I cut the sugar in the batter by about a half. The rhubarb inside the cake sunk down a lot, so next time I will probably add about 2/3-3/4 of the batter before putting the rhubarb in. The rhubarb on top stayed red and beautiful. This was a decadent breakfast cake for the family!
John K
Delicious, but the rhubarb pieces in the middle sink near to the bottom during baking. Hardly disastrous, I was wondering if others had this happen, and (if possible) how to prevent this.
Jill
This is absolutely delicious! I made exactly as directed, except that I didn't glaze the top with the syrup (I'll save it to use in co*cktails). In my opinion it didn't need the extra sweetness it is so delicious as is. The reduced syrup might have given it an extra gloss, but again, it is beautiful as is, so I am not missing it. This will definitely be a go to every spring when the rhubarb first comes up. Flavor and texture are just perfect!
Laura
This is easily the best poundcake I've ever eaten in my life. I added some finely diced little fresh strawberries tossed in some flour to the batter. Absolutely incredible. I also used thinner stalks of rhubarb so it was *very* soft when I added them, and they ended up wonderfully soft and pudding-y almost. Since my rhubarb stalks were thinner and so much more cooked coming out of the poaching liquid, I also added the rhubarb on top 15 minutes later into cooking.
Mary Thomas
This is the perfect cake batter I have been searching for. The texture was fine-grained and tender, with a butter flavor that beautifully contrasted with the sweetness of the rhubarb. I did substitute one and one-half cups all-purpose flour since I had no cake flour. No problem. My guests raved about it and I will be on the lookout for rhubarb every time I go to a farmers market. Yum yum yum.
jody
I've made thisevery rhubarb season since this recipe was published! It's always a hit. I've since been gluten free and Cup4Cup flour works great. The consistency changes as by beat the batter, but no worries. It turns out great.
jenben
After reading many of the notes here is what I did to make a marvelous cake:Heavily buttered and floured the pan - cake didn’t stick at all. Used 1 cup all purpose flour and 2/3 cup whole wheat flour Cut half of the rhubarb into one inch pieces for the middle layer, so that the cake was easy to cut and didn’t split coming out of the pan, and was easy to eat ( totally worked)Added a cinnamon stick into the syrup as it boiled down - added just a hint of cinnamon. Yum!
Celia
Just made two of these - they got consumed speedily and were SUCH a hit. Two suggestions: (1) Add a couple of pinches of cardamom to the flour mixture, to deepen and complement the vanilla flavor; and (2) Instead of putting a single layer of rhubarb inside the cake, which can lead to a mushy center that destabilizes the loaf, cut half your rhubarb so it fits in the pan the long way, then assemble by layering 1/3 batter, 1/2 “long” rhubarb, 1/3 batter, remaining “long” rhubarb, remaining batter.
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