Yield: 1 9-inch cake
Rhubarb Upside Down Cake
Ingredients
For the Topping
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the Cake
- 1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons,) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for buttering pan
- 1 pound rhubarb, trimmed and cut on a very sharp diagonal about 1/2 inch thick
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste, extract (or vanilla beans scraped from a pod.)
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- zest of 1 lemon
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
For the topping:
- Use a fork to stir together the soft butter, flour, sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt until crumbly. Set aside.
For the cake:
- Butter and flour your 9 inch pan. Cut 4 tablespoons of butter into bits and dot the bottom of the pan. Toss the rhubarb with 3/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste. Let it sit for a couple minutes and then toss again. Spread rhubarb into the bottom of the pan.
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, set aside. Cream the remaining stick of butter and cup sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy.
- Add in zest and vanilla. Add eggs, 1 at a time, until incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl.
- Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with sour cream, until smooth. (Don't overmix!) Spread evenly over rhubarb. Sprinkle the topping over the batter.
- Bake in the middle rack on top of a cookie sheet, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and top springs back when touched, about 1 hour, depending on pan size.
- Let cool for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and invert cake.
Notes
*I recommend a 9-inch spring form lined on the inside with foil, a bundt pan, or a 9 inch cake pan with extra high sides!
Recipe barely adapted from Martha Stewart