Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake
Updated Feb. 4, 2025
- Total Time
- 1 hour 45 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour and 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2½sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature, more to grease pans
- 1½pounds rhubarb, rinsed and sliced into ½-inch cubes about 4 cups
- 2teaspoons cornstarch
- 1½cups granulated sugar
- ½cup light brown sugar
- 2cups cake flour
- 1¼teaspoons baking powder
- ½teaspoon fine sea salt
- Zest of 1 lemon, grated
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4large eggs
- ⅓cup sour cream
- 2teaspoons lemon juice
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
637 calories; 33 grams fat; 20 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 10 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 80 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 48 grams sugars; 7 grams protein; 252 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
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Butter the paper and sides of the pan. Wrap two layers of foil under the pan, and place it on a baking sheet.
- Step 2
In a medium bowl, mix rhubarb, cornstarch and ½ cup granulated sugar.
- Step 3
Mix the brown sugar and ½ stick butter in a pan over medium heat. Whisk until smooth and bubbling, about 2 minutes. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt.
- Step 4
Whip 2 sticks butter in a mixer with a paddle attachment for 2 minutes. With your fingers, blend the remaining 1 cup sugar with lemon zest until the mixture is uniform in color. Cream together with the butter at medium-high speed until it is light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, stopping to scrape down the bowl halfway through. Add the vanilla and mix well. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the sour cream, then the lemon juice. (It’s O.K. if the mixture looks curdled.) With the mixer set to low speed, add the flour mixture, ¼ cup at a time, until well combined. Scrape down the mixer bowl in between the additions.
- Step 5
Pour the brown-sugar mixture into the cake pan, then spoon in the rhubarb and its juices. Spoon in the batter so it covers all of the rhubarb. Smooth out the top.
- Step 6
Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the top of the cake is firm to touch and a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out without any large, moist crumbs.
- Step 7
Place the pan on a wire rack, and cool for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the cake, place a plate on top of the pan and turn it upside-down. Release the cake from the pan while still warm or else it will stick.
Private Notes
Comments
This recipe can be made simpler by baking the cake in a 10" cast iron frying pan. There will be no preparation of baking pans, no chance of run over spills in the oven, and the brown sugar and butter can be heated directly in the frying pan before adding the rhubarb, thus saving an extra pan.
Just DO NOT, as I did a couple of years ago when making this recipe, accidentally buy red-stemmed Swiss chard instead of rhubarb!
Looking at the recipe initially, I agreed with previous users that it seemed to be heavy on sugar. I used 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, and 1/4 cup brown sugar, and it still tastes great.
I should've looked at the comments before I made this because the one that Eva Galson made makes a lot of sense. Most upside-down cake recipe recipes suggest a 10 inch baking pan. Use the baking pan instead of the springform. Even wrapped into layers of aluminum foil and place on top of a baking tray it leaked all over the oven. The cake with four eggs in it is very dense not flaky at all. I will not be using this recipe again. It got two stars because it tasted good.
This was absolutely delicious! Mine was nowhere near the jewel tone color in the pictures though - it looked more like apple pie filling. I suspect it's because of the brown sugar - next time I might try using granulated for that component and swapping the brown into the cake.
I've made this with brown sugar and instead of chopping the rhubarb laid it out in overlapping parallel strips, playing with the color variations so that the finished cake looks like Jupiter.
@squeezit 🪐