Remember Audrey III, my overgrown rhubarb plant? The one that I “butchered” today, wielding my chef’s knife as a machete as I braved the mosquito jungle of her dark, dank leaves. Much as I am opposed to violence against others, I steadfastly ignored the “screams of the vegetables” as I forged on in pursuit of her tartly tasty stalks.
Although Audrey III was much subdued after her minor haircut, she was still bushy enough to politely demand that I “feed [her] Seymore, feed [her]!”
But what to do with all the lovely rhubarb I had (three cookie sheets piled a foot high with stalks as big around as my arm) ? I had already made Rhubarb Apple-Betty, and Rhubarb muffins. It was time for something new….
Almond Rhubarb Coffee Cake!
I couldn’t believe this cake! I was skeptical- I know coffee cakes as being kind of dry and crumbly creations, the kind you trot out for company and don’t make regularly. Boy was I wrong! The cake is soft and moist, with the chunks of rhubarb giving it a pleasant tartness (the rhubarb mellows out as it cooks, resulting in a tartness similar to a Granny Smith apple). My favourite part is the streusel- I highly recommend eating this cake from the bottom up, saving the best for last.
Almond Rhubarb Coffee Cake
Cake
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup plain “natural” yoghurt (also known as Greek, or gelatin free)
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg or substitute
1 orange’s worth of grated zest
1 tbsp orange juice
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk, or milk substitute
3 cups rhubarb, chopped into thumb-tip sized chunks
1/2 cup almonds, chopped
Streusel
1 tbsp melted butter or margarine (trans fat free, please!)
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup almonds, chopped
1 orange’s worth of grated zest
1 tsp flour
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 10 in round cake pan (or whatever floats your boat- just don’t make it too small or you’ll be sorry!)
2. With electric mixer, beat together oil, yoghurt, and sugars. Add egg, zest, and orange juice. Don’t overbeat the egg or the cake will fall!
3. Combine the flours with the salt and baking soda. Add this, then the milk. Beat in the rhubarb and the almonds. Pour into the greased cake pan.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the streusel ingredients until it’s kind of crumbly. Sprinkle over the top of the cake.
5. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Check it then-the middle probably won’t be done, but this is when the edges of my cake started getting really done. If this is happening to you, cover the edges loosely with tinfoil and put the cake back into the oven for approximately 15 minutes (sorry for the loose instructions- I just got a new oven and it’s taking me a bit to figure things out). Test with a toothpick to see if it’s done.
6. Don’t get a tummy-ache when you devour it!
I took half of this cake to a friend’s house for tea, and their teenaged son was home (wait, I sound old here- I’m a teen too!) Anyways, he took it to the kitchen to get plates whilewent to change into my bathinsuit. Next thing I know, I hear him raving to himself about how delicious it was- he didn’t know I could hear him! Didn’t take long for us to utterly devour the half-cake, and there was a fight over who got the crumbs off the cake platter. Definitely a crowd pleaser!