For the past several Springs, I have played on a tennis team with some really great women. This allows me a brief, 7 week opportunity to challenge myself more than I do during the rest of the year when I largely play tennis for fun. Thankfully, the women on our team are as nice as they are competitive and everyone is pretty relaxed at the end of the day. But, darn it – we do want to win!
Unfortunately, we have found ourselves with a pretty low ranking this season due to that age old combination of fewer wins and greater losses. Tant pis pour nous!
It was imperative that we brought our A games to the court this week to hoist ourselves up in the standings. Lucky for us, we had great results. We won 3 of our 4 matches, the best day of our entire season. We are hoping to have a repeat showing at our last match next week and finish the season strong. Did I mention we do like to win?
At every home match, we bring snacks to enjoy afterwards. I love to bring baked goods. Since this past week has been really busy, I relished getting back in the kitchen and decided to make two cakes to share. I brought them both and asked the ladies (from both teams!) to do a taste test to determine which one I should share on the blog.
Although both cakes were yummy, the Rhubarb Almond Crumb Cake was the clear winner. I made the cake for them last year too and it really is a keeper. The recipe is from Food 52 and is a cinch to make. Studded with rhubarb and flavored with almond extract, the cake can be served as a breakfast item or as a dessert at your next dinner party. Served with a dollop of slightly sweetened whipped cream, you will absolutely love it.
And who doesn’t need a new recipe for all that rhubarb?
The rhubarb’s skin can sometimes peel away from flesh while cutting but you can just keep it in the mixture. Best to use a really sharp knife when cutting…
The little offset spatula in the picture below is a really great tool to have in your kitchen…
The crumb topping takes the cake over the top…
Cover all of the batter. I am thinking you could even double the amount of topping if you wanted to get crazy…
I used a springform pan because it is so much easier to remove the final product from the pan!
I hope you love this cake as much as we did! See you next week!
One Year Ago: A Review of Farmstead Table
Recipe from Food 52 via Bob Vivant. Wording adjusted ever so slightly.
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 2 Tablespoons slivered almonds
- 2 Tablespoons rolled oats (not quick cooking)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 1/4 cup flour
- 1 1/2 cups rhubarb that has been cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Butter the bottom and sides of an 8-inch round cake or springform pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper if desired.
- For the crumb topping, combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Using a fork or your fingers, gently work in the butter until pea-sized lumps are formed.
- For the cake, combine the eggs, sugar, salt and almond extract in the bowl of an electric mixer (this can also be done with a hand mixer). Beat on high until the mixture triples in volume, about five minutes.
- Fold in the melted butter, flour and rhubarb.
- Evenly spread the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the top, covering the entire cake.
- Bake for 1 hour, until the topping is deeply golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the pan when it's completely cool.
Tips from The Kitchen Scout
The original recipe suggests you can also use white whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour. You can try the same batter and substitute a different fruit such as blueberries or raspberries, although you may want to cut back the sugar as berries are sweeter than rhubarb. If you are not a fan of almond extract, you could certainly substitute with vanilla extract.
I made this after seeing it on your Instagram feed! Planted rhubarb in my garden here in Darien about 20 years ago because it reminded me of my childhood, so am always looking for different recipes to try using rhubarb! I would add a bit more rhubarb than was called for and thinking of crystallized ginger in the batter???? Your thoughts, Val??
First of all, that is so cool that you have rhubarb in your garden! I recently tried a salad recipe that called for roasting it which was yet another use for rhubarb! Ok, so I love the idea of crystallized ginger in the batter and think it goes well with the other elements. And as far as the amount of rhubarb, I thought it was enough but you could easily add another 1/2 cup or so without trouble. Let me know if you try it!