Darina Allen's Country Rhubarb Cake

I hear New York, this weekend, emerged from the cold grip of winter to sudden spring. Isn't it grand, all over again? Here in Berlin, we've been there for a little while now (well, for the most part) and I'm so happy about it I periodically raise a fist clutching seven or eight stalks of glowing pink rhubarb to the heavens in gratitude and howl with glee.

Hellooo, spring! You are a stone fox.

Well, no, of course I'm not actually howling at the heavens and doing victory dances with rhubarb. (I haven't entirely lost my mind with spring fever. Yet.) But I have been zipping around the city with a bag of rhubarb, trying to decide what to do with my first stalks of 2010. A flat sheet cake studded with pink chunks of rhubarb? A stewy pot fragrant with wine and citrus? I even contemplated juicing the rhubarb and making my own rhubarb spritzers with cold sparkling water.

Last summer, I spent an afternoon at an outdoor café (is your computer's sound on?) near Zoo Station drinking rhubarb spritzers: impossibly refreshing, palest pink, the prettiest drink I've ever had beading lustrously in the sun. I think it was about then that I decided to move back to Berlin. How could I not, with rhubarb spritzers winking seductively at me? I ask you.

Then up popped a recipe in the New York Times for something as bewitching-sounding as "Country Rhubarb Cake" and I ask you, yet again, how could I not make that first? I don't know if it's my spring-addled imagination or what, but I think I can practically see you all nodding back at me. A rhubarb cake! From the country! A country cake! An Irish rhubarb country cake! Irish rhubarb! Cake! Done.

Who needs rhubarb spritzers?

I practically fell over myself getting to the stove. Well, actually, it took me five days from the time of reading the recipe to the countertop, but in my defense I will say I had some very important things to do, including a bike ride, the first of 2010, a Sunday brunch, an Easter lunch, and the viewing of one of the weirdest vampire movies I've ever seen.

Plus, all the stores were closed.

Anyway, what this country cake is, basically, is a pie. A double-crusted fruit pie, except the pie dough is a little cakey. But the premise is the same: you make a crust, you try not to touch it too much, you divide it in half, roll each half out and line a pie plate with it (I used a 9-inch instead of a 10-inch, by the way, and it was fine). Then you put in a pile of thinly sliced rhubarb and cover that with what seems like an obscene amount of sugar.

I just had to physically restrain myself from using the caps key on the obscene. Because, people, whoa. The sugar.

But that's rhubarb! I told myself. It always takes way more sugar than you think. Remember?

Hrmph.

The cake dough or pie crust or whatever you want to call it is kind of lovely: raw, it's nicely pliable and smells incredibly fresh and rich. It bakes up sort of like an enriched biscuit, almost; like a scone. Burnished and golden and wonderfully fragrant. All the doors and window frames in the apartment were painted a few weeks ago and the paint smell has been impossible to get out. The scent of country rhubarb cake baking in the oven was the best air freshener yet. It chased that paint stench right out the window and waved a Swiss-dot apron sweetly after it, too.

I love that buttery-sweet cake smell mingling with the sharp smell of sour rhubarb syrup bubbling up to the edges of the pan, sugar caramelizing darkly.

But there were a few things in the recipe that frustrated me.

First of all, there is no way that the small amount of buttermilk and one egg in all that flour would ever turn into a dough with a wooden spoon. I had to turn that shaggy mess out onto the counter and knead it - quickly - for it to come together.

Second of all, why on earth are you supposed to simply dump all the filling sugar on top of the rhubarb? Why don't you mix the sliced rhubarb and sugar together in a separate bowl, then pour the evenly sugared fruit into the lined tin? This bugged me.

Third of all, the recipe has you pinch together the top and bottom crust, so that the rhubarb juice won't spill out and ruin your oven, but then it tells you to bake the cake until the rhubarb is soft and juicy. Um, are you meant to ascertain this using x-ray vision?

Fourth of all, WHAT is the deal with sprinkling sugar on the browned and beautiful crust? Why? What is it good for? The cake is already edging towards this side of too sweet, then you have to go and mar the pretty burnished surface of the cake with a random sprinkling of granulated sugar? Dear readers, skip this step, I beg of you.

I don't have electric beaters yet, so we skipped the whipped cream, but I think it'd be lovely dolloped softly next to a wedge of the cake. The rhubarb was jammy and sweet (next time I'd use a little less sugar - try a 3/4 cup perhaps - and add a few scrapes of lemon peel or something, because I like my rhubarb with a little more sass) and the crust was rustic and pleasingly peasant-like. This really does taste like a cake you'd make in the country, easy and comforting, full of the things you'd get from your neighbor down the road. Just the thing to herald spring, in fact. Despite all those things that bugged me.

And a little more appropriate, shall we say, than howling at the moon, even in gratitude.

Country Rhubarb Cake
Serves 8

3 cups all-purpose flour, more for work surface
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 and 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick (4 ounces) butter, cut into pieces, at cool room temperature
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 pounds (about 8 stalks) rhubarb, thinly sliced
Softly whipped cream, for serving

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, sift flour, salt, 3 tablespoons sugar and the baking soda together. With fingers, rub in butter until mixture is sandy. Beat 1 egg and add to flour mixture. Add buttermilk and blend, then turn out onto a floured surface and knead briefly until the dough comes together. It will be quite stiff and sticky. Divide in two. Roll out each piece to fit a 9-inch round baking dish. Line bottom of pan with one round, pinching together any tears.

2. Cover dough with rhubarb and sprinkle rhubarb evenly with the remaining sugar. Place second pastry round on top and pinch edges together. Pinch together any holes. Beat remaining egg with 1 teaspoon water and brush it on dough.

3. Place a baking sheet in oven to catch drips, and place baking dish on it. Bake until crust is golden, about 1 hour. If the crust browns too soon, cover the cake with a piece of aluminum foil and continue baking. Serve warm, with whipped cream on each serving.

Comments

[Sasa]

I was sick on the weekend so I had to cut short my Easter trip to Caldonazzo lake in Italy (sob) and there was no food in the fridge as I'd therefore cleaned it out (double sob) but there *was* half a bunch of forced rhubarb left over from a rhubarb cake so I stewed it with some OJ and lo, a comforting snack with some (also leftover) plain yoghurt. Hallelujah.
Now I have none to try this, but I might have to venture out in search...

[Robyn]

Rhubarb is such a slut...

[Victoria]

Luisa,

This looks delightful, and I have rhubarb in the garden so when it comes up, I'm trying this cake - and taking your well-thought-out advice. It sounds like you could use the dough with other fruits and/or fillings. After reading the article in the Times, I have been eyeing the books from Ballymaloe.

Molly will be at the Posner's in Chelsea Market tonight signing copies of her new paperback edition. Soon that will you!!!!!

I ate some of Shuna's desserts at 10 Downing Street last week. Simply amazing.

Happy Spring.

[Jennifer Jo]

I doubled my rhubarb patch this spring, cutting off from the old plants and transplanting down the row. I love rhubarb.

This cake looks wonderful---less gooey sweet than my regular rhubarb cake, but more simple than a pie (perhaps?). Thanks for the inspiration.

[Jennie]

Oh, now I'm really excited for the first stalks of rhubarb to appear at the Greenmarket!

[jill]

A delightful post. I'm not familiar with the joys of rhubarb, but clearly I should be!

[Shira]

Strangely, rhubarb still hasn't made it to Paris, except in the form of the not too sweet, excellent with a bit of gin juice from the king's vegetable garden at Versailles. But I'm moving to London next week, where plentiful rhubarb and a proper oven await. Perhaps this cake will be a good respite from unpacking.

[alana]

Have you seen Let the Right One In? Now that is one strange and excellent vampire movie.
My rhubarb is just poking its head out, and I am cheering!

[kr2160]

this looks amazing. I usually tend to avoid things where dough needs to be kneaded (an area where I'm less experienced) but this might be convince me to go ahead and try.

[nithya at hungrydesi]

I've never tried rhubarb before but now I feel like I must if it has this effect on you! the pie crust looks perfect....so golden!

[Adrienne]

That cakey crust really does look positively beguiling. I'll have to track down some rhubarb, but do you mind if I make the spritzer instead of the cake? I'm on a fizzy drink kick :)

[Heather]

gosh, it looks gorgeous and definitely cakey, but in pie form. it's interesting.

and the instructions - i figure if they call it "country cake" they can just throw the ingredients in however they want, because that's how country folk roll :)

[Pam]

In Washington State, I now have rhubarb in my garden! I see a rhubarb cake coming up soon! Thank You!

[Tracy]

Oh, I'm envious! My Minnesota rhubarb is three inches tall (and a month early thanks to the freakishly warm March and April we've had) and wouldn't yield enough stalks for a dollhouse pie. But my first harvest (or farmer's market purchase) always finds its way into a rhubarb crisp.

[Ian]

I made the cake this past weekend, and it was amazing. I lowered the amount of sugar in with the rhubarb to half a cup, and it fit my definition of what a rhubarb dessert should be: nice and tart, although not astringent.

However, I do wish that she had just come out and said: "Look, it's like making a pie, but with leavened dough, so it comes out more biscuity." I kept thinking while making the recipe that maybe it should be more cakelike, somehow.

Also, we ascertained that if you forgets to put ANY sugar in with the rhubarb until after the damn thing is baked, the crust is sturdy enough that you can cut around the outside and down the middle, lift the top off in halves and just mix it in then. Not that I would ever be absentminded enough to have to do that, of course...

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1047505248]

rhubarb is the only shade of pink i enjoy!;) the recipe is wonderful & in the todo pile. the link is great-esp. as the spring birdsong has a tendency to be drowned out w/ neighbor-noise ( & feral cats). thanks!

[Crispy Tarts]

Yu-u-u-u-u-u-u-um!

[kickpleat]

I love the idea of a cakey/sconey crust but you are right, the sugar looks positively obscene. I haven't yet bought any rhubarb but I'm waiting with baited breath.

[Katie @ Cozydelicious]

Rhubarb really does herald spring and this pie/cake looks lovely, although I might hav eto try juicing rhuubard for spritzers! My mother-in-law makes a pie/cake (which she calls a Pake - very adorable) at Christmas each year, using an almost identical dough recipe and cranberries instead of rhubarb. I adore the Cranberry Pake so I'm excitd to try a Rhubard Pake. (and since I think that Pake is cuter, I'm calling it Pake instead of country cake!)

[Jacqui]

mmm, I've been looking for more rhubarb baking ideas! This pie, err cake looks delish!

[anna]

Oh rhubarb <3 We just got our first boxful in at the restaurant I work at (it's like spring exploded in the produce walk in right now) and I can't wait to make things with it!

You know, it's really very easy and fast to whip cream by hand. I never use a mixer anymore, at home or at work, because why lug the whole thing out when all you need is a large bowl and a balloon whisk?

[Bori]

Okay. This is THE recipe made for me to try rhubarbs first, ever! I am soo looking forward to it :-)

[Deirdre]

Two reasons I must make this cake: My paternal great-grandmother was the district nurse in Cloyne, the town near Ballymaloe House. She used to be called to to house (before the Allens owned it)and would bring my aunt, then a young girl, with her, and she would wait in the kitchen drinking milk until her grandmother was done. And my mother said her mother made this exact cake (in a different part of Ireland)when she was a child. She can't wait to try it herself, and neither can I. Here in California, a world away from my grandmothers ...

[Devon]

Louisa did you know: whipping cream, in a mason jar, with the top on, and a good long shake = whipped cream? I do this all the time even though I have a beater. Because there are people in the kitchen and I want to talk to them, or they want something to do with their hands (especially good for misplaced teenagers), or because I am taking a cake to someone else's and i want the fluff to be fresh and this way my cream gets started on the ride there. Really, try it. It seems impossible and absurd, but if you have three people and ten minutes, it's hardly a job. You know it's done when there stops being a weight shift from one end of the jar to the other.

[Lynds Mason]

Adding to the whipping cream in a jar. If you add a couple of ice cubes and start shaking you will know when the cream is ready as the ice cubes cannot be heard anymore. I have planted rhubarb for the first time this year and they are coming along just great. Can't wait for the harvest so I'm collecting rhubarb recipes. All the way from Church Point, Australia!

[Katie]

I'm almost embarrassed to admit this, but I've never tasted a rhubarb before. I've gathered a couple recipes and am eager to try it.

If you have sometime, stop by my blog for awhile.

[katie]

Rhubarb grows like a weed in my garden so I'm pleased to find a new recipe.

[Vicki]

When I lived in Canada, a friend gave me rhubarb out of her garden and I made a rhubarb custard pie from a recipe I found in my Mom's cookbook. It was heavenly and I've never forgotten it -- best pie I've ever tasted but when I tried to make it again out of rhubarb from the supermarket, it tasted only average.

[Nikki Werner]

Looking forward to trying this when my rhubarbs are grown up! Ps. A great Vampire movie soundtrack (which I actually purchased in Berlin) is that of Vampyros Lesbos, haven't seen the film though!

[Elizabeth Wheeler]

I tried to get rhubarb in Dublin last week but they have no irish rhubarb yet...our great deli 'fallon & byrne' (dublins dean & deluca) told me that the only rhubarb they can get is from holland at the moment, thus prohibitively expensive. Anyway I am taking my trusty bike into town in my lunch hour to get some! Darina Allens recipe is our standard Irish recipe which has been passed down through generations in almost every family - rhubarb being one of the things which is tolerant of our acidic soils!Anyway I am off to get some to try my own, personally I prefer a crumble as the rhubarb to topping mixture is higher.
Can you tell me the name of the Berlin bar with the rhubarb spritzers...I am off there in May and these sound great!

[Elizabeth Wheeler]

Oh and yes you are correct regarding the dumping the sugar on top - my mother always mixed the sugar and rhubarb pieces together with a little lemon or orange zest before filling the pie base...

[Elizabeth Wheeler]

sorry for another comment but I have been thinking about this - my mother always cuts a little triangular slit in the top of the crust to let out some steam and you can see when the rhubarb is done.

[jenny]

Luisa--

I can't tell you how much I love you, but I really do. And I love rhubarb, too. And der Schleusenkrug. Their sausages are amazing. I regard this post as being for me! Thank you. And if you love rhubarb like I do, I urge you to make the Hungarian shortbread recipe in Baking with Julia using rhubarb compote. It'll knock your socks off.

[Vanessa]

This looks wonderful. As for your comment about dumping the sugar on top of the rhubarb instead of stirring them together first - I've read (and my experience corroborates) that this technique is meant to slow down the production of liquid (rhubarb + sugar = juice), so that the resulting cake or pie is not soggy. I made a lot of rhubarb pies with soggy bottom crusts before I read this hint.

[Tracy]

I had it in my head to make a nice rhubarb crisp (inspired by your country rhubarb cake) but the season is still sleeping here. I wish it would wake. It's warm, the sun is smiling. Even turtles have popped their heads out from beneath the earth. Argh. I must be patient and wait. I'll hang on to this inspiration until then.

[Gina @cakeandcordial]

You can always whip the cream by hand. Cancels out the calories! ;)

Also, I think I will just leave that cafe website up all the time for the pleasant audio effect!

[Andrea]

What a pretty cake (pie) that is! Aren't you absolutely gleeful that spring has come? It's been a long winter. My rhubarb is still wee little nubbins in the garden, but soon...

[Luisa]

Devon, I'm going to try that soon. Sounds like fun - I like involving people in food prep at my house! :)

Elizabeth - it's the Schleusenkrug in Tiergarten (link in the post above).

Jenny - you are a doll, you are.

Vanessa - that's interesting. The rhubarb in this recipe gave off a ton of juice nevertheless.

Tracy - turtles! That is so lovely. Even better than crocuses, I think.

Gina - isn't it so pleasant to listen to? And I think you've got a very good point about whipping your own cream! :)

[mitzimi @ the-ice-cream-maker.com]

Ripening rhubarb is how I know spring is here. We have an enormous rhubarb plant, taller than my children. It even has a name, like a member of our family.

Can't wait to try this recipe. And I totally agree with you - why add more sugar to the crust?

Thanks for the recipe and lovely photos.

[Patricia]

I love your blog! Especially because you are in Germany. Wie gehts, everyone? I was wondering if you thought I could use frozen rhubarb. I was able to buy cases of it last year from the Mennonites in KY for $5, so I froze cut up gallons of it. My husband loves it as a simple compote but I have so much and really need to use it up. It is not red, but mostly green. I can add beet juice as I have some in the freezer as well. But I just wonder if it will be too mushy. Thanks

[Jaimie]

I've been reading your blog for months, and I love, love, love it! I make Ethiopian Honey Spice Bread on a regular basis now, by the way. Here's my first comment:

Devon's right about the whipped cream in a jar. I don't ever use beaters anymore, it's so fun the shaking way.

Also, if you shake cream in a jar even longer, it eventually turns to wonderfully fresh butter. There are pictures of this process on mine and my husband's blog, if you want to see.
(And if you DO visit our humble site and leave a comment, I won't stop talking about it to my friends for weeks.) :)

[Sarka]

I love love love rhubarb! My grandparents used to grow rhubarb in their garden and we had plenty of it every year. I so much miss it. Haven't seen rhubarb at the market yet but can't wait to get my hands on it! Your cake looks divine!

[Simon]

You're porn.

would be cool if anyone checked out my blog on www.howtobakesalmon.blogspot.com

[Nadia]

What a fabulous looking recipe. I love rhubarb because it offers a baker the very real prospect of sharp flavour and contrast. Umm, note to Shira who is moving from Paris to London, Delia Smith recently triggered a severe rhubarb crisis in Britain when her recipe for rhubarb and ginger brulée forced supermarkets to import "inferior", hormone-fed European rhubarb to make up for a local shortfall. Apparently nothing beats English rhubarb...

[thecatskillkiwi]

i am so running to the store to get my mitts on a bit bunch or rhubarb, this cake/pie thingy sounds amazing!!

[Molly]

Oh! I've been clutching this very same NYT tear sheet since it ran, waiting, not very patiently, for our rhubarb. (I almost cut it this weekend, fed-up, but at pencil-width, it seemed a tad close to infanticide.) Now I'm glad I waited, as I'll proceed armed with your info. Thanks, as always, for your honesty.

[Vanessa]

First Molly, then you. So now I really have no excuse for not trying out some rhubarb recipes. I've only used it once and it was a diaster - too sour, soggy cake but it must taste amazing when you get it right. This looks fantastic and looks perfect for me.

[edie]

I can just imagine the bitter-sweetness of this cake/pie...will make it this spring for sure!

[Lesley]

thanks for the suggestions. I am going to make this today and it does seem like there is too much sugar in it, I am going to cut that back and NOT sprinkle sugar on the crust!

[michelle]

Does your recipe include your edited version or it is the one you had all the issues with? thank you