Rhubarb-Apple Cake

I used to not like rhubarb. Really. That slimy, sour vegetable wasn’t on my list of dream desserts at all. My husband loves rhubarb. Give him that tart piece of tart and he’s in heaven. We have three rhubarb plants in our garden, each a different variety. Two are green and one is red. So I learned to like it.

Every spring my husband begs for rhubarb this and rhubarb that: ice cream, tart, poached, etc. So I opened the rhubarb season with a cake including streusel since what can go wrong when you add streusel to the top of a cake?!
The strawberry-rhubarb mixture has always baffled me a little. In my garden the strawberries start to ripen at the end of June, when rhubarb season ends. So for me, it’s not a natural combination. Aside from the fact that I don’t care for cooked strawberries. So I added a bit of apple to the rhubarb filling and the juices make the filling a bit pudding-like and absolutely delicious. Last year I made the same cake with frozen raspberries I had left over from the summer before. Equally delicious!

Rhubarb-Apple Streusel Cake

For the streusel

  • 115 g butter, melted
  • 120 g cane sugar
  • 140 g flour
  • 20 g ground almonds
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 Tbs sliced almonds

For the cake

  • 450 g rhubarb, peeled and cut into small pieces
  • 2 apples, peeled, cored and cut into small pieces
  • 1 Tbs sugar
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 200 g flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 170 g butter, softened 
  • 140 g powdered sugar
  • 2 eggs 
  • 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 190° C. Line the bottom of a springform pan with parchment paper.

Place the rhubarb and apples in a medium bowl and toss with sugar, 50 g of the flour and cinnamon.

In a mixer, beat butter and confectioners’ sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add eggs and vanilla extract. Stir in remaining 150 g flour and baking powder and mix.

Whisk together butter, sugar. Stir in flour, nuts and ginger and combine with your fingers until you have big crumbs.

Spread batter in prepared pan, top with fruit and crumble streusel over the top. Scatter some sliced almonds over the top.

Bake for 50-55 minutes until golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan before cutting.

One Reply to “Rhubarb-Apple Cake”

  1. Judy Miles says: Reply

    Oh I wish I had this recipe yesterday! I made a rhubarb cake sans apples and almonds, and it would have been better with YOUR version, (although I had two pieces, it was good enough.) I’m keeping this one!

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