Individual Rhubarb Upside Down Cakes or Muffins

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Like pineapple, the tart sweet of rhubarb pairs brilliantly with this quick yellow cake. The buttery brown sugar sauce bubbles up and mingles with the rhubarb as the cakes bake creating a deliciously addictive glaze.

A butter brown sugar sauce so delicious that I didn’t mind one bit that it bubbled up to the top of the muffin pan where I was forced to clean it up by eating it like candy.

baking with rhubarb

If you are looking for a more traditional upside down cake made with rhubarb this one made with fresh strawberries and baked in cast iron is a beautiful classic

OR these grapefruit and rhubarb glazed scones are great for a crowd and work with fresh or frozen rhubarb .

Yes rhubarb is easy to freeze and unlike so many other fruit or vegetables requires no other prep but cutting into freezable pieces- pieces that vary wildly in size for me depending on how much rhubarb I’ve been gifted,

The scent of rhubarb immediately puts me in a happy place. That scent—somewhere between red wine, vanilla, and bright tart berries, tannic but soft—it is memory not of a moment but of a feeling, of warm kitchens heady with the scents of promise and possibility, of my mother next to me, her hand on my shoulder pulling me near.

That is an awful lot for rhubarb to live up to. Add on that, in my life, rhubarb is never bought but always given. The gift of a memory and of spring, ‘help yourself’ the neighbors said and two hours later (don’t worry it won’t take you that long) there was a tray of rhubarb upside down cakes, warm and buttery and just a little tangy.

Individual Rhubarb Upside Down Cakes or Muffins

Inspired by the New York Time’s  Rhubarb Upside Down Cake  and my own Cardamom Pretzel Coffee Cake

Makes 12

Ingredients

• About two cups Rhubarb thinly sliced (five stalks, 10 ounces by weight)
• 1 tsp corn starch
• ¼ cup granulated sugar

• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup (half a stick) of butter

• 1 ½ cups AP flour
• 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Zest of 1 small lemon, grated (about 1 tssp)
• 1 stick of butter

• 3/4 cup full fat yogurt or sour cream
• 2 large eggs (I used one duck egg)
• the juice from one small lemon (about 1 TBS )
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

(a little less than 1 ¼ cup total liquid)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease and flour a 12 cup full size muffin tin.
3. In a medium bowl toss together the rhubarb, cornstarch and 1/4 cup granulated sugar.
4. In a medium sized saucepan, over medium heat, combine the brown sugar and 1/2 stick of butter. Whisk or stir until integrated and bubbling, about 2-4 minutes. Turn off heat and set aside.
5. In a large mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and lemon zest. Cut in the stick of butter with your hands or a pastry blender to the size of small peas.
6. In a separate small bowl whisk together the yogurt, eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla.
7. Add the liquids to the flour mixture all at once. Stir until just blended and little or no dry flour bits remain.
8. Equally divide the brown-sugar mixture into the muffin tins (a little more than a tsp per), then spoon in the rhubarb and its juices (about one heaping tablespoon per). Scoop in the batter so it covers all of the rhubarb. Smooth out the top.
9. Bake on the middle rack, with a cookie sheet on the rack below to catch any overflow, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the batter has set and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for five-10 minutes. Run a toothpick around the edges of the cakes to makes sure they are loose from the edges. Place a cookie sheet over the muffin tin and then invert the cakes. Thumping the bottoms of the tins if necessary. If you do this too soon the topping will be too hot, wait too long and the cakes might stick.

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Individual Rhubarb Upside Down Cakes or Muffins

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American, Baking

Servings 12 muffins

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

the rhubarb

• About two cups Rhubarb
• 1 tsp corn starch
• ¼ cup granulated sugar

for the glaze

• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup half a stick of butter

for the muffins/cakes

• 1 ½ cups AP flour
• 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Zest of 1 small lemon grated (about 1 tssp)
• 1 stick of butter
• 3/4 cup full fat yogurt or sour cream
• 2 large eggs I used one duck egg
• the juice from one small lemon about 1 TBS
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grease and flour a 12 cup muffin tin.
• In a medium bowl toss together the rhubarb, cornstarch and 1/4 cup granulated sugar.
• In a medium sized saucepan, over medium heat, combine the brown sugar and 1/2 stick of butter. Whisk or stir until integrated and bubbling, about 2-4 minutes. Turn off heat and set aside
• In a large mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and lemon zest. Cut in the stick of butter with your hands or a pastry blender to the size of small peas.
• In a separate small bowl whisk together the yogurt, eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla.
• Add the liquids to the flour mixture all at once. Stir until just blended and little or no dry flour bits remain.
• Equally divide the brown-sugar mixture into the muffin tins (a little more than a tsp per), then spoon in the rhubarb and its juices (about one heaping tablespoon per). Scoop in the batter so it covers all of the rhubarb. Smooth out the top.
• Bake on the middle rack, with a cookie sheet on the rack below to catch any overflow, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the batter has set and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for five-10 minutes. Run a toothpick around the edges of the cakes to makes sure they are loose from the edges. Place a cookie sheet over the muffin tin and then invert the cakes. Thumping the bottoms of the tins if necessary. If you do this too soon the topping will be too hot, wait too long and the cakes might stick.

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