Rhubarb upside down cake starts with an amazing sour cream pound cake topped with slightly tart but sweet rhubarb. Great for any Spring gathering.
My Mother-in-law and I have always loved cooking together. It was how we got to know each other when Mike and I were first dating. She was visiting this week and wanted to make something with rhubarb. We are always mixing it with strawberries so I wanted to try something a little different. We decided on this concoction and I am so glad we did.
We made a brown sugar glaze in a cast-iron skillet and added pecans and chopped rhubarb to it, cooking it only slightly. I was hoping that the brown sugar glaze would sweeten it enough but not be so sweet that it covered up the rhubarb’s tartness. I think we came up with the perfect combination of sweet and tart for the topping.
For the cake part she came up with the idea of using her infamous pound cake which was Aunt Millies’ recipe. She has made this pound cake a million times and if you live in Campbellsville you may have been lucky enough to have one of hers. We needed to adapt her recipe somewhat to work with the size and the fact that we would be pouring it into a hot skillet.
In the early years we had a few fiasco’s but most were still edible. I was sure this would be edible but wasn’t sure how the pound cake would compliment the rhubarb and if it would be sweet enough without being too sweet. I don’t know what I was worried about because she is a great cook and the two of us together have quite a bit of cooking experience. Our first attempt was perfect except for the overall presentation. I should have made sure the rhubarb was spread out evenly in the skillet before adding the batter, some of my pieces did not have as much rhubarb as others. Other than that, it was perfect. A light and buttery sour cream pound cake with a slightly sweet topping that worked it’s way into the batter so that you enjoyed the rhubarb flavor throughout the cake.
We topped this with whipped cream and ate it at room temperature for dessert but it would be great for a brunch or tea. Everyone loved it and I especially love that we created it together. I can’t wait for her next visit to see what we can come up with.
Rhubarb Upside Down Pound Cake
Rhubarb upside down cake starts with an amazing sour cream pound cake topped with slightly tart but sweet rhubarb. Great for any Spring gathering.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Dessert
Ingredients
- TOPPING
- ¼ cup butter
- ½ cup pecans, chopped
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon candied ginger, chopped
- 2 cups rhubarb, chopped
- CAKE
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ½ cup butter
- 4 ounces sour cream
- 3 eggs, separated
- 1 ½ cups flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º.
- Melt butter in a 10 inch oven proof skillet over medium heat. Stir in pecans, brown sugar and ginger until sugar dissolves. Add cut rhubarb to the mixture and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Spread rhubarb and pecans evenly over the bottom of the pan.
- CAKE:
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter, sugar and sour cream and mix until smooth. Add egg yolks one at a time mixing after each. Add vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt and soda. Add to batter and mix until well blended
- Beat egg whites until meringue consistency and gently fold into batter. Pour onto the top of the brown sugar mixture in the skillet and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes on a wire rack and then turn upside down onto a platter. Serve with whipped cream.
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