Rhubarb Cake Memories: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Favorite Recipe”

 

Summer Sweet Treat on the Farm: Rhubarb Cake

Ione Norene Macbeth Peterson: 1928-2019 (Mother)

 

My parents always had a big clump or two of rhubarb in the yard or garden, and one of my favorite summertime treats was mom’s rhubarb cake. Most people think of strawberry rhubarb pie when they think of rhubarb desserts, but in our family, we made rhubarb sauce—like applesauce with chopped rhubarb instead of apples, and a whole lot of sugar—and rhubarb cake.

The cake recipe called for buttermilk, but my mom was not a fan of buttermilk, so she just added some vinegar to whole milk to make sour milk, which provided a similar taste and texture to the cake. My favorite part was the cinnamon sugar sprinkled on the top of the cake. I loved cinnamon, and when baked on the cake, it became a crispy topping when the sugar started to melt a little—delicious.

My mother probably got this recipe from my grandmother, who also enjoyed rhubarb. Here it is:

 

Cinnamon Sugar Rhubarb Cake

½ cup butter softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk or sour milk

2 heaping cups finely chopped rhubarb

Topping

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

 Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13-inch cake pan.

 Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Cream butter, sugar and eggs in another bowl. Then add sour milk and vanilla. Add flour mixture. Mix until smooth, then fold in rhubarb. Pour into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 40-45 minutes until tester comes out clean.

My mom, Ione

Living in California for many years, and now living in southern Texas, I can’t grow rhubarb in my own yard--it needs cooler weather. As a result, I rarely have the chance to bake this cake, but whenever I do, I think of my mom and summers on the farm. I remember the sweet scent of the cake and see myself as a child, impatiently waiting as this cake rested on the stovetop until it was cool enough to cut and eat. Delicious!

 

Sources:

Photo of rhubarb. Carol Sacks, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons