Getting to be spring so I thought that I would make the most of this lovely Sunday morning by making some spring-like food: Rhubarb, first of the season for me. This is a great little coffee cake, perfect for breakfast but would be great with afternoon tea as well. Fool-proof too. And if it isn’t rhubarb season, substitute fresh blueberries or even apricots or peaches later in the summer. Lots and lots of crumble, something my dad really loves.
Ingredients
For the rhubarb filling
1/2 pound rhubarb, trimmed
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
For the crumbs
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sliced almonds
For the cake
1/3 cup crème fraise (sour cream also would work)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut to tablespoon sized pieces
Directions
Preheat oven to 325F. Grease an 8-inch-square (or equivalent sized) baking pan. For filling, slice rhubarb 1/2 inch thick and toss with sugar, cornstarch and ginger. Set aside.
To make crumbs, in a large bowl, whisk sugars, spices and salt into melted butter until smooth. Then, add flour with a spatula or wooden spoon. It will look and feel like a solid dough. Leave it pressed together in the bottom of the bowl and set aside.
To prepare cake, in a small bowl, stir together the crème fraise, egg, egg yolk and almond extract. In the work bowl of your stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add butter and a spoonful of sour cream mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened. Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds. Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula. Scoop out about 3/4 cup batter and set aside. Scrape remaining batter into prepared pan. Spoon rhubarb over batter. Dollop set-aside batter over rhubarb; it does not have to be even.
Using your fingers, break topping mixture into big crumbs, about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in size. They do not have to be uniform, but make sure most are around that size. Sprinkle over cake, along with the almond slices. Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean of batter (it might be moist from rhubarb), 45 to 55 minutes. Cool completely before serving.
