Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Strawberry Rhubarb Cake


This is my first entry to Rachel's Baking Challenge. The theme for June's challenge was strawberries. My first thought was strawberry pie, but truly pie is not one of my giftings in cooking. And then I thought about rhubarb. I had plenty of it growing in my garden and I love the combination of strawberries with rhubarb. But what to make that is tasty and not so common? I pulled out an old cookbook my mom had given me. It is called Cookery Carosel and was produced by the MEI ladies auxiliary in the 80's. I have the second printin (1988). For those of you going who? What? MEI is a private school in the town in B.C. I grew up in. It stands for Mennonite Educational Institute and no, I didn't go there. But having grown up in a community with lots of Mennonite families, I know just how wonderful their recipes are! I found a recipe for Rhubarb Cake and adapted it to add strawberries. The result was really tasty. It's a coffee cake that we served up with ice cream. My friends who we shared it with really loved it.


1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup rhubarb, cut up
1 cup strawberries, cut up
1/2 cup shortening
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sour milk
2 cups flour

Mix as for any cake, pour into a 9 x 13 pan. Top with:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Bake at 350* for 35-40 minutes.

I used a large springform pan (like you would for cheesecake) to make this as a round cake rather than a rectangle.

The original cake called for 1 1/2 cups cut up rhubarb and no strawberries.

*Sour Milk - I had to look this one up: 1 tbsp lemon juice plus enough milk to make one cup


12 comments:

Donna-FFW said...

The strawberry rhubarb combination sounds delightful to me and your cake looks absolutely marvelous!

Creative Classroom Core said...

What an awesome way to use rhubarb!

Anonymous said...

Looks delicious! I'm going to have to bookmark the recipe so I can try it myself.

Thank you for participating!

Rachel

Monica H said...

This looks delicious. I love all those crumbs on top. I only wish I could see all the lovely filling!

Great job!

Coleens Recipes said...

What a lovely recipe! I haven't cooked with rhubarb in years, I'm looking forward to trying this.

NKP said...

Yum! Strawberry and rhubarb are a match made in heaven!

Heather S-G said...

This sounds delicious...I can just imagine it warm with a little creme fraiche drizzled over it....drool!

Monica H said...

I'm such a dork! I don't know how I missed that first picture. I've been thinking of this cake all day, I had to come back for anohter looksy!

teresa said...

Oh yummy! I'd love a piece of this with a big scoop of whipped cream!

Lara said...

I've never used rhubarb all that much before, but this looks like a delicious combination!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

I want rhubarb! I want strawberry rhubarb cake! I totally missed out on rhubarb season. :(
~ingrid

Lissaloo said...

yummy! My new house has 2 rhubarb plants, yay! I have an award for you on my blog :)