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