Abstract:

It's time to go back to my modest community cookbook archive to find something to do with my garden-grown rhubarb surplus. The snack cake recipe I unearthed looked pretty good as wrote, but with a little hacking, it's been transformed into a dessert that all but guarantees folks will come back for seconds. A good half-pound of fresh rhubarb helps to keep this cake tender and moist; and just in case that's not enough for ya, I've gone and upped the rhubarb ante and paired another 8 ounces with some fresh strawberries in the form of a tangy sauce. The only thing missing here is a big ol' scoop of ice cream (hey, I can't do it all).

Purpose:

Last year I planted 6 rhubarb rhizomes, only to watch 4 of 'em bite the dust. I really wasn't sure what to think at the time, but now that we're into year two of my garden-grown rhubarb, it looks like the surviving pair of plants is about all I can handle. I've already razed my rhubarb this year for the sake of pie and muffins; and in turn, I've been rewarded with a second round to play with. This time, I knew I wanted to do a baked good, and I wanted to keep it simple. Not being all that inspired, I did what I always do when I'm stumped, and grabbed a pile of community cookbooks.



As I was really craving some instant rhubarb gratification, the simplicity of the snack cake recipe I discovered in a community cookbook from 1982 called Great Cooks of the Breadbasket really appealed to my impatient side. After reading the recipe once, I started contemplating adjustments. It went without saying that the margarine would have to go, and in my experience with dessert cakes containing vegetables, it was a pretty safe bet that I could bring at least 50% more rhubarb to the party and still have a moist cake that wasn't going to need to be cooked so long as to be tough after it cooled. The original recipe also called for topping the cake with cinnamon and sugar, but I figured that the cinnamon, and maybe a little nutmeg would better serve the cause if it were all put in the batter. And while there's never anything wrong with sprinkling a little sugar atop your baked goods, using demerara sugar instead is almost always a better idea. Even so, I knew this dessert could handle even more rhubarb; so to seal the deal, I whipped up a rhubarb strawberry sauce as an excuse to throw a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the bowl as well.