Rhubarb Crumble Cake!
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Easy, delicious, rhubarb crumble in cake form… what could be better than rhubarb crumble cake?!
So quite a while ago I shared my recipe for my apple crumble cake, and its always been a hit since. Apple crumble is probably the most common crumble, with rhubarb coming a close second… this could be completely wrong, but in my life its this way round.
But anyway, since the day of posting my apple crumble cake I have had requests for a rhubarb version… so here it is! It’s ever so slightly different as this beauty is in traybake form, but it’s still a gloriously delicious crumble in cake form.
Traybake Cakes
I didn’t want to make the cake the exact same as my other one, so it’s just a traybake cake version. You could say this is boring, but I bloody love a traybake cake. It’s much easier to chuck cakes into a tray, and go; no layering or anything.
My other traybake cakes such as my chocolate fudge traybake, and my gin and tonic traybake are larger in size, but that’s okay. I just wanted to make a smaller one for this beauty to use the correct amount of rhubarb.
Rhubarb
I often find that regular rhubarb is a lot greener, and can taste more tart in comparison to forced rhubarb, but I do think its a matter of preference… and what you can find in the shop. Often forced rhubarb ends up a tad softer than the regular.
You can see the chunks of rhubarb in every slice, and it’s just beautiful. I’ve used regular rhubarb, and forced rhubarb, and both have worked well. I don’t cook my rhubarb before baking, as I often find it softens enough after being in the oven for over 30+ minutes!
Cake
The cake is basically just a regular sponge cake, with rhubarb added in, and crumble mixture on top. It therefore takes a little longer to bake, but thats totally okay. The added moisture from the rhubarb keeps the cake soft as well and prevents it getting dry. The crumble part is completely optional, but its just so damn good.
The cake itself is made up of butter, sugar, flour, eggs and these are beaten together to a normal cake mixture. I flavour it with some ground ginger, some vanilla extract, and then of course there is rhubarb throughout the cake as well.
Crumble
You can use a shop bought crumble mixture if you want, there is no shame in this. However, I have made my own using some caster sugar, unsalted butter and plain flour. It’s really easy to make yourself, so you should if you could.
I always add the crumble ingredients into a bowl, and then rub it together with my fingertips to a crumbly breadcrumb texture. You want to use your fingertips with colder hands so that the butter doesn’t start to melt. To make it easier, you can grate the cold butter into the bowl first so it takes less time.
Adaptions
You can make this into a delicious layer cake, like my apple crumble cake, but it’s up to you. You can use the same quantities as the apple one, and follow its recipe, simply swapping to rhubarb. However, if you do this, it might turn out slightly mushier, but I’ve done it a couple of times and it was fine.
The best topping if you made this into a layer cake however, would be to make it CUSTARD FLAVOURED! Imagine it… Rhubarb Custard Cake! Heaven basically. For a two layer cake, I would use… 250g unsalted butter, room temperature, 500g icing sugar, 1/2tsp vanilla extract, and 75g custard powder! Its basically the same recipe as I use in my custard cream cupcakes, and its a winner!
Tips & Tricks
- This cake will last for 3+ days at room temperature
- You can freeze the cake for 3+ months
- I use this 9″ baking tin in my recipe
- You can use shop bought crumble mixture if you prefer, or even leave it off if you don’t fancy it.
- See notes above on making this a layer cake
- The recipe has been updated in April 2024 – the only addition is ground ginger which is optional.
Rhubarb Crumble Cake!
Ingredients
Crumble
- 50 g caster sugar
- 50 g unsalted butter
- 100 g plain flour
Cake
- 175 g unsalted butter
- 175 g light brown sugar
- 175 g self raising flour
- 3 medium eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
- 1 tsp ground ginger (optional)
- 400 g rhubarb (chopped)
Instructions
- Make crumble mix by rubbing together the sugar, butter and flour to a breadcrumb texture
- Preheat the oven to 180ºc/160ºc fan and line a 9” square tin with parchment paper
- Beat the butter and sugar until creamy
- Add flour, eggs, vanilla, ground ginger and mix
- Fold through rhubarb and pour into the tin. Or, pour the cake mix into the tin, and top with the rhubarb.
- Sprinkle over the crumble mixture
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, leave to cool for a while and then enjoy!
Notes
- This cake will last for 3+ days at room temperature
- You can freeze the cake for 3+ months
- I use this 9" baking tin in my recipe
- You can use shop bought crumble mixture if you prefer, or even leave it off if you don't fancy it.
- See notes above on making this a layer cake
- The recipe has been updated in April 2024 - the only addition is ground ginger which is optional.
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J x
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Could I use this recipe to make a muffin version? Sounds delicious! Love your recipes
I followed the recipe but instead of folding rhubarb through I scattered on top as suggested. When I turned it out it was still raw in the middle? Not sure what I did wrong, I did think it looked like a lot of rhubarb on top but thought I would trust the recipe as all the others of yours I have ever made have been beautiful. Not sure where it went wrong this time 🙁
This won’t be because the rhubarb is on top (it won’t make a difference) – it may just mean your cake needed longer baking (as all ovens vary) xx
Can you make this with apples?