Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

5 from 1 vote

Rhubarb Upside Down Cake, a delicious springtime dessert with a rich, moist and buttery sponge and a caramelised rhubarb topping that is sweet and tangy, and wonderfully refreshing. It's a quick and easy classic dessert that makes the most of the fresh seasonal rhubarb.

Prep Time15

Cook Time35

Total Time50

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: International

Servings: squares

Calories: 150kcal

Author: Daniela Apostol

Ingredients

4 rhubarb stalks
100 g self-raising flour
100 g soft butter
100 g granulated sugar
2 eggs
3 tablespoon dark brown sugar
30 g melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit).
Add the soft butter with the granulated sugar to a mixing bowl, and use a hand mixer to beat them together until you get a creamy consistency.
Add the eggs one by one, beating well after every egg added.
Sift in the flour, add the baking powder and vanilla extract, and use a spatula to mix everything into a batter.
Butter a square baking tray ( mine is 24 cm / 9 inches in diameter and 5 cm / 2 inches in height) every well, including the walls of the tin, then spread the melted butter over the bottom of the tray.
Scatter the dark brown sugar over.
Cut the rhubarb stalks into sticks of 10 cm in length (4 inches) and arrange them over the sugar.
Spread the batter over the rhubarb, and pop the tray in the oven for 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Remove the tray from the oven, and allow it to cool down for 10 minutes.
Run a sharp knife around the edges of the sponge, place a plate on top of the sponge, and quickly flip it over so that the rhubarb is at the top and the sponge at the bottom of the plate.
Allow it to cool down completely before slicing.

Video

Notes

Butter the baking tray well all over, even on the tray walls, so that when the cake is removed, it won't stick to the baking tray and ruin the nice topping - make sure you use a good non-stick tray for this cake.
Do not leave the cake to cool down for longer than 10 minutes once it's out of the oven, or the caramel on the bottom of the sponge still harden and it will be pretty impossible to remove the cake from the tray without breaking it.
It might look like there isn't enough batter to cover the entire cake, but the sponge get a lovely lift in the oven, and the cake will rise beautifully.

Nutrition