This recipe was given to my mum by the minister’s wife in the 1950s. Since then, the whole family has enjoyed it, even those who swear to detest rhubarb.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 50 mins |
| Additional Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 50 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 1 9×13-inch pan |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- ¾ cup milk
- 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 2 cups white sugar
- 4 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 ½ cups water
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 ½ teaspoons grated lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon lemon extract (Optional)
- 1 drop yellow food coloring (Optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×13-inch pan.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together 2 tablespoons butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated. Stir in the chopped rhubarb. Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Allow to cool before slicing.
- To make the Lemon Sauce: In a saucepan, mix together 2 cups sugar and 4 tablespoons cornstarch. Stir in the water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened. Remove from heat and stir in 4 tablespoons butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, and extract (if desired). Stir in 1 or 2 drops yellow food coloring, if using.
- Serve slices of cake with the warm lemon sauce.
- You can add lemon extract if you like a tangier sauce.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 351 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 71 g |
| Cholesterol | 32 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 340 mg |
| Sugars | 51 g |
| Fat | 7 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
After reading some of the comments I made a few changes. I used 3 TBSP of butter to blend with the sugar. I ended up mixing it with my fingers first and then with the electric mixer. I used a 9×9 stone pan instead of a 9×13 and it baked perfectly in 43 minutes. I’m at 4000 ft elevation and used 350 degrees. I ended up with way too much lemon sauce and it was very watery. Don’t know if I made a mistake with the water amount because the taste was fine. The watery sauce is why I gave a rating of 4 stars. The cake was very tasty and I like that it wasn’t too thin when using the 9×9 pan.
I made this exactly how written except used a bag of 4 c. frozen diced up rhubarb from last season’s harvest. We both liked it a lot! Not super sweet…a nice mix of tart/sweet. I took it to a family dinner and everyone liked it as well. The lemon sauce is delish but it makes so much. I had so much extra that I poked holes in the cake and poured some of the sauce over the cake and still had plenty left!
I made this for a get together at my house and it went over well. I will make it again with some small changes. I will try baking it in a 9×9 pan. The cake was very thin. 2 cups of flour for a 9×13 pan did not seem like much. The lemon sauce was rather weak and made far too much for the cake. I’ll look for a different lemon sauce recipe.
Didn’t make of need the lemon sauce. Cake was good all on it’s own
The worst cake I ever made, and I have made some bad ones in my life. It went wrong from the word go. I followed the recipe to the letter and my husband checked the ingredients. That’s why I rather cook and bake with metric measurements instead of cups. One never knows what size cups have been used. The first thing that went wrong was the butter sugar mix. How can you beat 2 tablespoons of butter with one cup of sugar until it goes fluffy? The batter wasn’t a batter, it was a stiff dough. So stiff that I had to add another cup of milk so I could add the rhubarb. Of course I had to beat the milk in to make the dough into a batter, which made the whole thing into a HORRIBLE gooey, heavy bread pudding like thing. The taste was‘nt good either. This was probably due to the pudding like consistency. can’t even give it to the birds as they would choke on it. The lemon sauce is good, I will make that again.
This is the best cake I have ever tasted. I didn’t have ground cloves so ground some whole cloves (mortar and pestle). I did not use the lemon sauce listed here as too syrupy and sweet for this house hold. I used instead the lemon drizzle used for a lemon cake, juice of two lemons and 1/3 cup sugar mixed together and poured over the cake when taken out of the oven. Leave to stand and cool in the tin
Made this today, beautiful cake.was a bit sceptical about the low bUtter content but it worked out perfect. Increased rhubarb to 300 gms as suggested. I don’t like cloves much so used mixed spice instead but made no other changes
This is very good. Not to sweet or tart. The lemon sauce is what makes it. Just a touch of lemon flavor….I didn’t have any lemon extract but will get it next trip to town. Definitely a keeper
Great!
Wonderful recipe exactly as written. . Not a sweet cake and that was appreciated by some people. The lemon sauce makes it sweeter. The sauce is delicious, and makes enough to use for other things. I added more rhubarb than the recipe called for to use up the last few stalks I had, and that didn’t cause any problems. Really delicious cake. I’m adding this to my favourite rhubarb recipes.
Very good cake, but it definitely needs the lemon sauce to balance the flavors and make it sweet enough. The cake itself isn’t very sweet and the rhubarb is of course quite tart, but the sauce is perfect for it! I agree with other reviewers that you can probably halve the sauce, but I’ll just the leftovers for another cake or muffins or a lemony bread pudding or something.
What a wonderful recipe! Such a perfect medley of flavors. The cake came out very moist, even with the surprisingly little butter. I did reduce the cloves to 1/4 tsp., so it wouldn’t be too overpowering, since it is such a strong spice. The ONLY thing wrong with this recipe, in my opinion, is that there is way too much sauce. You could easily get by with making only half a batch of the sauce. I ended up throwing a good portion away. My husband and I ate our first pieces with the sauce still warm and it was amazing. I then poured half of the sauce over the rest of the cake and my hubby took it into work the next day to share with his co-workers and it got rave reviews! I also choose to go “natural” and not add the food coloring to the sauce. The zest does give it a nice pale yellow color.
Recently served this at book club and it was a hit with all. The cake is good by itself but the lemon sauce makes it and even nicer treat.
I tried this cake for Fathers day, Everyone loved it. With or without the lemon sauce it is tasty. Hint: try the lemon sauce on other desserts, It is delicious!!
I made this for the dessert at our traditional easter dinner. Fantastic! I did a layered 8″ cake with lemon cream cheese frosting – it was a huge hit. Will do again, maybe with the original lemon glaze.
This cake was just okay…a tad on the sweet side, I’d probably reduce the sugar if I were to make it again. The lemon sauce was great though, would be nice on a variety of different fruit or on vanilla ice cream! The cake/sauce combo was a bit too rich for my liking.
I made this without the lemon sauce to bring to an afternoon tea. Everyone loved it! Even my student who said he had been “scared of rhubarb” before this had two pieces. Definitely a winner!
Excellent moist flavorful cake. We ate it all before I ever got around to making the sauce!
This was a perfect little cake. I added a little extra spice. The lemon sauce is a must to finish this off.
For people who like rhubarb. The lemon sauce is a must as the rhubarb is really tart & there isn’t much sweetness to the cake. Overall, not bad…