Filled Rhubarb Coffee Cake

  4.2 – 19 reviews  • Coffee Cake Recipes

When I have fresh rhubarb on hand or for brunches, I prepare this wonderful dessert. makes a beautiful presentation as well!

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 45 mins
Additional Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 1 hr 15 mins
Servings: 8
Yield: 1 9-inch tube cake

Ingredients

  1. ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  2. 2 teaspoons white sugar
  3. 1 cup milk
  4. 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  5. ½ cup shortening
  6. 1 ½ cups white sugar
  7. 1 egg
  8. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  9. 2 cups all-purpose flour
  10. 1 teaspoon baking soda
  11. ½ teaspoon salt
  12. 2 cups chopped fresh rhubarb
  13. ⅓ cup brown sugar
  14. ⅓ cup white sugar
  15. 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  16. 1 cup chopped walnuts
  17. 2 teaspoons white sugar, or to taste
  18. ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9-inch fluted tube cake pan.
  2. Mix 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon with 2 teaspoons sugar in a small bowl. Pour mixture into greased cake pan and tilt the pan, tapping to coat inside of pan with cinnamon sugar. Pour out any loose cinnamon sugar.
  3. Mix lemon juice into milk in a large measuring cup and let stand about 5 minutes to sour. Mix shortening and 1 1/2 cups sugar together in a large bowl until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla extract. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Gradually add dry ingredients to moist ingredients, alternating with sour milk, to make a smooth batter.
  4. Stir rhubarb into batter. Pour half the batter into prepared cake pan. Stir brown sugar, 1/3 cup white sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and walnuts together in a bowl; sprinkle nut mixture over batter. Pour remaining batter over nut mixture.
  5. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to a serving platter. Stir 2 teaspoons white sugar with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle sugar mixture on top of cake.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 577 kcal
Carbohydrate 86 g
Cholesterol 26 mg
Dietary Fiber 3 g
Protein 8 g
Saturated Fat 5 g
Sodium 329 mg
Sugars 59 g
Fat 24 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Jonathan Smith
Excellent! This even worked beautifully at high altitude! I followed another reviewer’s suggestion to dredge rhubarb in flour prior to adding it to the batter. I didn’t hear my timer go off so it baked almost ten minutes longer than it should have…even so it didn’t burn…probably due to high altitude. There were NO leftovers and this treat received rave reviews from all who ate it. This is a definite keeper!
Michael Rogers
skip the outer cinnamon sugar
Kevin Bonilla
I don’t know what I did wrong as I followed the recipe closely. It was heavy—too much “filling”” which made the bottom of it gooey. The only thing I can figure out is that I used the first rhubarb of the Spring which has lots of water in it.
Jordan Welch
This recipe is great! I had some frozen rhubarb that I just drained the liquid from once it thawed and it turned out great. I also used sliced almonds instead of walnuts, just because that’s all I had. Moist and crunchy at the same time- delicious!
Jesse Taylor
This turned out wonderfully! Used a Bundt pan and baked for about 50-55 minutes. Not sure why some had an issue. Wrong pan used, maybe? This would be great with Granny Smith apples (for the tart/tangy) if rhubarb is unavailable.
Robert Kent
Turned out well – lots of flavor. We didn’t think it was too sweet.
Jacob Schultz
It was excellent! Followed the recipe. The only change was that I did not use about 3 table spoons of the sugar filling, it seemed to be too much. The cake was moist and perfect! I had a bit of cream cheese frosting, I thinned that a bit and put it on top as a glaze, delicious! This is a keeper!
Lisa Lee
Didn’t change anything but next time will make sure not to put the streusel close to the metal sides as after the recommended 10 minute rest when I turned the cake out it was stuck and came apart in some spots. But very delicious.
Matthew Allen
Will definitely make again!
Meredith Watts
The filling was way too sweet and dominated the flavor.
Stephanie Gamble
This recipe is great! Wouldn’t change anything taste wise. I need to figure out a way to get it out of the pan though! I waited the 10 minutes and tried to invert it to the serving platter and it just dumped out! My husband and friends still loved it and instead of cake I served it as rhubarb bread pudding with a scoop of ice cream. They loved it!
Christopher Boyle
I liked it and made a few changes to make it diabetic friendly and a wee bit more heart healthy. I used splenda for the sugars (white as well as the brown sugar blend) and for the fat omitted shortening and used 1/4 c unsalted becel and 1/4c plain greek yogurt. Turned out moist not wet and light THANKS for the great recipe foundation
James Rogers
Thank you patty my mom use to make something similar when I was younger and I missed it till I found yours oh how it brings back memories with my mom!! Thanks so much and you won’t be disappointed with this recipe it fabulous !!!!!!!
Tamara James
Mine didn’t turn out as pretty as the picture here, but it was still quite yummy. My mom liked it and she doesn’t like rhubarb. My advice would be to grease the pan super well! With cinnamon and sugar on the bottom of the pan mine didn’t pop out very well. Otherwise the recipe worked well and everything tasted great.
Anita Owens
I made this cake and I did a bit of a change. This is how I make all my cakes, cookies etc that add fruit to them or nuts. I took the rhubarb and added some of the flour to it and mixed it really well into the rhubarb, or nuts or raisins for instance…this makes the rhubarb not sink to the bottom of the batter. Try this if you make this cake an remember to do it with anything that calls for raisins or nuts…It makes a big difference to how the cake bakes up.
Gloria Joseph
Loved it! Made it for my mom on mother’s day. The only thing I would have changed, was putting the sugar on top half way through the bake.
Justin Ross
I made this recipe exactly as written, except I substituted pecans for walnuts because I like them better. This is a wonderful treat. I didn’t find the filling to be off at all, and the cake is wonderful and moist. My only mistake is that I made it in a bundt pan instead of a tube pan, and I wouldn’t do that again because the fruit stuck to the pan. This is definitely a keeper and I’m glad to find such a great recipe to use up the rhubarb in my yard.
Phillip Green
I seldom rate 5 Stars on a recipe but this one deserves it. I do not know why the single reviewer had a problem with the filling because it was obvious from the recipe that the filling was perfectly balanced-not too little, not too much, which made me want to try it. I had enough faith in it that I made it for a coffee club meeting at my house. The tang from the rhubarb and the sweet from the filling made this one of the best cakes I have ever made! All of the ladies wanted the recipe and spent several minutes discussing why the review was so horrible when the cake is so superb. They decided it was either an amateur cook or a bad oven because the cake was moist not wet, it rose beautifully and the cinnamon sugar dusted on top was the perfect finish. My husband is not a big sweet eater but he asked me to save him some just from the smell of it baking. After tasting he asked me to hold on to this recipe as he would ask for it again.
Brian Hudson
As with any recipe we try, myself included, we have high hopes for its outcome. This, unfortunately, was one of the rare occasions I was let down. The batter looked good, but when I topped it with the filling I should have trusted my instincts and stopped when I saw enough was enough (about halfway through). I also had a sudden memory of a similar cake I tried from this site, remembering the cake was basically ruined by an excess of this same kind of filling. I carried on, using the full amount of filling, and shouldn’t have. The cake didn’t bake properly, even caving somewhat. At least that will not be seen when the cake is turned over, I thought. But I knew it was caving for a reason. Cutting into it, my fears were realized – there was far too much filling, not just from a taste perspective, but it was just too much for the cake to handle. It made the cake too heavy, almost wet, and too sweet – not to mention unattractive. Years ago Hubs wisely told me that if I’m not enjoying a book I shouldn’t force myself to read it, as there are so many more books I’d enjoy better and never enough time to read them all. For similar reasons with this cake, I did not keep it.

 

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