This rhubarb cake is truly one of our favorites.
It’s incredibly easy to make with a handful of ingredients that you likely have on hand. It comes out moist and full of tart rhubarb flavor.
It’s rhubarb season and this fruit (yes, it’s a fruit!) is making appearances in everything from pies to muffins! This recipe for rhubarb cake showcases its unique color and flavor in a lightly sweetened, fluffy cake that’s perfect as a quick snack or dessert.
You’ll LOVE This Cake Because…
- It’s so moist and delicious that it requires no frosting.
- This rhubarb cake recipe is super easy to make.
- It’s made with ingredients you likely have on hand, along with some rhubarb stalks.
- It freezes well, so it can be made ahead of time.
Ingredients for Rhubarb Cake
- Rhubarb – Choose ripe and firm red stalks. Rinse the stalks thoroughly and chop them into even pieces. If you don’t have enough rhubarb to equal 3 cups, add sliced strawberries or chopped apples. You can use frozen rhubarb in this recipe too.
- Flour – All-purpose flour is the base of this cake, it hasn’t been tested with other varities.
- Butter – Use unsalted butter. If using salted butter, skip the salt in the recipe.
- Lemon – Fresh lemon adds flavor and also reacts with the soda to make the cake light and fluffy (so it cannot be left out). If you’d like zest the lemon and add 1 teaspoon of lemon zest to the cake.
- Other – Use large eggs and granulated sugar.
How to Make Rhubarb Cake
This is a delicious and sweet way to enjoy a harvest of rhubarb.
- Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl and wet ingredients in a medium bowl.
- Toss the rhubarb in the dry mixture.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients (recipe below). Pour the cake batter into the prepared baking dish or cake pan.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake.
If you’d like, this cake is great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a sprinkle of powdered sugar, or whipped cream.
Storing Rhubarb Cake
Keep rhubarb cake covered at room temperature for up to 3 days. Freeze leftover portions by wrapping them tightly in plastic wrap and storing them in zippered bags for up to 10 weeks.
More Rhubarb Recipes
Rhubarb Upside Down Cake
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Rhubarb Crumble Pie
Did you make this Rhubarb Cake? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Rhubarb Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 3 cups chopped fresh rhubarb chopped
Topping
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan and set aside.
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Whisk flour, salt, & baking soda in a large bowl. Set aside.
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In a small bowl, combine sugar, milk, melted butter, lemon juice, and vanilla. Stir in the egg.
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Add the rhubarb to the flour mixture and gently mix.
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Combine the wet and dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until well combined.
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Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top of the batter.
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Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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Cool and serve with ice cream.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Cake, Dessert
Cuisine American
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Love this recipe. My favorite rhubarb dessert recipe!
I’ve made this recipe several times and it’s always been great. Several of my friends now make it too! I’ve served it with ice cream and with whipped cream…both are good!
Excellent recipe. The cake was very moist. I had to bake it for 55 minutes but it was very worth it. Thank you for the terrific recipe.
I made two of these and used glass bakeware. I didnt mix the rhubarb into the flour mixture (accidentally put it in before I saw that it was supposed to be stirred into the flour mixture) but it turned out great.
I took it to two different places and it was gone like that!
I didn’t take ice cream but used whipped cream and it worked out great.
Thanks for this delicious recipe.
several people said they didn’t like rhubarb but they liked this.
Sounds delicious, Barb! Thank you for trying our recipe.
Such an easy recipe and turned out to be so tasty! For me, I had to take it out after 35 minutes because it was already done and I also added cinnamon 1 teaspoon and ginger 1 teaspoon. Turned out great will make it again and again.
So glad you enjoyed it!
This cake is delicious! I used 1 cup of sugar instead of 1.5 and found it sweet enough. The lemon zest gives it that extra zing. I will use this recipe with cherries and other fruits as well.
Super moist.
Wow.. so easy to make
This is a delicious cake. Very moist and suitable as a dessert cake as well as to enjoy with a cup of tea.
As I noted comments saying it is quite moist on the bottom, I also cooked it longer – 10 to 15 minutes.
I would use a little less sugar on top and perhaps a little more cinnamon, however we all loved it as is.
Thank you so much for trying it, Alison!
It was fantastic! I substituted lemon extract 1 tsp instead of lemon juice. I substituted 1 apple diced up for 1 cup of rhubarb as I only had 2 cups. Everyone loved it!
Husband LOVED this fresh rhubarb cake! Didn’t have a lemon or any lemon juice, so I subbed white wine vinegar for the chemical reaction. Will be keeping this recipe. From garden to table was 1-1/4 hours.
I am so happy to hear this recipe was a hit Tia!
I really like this cake in general, but it has WAY too much salt! Need to knock it back to 1/2 teaspoon.
I also left out the vanilla, because I usually find that it clashes with lemon flavors in a way I personally don’t like.
But the rest is great!
Hi All,
I’ve made this about 5X so far. It’s easy. I like the light colour of the cake. It set’s of the colours in the rhubarb well. The taste is good. I’ve given the recipe out to others as well. A little thing not so great is that the cake can be a little too wet so I do not underbake it. Today I ran out of fresh lemons so I am using the bottled stuff – hope it works. Very happy to have the recipe. Thank you!
I am so happy to hear you love this recipe as much as I do Joyce!
This cake was easy to make and very good. I used frozen rhubarb. The bottom of the cake was wetter than I wish but still fine. I baked it 50 min. Also had that larger grind of sugar that was nice in the topping.
I am so happy to hear you loved this recipe Joyce!
Hi, would it be possible to provide a button that converts ‘cups’ measurements to ‘metric’ please?
It would be so much simpler than converting each ingredient ‘cup’ measurement into metric. Recently became a subscriber and will have try at the rhubarb cake and let you know, once I’ve sorted out the ingredients.
Thank you for the suggestion Brian, we will keep this in mind. I hope you loved the cake.
After stumbling upon some fresh rhubarb at the grocery store (sort of uncommon in my area), I decided to give this recipe a try – and wow! So simple and delicious! It easily secured its place somewhere in my “top 5 favorite cakes”.
That is such a delicious surprise, Kevin! Glad you enjoyed it.
This cake is beyond delicious. The small bit of sugar and cinnamon on top add just a bit of crunch. I added 1 tsp of baking piwder on top of the soda. Just gives it a bit of extra lift.
Family say this is a keeper!
So glad your family loved this June!
Great Recipe.
By accident I had all the items needed and made it yesterday.
Will do t again with my next crop of rhubarb.
Thank you for sharing
So glad you loved it William (and had everything you needed to make it too!).
Execlent Rhubarb Cake! I just needed extra topping top cover cake. The best Rhubarb cake recipe i have tried! It’s a keeper!
So happy to hear that, Linda. Thank you!