Rhubarb

On Saturday, I went down the Eastern market in Detroit. It's a large farmer's market located near all the major meat, seafood, and poultry distributors. They also have flats of flowers and other plants available.

I was on the hunt for rhubarb because I've been dying to make this cake since I snipped the recipe from Martha Stewart Living.

This is my finished product and it is delicious!

Here's the recipe straight from Martha's website:

Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

This cake has a crumb "topping" that actually ends up on the bottom. Each bite has a surprisingly crunchy texture.

Yield
Makes one 9-inch cake
Serves 10 Add to Shopping List

Ingredients

For the Topping

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
Coarse salt

For the Cake

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for buttering pan
1 pound rhubarb, trimmed and cut on a very sharp diagonal about 1/2 inch thick
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange zest plus 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the topping: Stir together butter, flour, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt until moist and crumbly.

Make the cake: Butter a 9-inch round cake pan (2 inches deep). Dot with 4 tablespoons butter (cut into pieces). Toss rhubarb with 3/4 cup sugar; let stand for 2 minutes. Toss again, and spread in pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Beat remaining stick butter and cup sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in zest and juice. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with sour cream, until smooth. Spread evenly over rhubarb. Crumble topping evenly over batter.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and top springs back when touched, about 1 hour. Let cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake, and invert onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.

Cook's Note
Let the cake cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan. The rhubarb will be too hot to handle safely right after baking. But if the cake sits much longer, it may stick.

I used a 9 inch spring form pan, because it is deeper than my regular cake pans. The syrup leaked a bit (I placed the pan on a cookie sheet), but it was no big deal. The cake is really delicious with the rhubarb adding a tangy element that I love. I'm thinking this recipe might be tweaked to make some amazing cupcakes, but without a liner, I'm not sure....

I also bought two pots of flowers for the front of our house. I'm not really that into gardening, so I just bought the pre-made type:

I do love flowers, but the act of gardening just doesn't appeal to me. I think the pots look nice. Perhaps next year I'll plant pots on my own. I'm hoping we'll have a new deck next summer, so I'll need to spruce it up. I might just be the person who needs to hire a gardener when we have a house. Luckily, the condo association handles the other greenery you see in the picture.

Work has been nuts with Summer Reading starting this week! I hope to catch up with this blog soon!