Rhubarb Coffee Cake

One spring when I was about 7 or 8 years old my mom took my sister and I on a little trip to visit her great uncle and second cousins in the small town of Snoqualamie, WA. The trip lasted only a few hours but I came home from the visit with two things that would impact the rest of my life.

The biggest deal, at the time, were the new to us, bicycles my sister and I were handed down from the cousins we played with that afternoon. If I am remembering correctly these were our first bikes and the ones on which we learned to ride. Mine was a big heavy green frame with purple handle bar grips that had sliver glitter pieces embedded in the rubber. I loved the idea of a green bicycle with sparkly purple handle bars but riding it freaked the crap out of me. I was happy enough with the training wheels firmly attached but once they were gone I didn't want to take my toes off the ground and pedal. Subsequently I was the last kid on the block to master two wheels. But, I've been able to ride ever since!

My uncle had quite the garden around his modest home. I don't remember the ratio of edibles to decorative plants but I do remember his rhubarb. Each plant sported hip high crimson stalks and I have yet to see any matching their length or diameter. The town where he lived is nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountain range. The climate is typically cool and damp but he had one thing in his favor, when the clouds parted his garden was flooded with sunlight. To make the most of the sun's rays he placed large plastic barrels over the rhubarb plants giving them there own private green houses. Oh boy did that do the trick. It was our great luck that in addition to the bikes he gave my mom a section of recently divided rhubarb to plant in her garden.

The yard around our little blue house was prime real estate for shade loving plants. Mom did her best with the rhubarb but it just didn't love the spot where it was planted. Not that it died, it just didn't come anywhere close to its sun drenched parent plants. Every spring it slowly pushed its elephant ear leaves out of the ground and eventually the stalks would show streaks of pink. For their effort the stalks grew wispy rather than robust but we harvested them once or twice during the summer. Sometimes our crop needed to be supplemented with a few stalks from the grocery store but there is no shame in that. All the waiting and watching helped me come to appreciate and love rhubarb in a way that I may not have if we only purchased it when we were in the mood for a pie.

A couple of years ago I planted a large rhubarb crown in my own garden. I picked a spot with both southern and western exposure and sprinkled the dirt with a bit of organic fertilizer. Last year was the first harvest, it began in late spring and went into the fall. By the end of the season I used a bunch and stashed several bags of chopped pieces in the freezer (it freezes beautifully). Now it is time to finish off that harvest before this year's already abundant stalks begin to ripen.

I dug into the freezer to make these cakes. I call them coffee cake but we have been enjoying them as dessert. Eagle eyed readers will spot bits of peach on one of the slices. I started with a mixture of fruit but ultimately enjoyed the cake with just rhubarb the best. So often rhubarb is paired up with other fruit and while delightful it is also nice to let the complexity of rhubarb speak for itself.

If you have not yet tried baking with rhubarb, or if you have only ever eaten it in a pie, I hope you'll give one or both versions of this cake a try. I can't say the experience will be life changing but you never know! If nothing else this cake would make a lovely addition to a Mother's Day menu, I know my mom certainly enjoyed it!