Whole Wheat Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

Who likes rhubarb?  I love rhubarb!  Like seriously obsessed.  I was afraid that I burnt myself out last year since I went so crazy on it, but nope.  I love it just as much, if not more this year.  I have 3 plants in my garden now this year.  I’ve been ripping stalks off left right and center and I’ve still been buying it from the farmers market too.  Obsessed!

Let me just tell you about last year.  I had never had rhubarb before.  OK, that’s probably not true, I probably had it before, hidden in a pie with a ton of other fruit and too much sugar.  Last year was when I first really tasted rhubarb.

Let me start from the very beginning… I bought some rhubarb from the market because I was determined to try it out.  And then it sat in the fridge for close to 2 weeks.  Every time I opened the fridge it was there, taunting me, so I pushed it to the back and forgot about it.  Until the time to put my next weeks market finds in the fridge came and I saw it again.  I pulled it out to the front, determined to do something with it and I looked at it every day for probably another week before I decided to do something with it.

Embarrassing, but at least I learned to love rhubarb in the process.  It’s a very good thing rhubarb lasts a long time in a bag in the fridge.  I’m telling you… Buy some!  Put it in your fridge and don’t let it intimidate you!  😉

The fun thing about about buying our rhubarb from the market last year was how I used it as a leash for my daughter.  She was a year and a half at the time, and was never much for holding hands so instead, I would let her hold a piece of rhubarb when I bought it and then I held onto the other end so I could lead her around the market 🙂

I don’t want this post to be too long.  I did go a little crazy with the pictures again.  I just want to mention that if you think these pictures look a little different, they are.  I made the cake the first day and discovered that the middle wasn’t cooked after I took all my pictures(the ones with the much nicer, pink colored rhubarb from the market).  The next day I made the cake again and decided to take more pictures(the ones with the greenish pink rhubarb, from my garden).  Not too different, but I thought I’d explain why they’re two different colors 🙂  Oh, and I’ve changed the recipe to reflect the longer baking time, of course.

The strange thing is, I checked the cake with a toothpick and it came out clean the first time even though the cake wasn’t cooked.  Anyone else had this problem with baking with whole wheat flour?  I’ve never had that happen to me before, but I’m sure it was probably something I did wrong.

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Whole Wheat Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

Adapted from Eat Good 4 Life’s basic cake recipe

• 2 tbsp butter
• 3/4 C + 2 tbsp brown sugar, divided(a less processed sugar is recommended, like sucanat)
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg(freshly ground is best!)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 – 3  C fresh rhubarb, chopped into 1/2″ pieces
• 1 1/2 C + 2 tbsp whole wheat pastry flour from soft wheat
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• Scant 1/2 C flavorless oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 C brown sugar(again, sucanat is recommended but regular brown sugar is fine)
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 C milk(dairy or not dairy)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare an 8×8 baking dish by spraying with non stick spray, or buttering.
Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter and mix with 1/4 C brown sugar and the ginger, nutmeg and a pinch of salt.  Spread in the bottom of the pan.  In a small bowl toss the chopped rhubarb with 2 tbsp flour.  Pour over the butter and sugar mixture in the pan and then sprinkle the fruit with an extra 2 tbsp of brown sugar.  Shake the pan to help the fruit settle to the bottom.
For the cake, in a small bowl combine the oil, vanilla, brown sugar, eggs and milk.  Mix well and set aside.  In a larger bowl combine the 1 1/2 C flour, baking powder, baking soda and 1/4 tsp salt.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well until everything is completely combined.  Pour over the fruit in the baking dish and place in the oven.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes, until completely cooked through and a dark golden brown on top.  Cool for at least half an hour before slicing and serving warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

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