Strawberry Rhubarb Cornmeal Upside Down Cake
Strawberries are back in season. Everywhere I look I see baskets overflowing with big, luscious red berries. It’s one of my favorite things about spring. That and bright, colorful garden blooms. With those colors everywhere only one holiday can be right around the corner: Easter. With Easter comes rabbits, chicks, chocolate, and lots and lots of eggs.
But Easter doesn’t have to be just chocolate and jelly beans. It can also be full of wonderful spring fruits and fruity desserts. Fruits that let us know loud and clear spring has sprung and it’s time to celebrate. This upside down cake is a perfect example. Not only is it full of those delightfully sweet, red berries, it’s also got rhubarb which add a delectable tartness to balance out the whole dish.
Strawberries and rhubarb are a common combination. You see them together in pies, syrups, sauces, even muffins. So it makes sense that they’d be put together in a cake. I’ve always wondered who first came up with that combination. But since I’ve been enjoying these two flavors together since I was a kid, I guess it doesn’t really matter. I’m thrilled they were combined. That combination of sweet and tart is wonderful to partake, which is why I combined it here.
See, this recipe comes from Candace Nelson, co-founder and executive pastry chef for Sprinkles cupcakes. But her recipe was just for a rhubarb upside down cake. I decided to add the strawberries since I know how well those two flavors go together. As good as the rhubarb cake would have been on its own, adding the strawberries ups the sweetness factor. It nudges it just over the top giving us that scrumptious sweet and sour flavor we all love. That flavor that makes lemon meringue pies and lime bars such popular desserts. It’s that same zing that makes this cake the perfect choice for Easter.
Strawberry Rhubarb Cornmeal Upside Down Cake
Notes
Adapted from The Sprinkles Baking Book.
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
- 10 strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 1 cup brown sugar, divided
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup fine yellow cornmeal
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, divided
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
- 3 large eggs
- ¾ cup sour cream
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Wrap the outside (bottom and sides) of a 10-inch springform pan with aluminum foil and set it on the baking sheet.
- In a large bowl, toss together the rhubarb, strawberries, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, and cornstarch and set aside.
- Whisk the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Beat the sugar with 10 tablespoons of butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the vanilla and lemon zest and beat until just blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between additions.
- Reduce the speed to low and alternate adding the flour mixture and sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- In a small saucepan, melt the remaining butter with the remaining brown sugar over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture is bubbling and the sugar has partially dissolved, 2 minutes.
- Drizzle the mixture over the bottom of the foil-lined pan, then pour the rhubarb and strawberries into the pan, completely covering the bottom and piling the fruit slightly higher around the outside. Pour the batter over the rhubarb, smoothing out the top. Bake for 65 to 70 minutes, turning halfway through, until the surface is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Run a sharp knife around the rim of the cake, then invert the cake onto a serving platter and let it sit, still in the springform pan, for 5 minutes. Remove and discard the foil from the outside of the pan, then release and remove the springform ring. Cool to room temperature and serve.
