First blog post! As a ‘thank you for reading’ and my warmest welcome, I baked you a divine little bundt cake just in time for Easter brunch. This recipe from Rustic Fruit Desserts is wonderful as written, but I think a few embellishments make it even more special. I added a whole vanilla bean to the batter to give that sweetness you just can’t get with sugar. The recipe called for lemon oil, but since I didn’t have any on hand, the juice from a whole lemon worked just as well while imparting a lighter lemon flavor. For the glaze, I used yogurt instead of butter and added strawberry jam because I can’t imagine rhubarb without strawberry. I might just skip the glaze next time and dust the cake with a bit of powdered sugar.
This bundt has us covered in the carb department for our Easter brunch, thus I think it would be perfect accompaniment to a frittata or egg bake. This recipe looks good. Or you could do what Justin (hubby) did and go straight for the vanilla bean ice cream!
If you’ve ever spent an inappropriate amount of time in Target making a mental list of why you should or shouldn’t buy that holiday decor item (first world problem, I’m aware), you’ll understand why I just had to get this adorable gold-eared bunny candy dish! We are at max capacity in our 700 square foot apartment, but I’ll figure out the storage situation later. Maybe I can leave him out year round and just dress him up for all the holidays?!
What will you be making for Easter brunch? I’d love to hear!
- 2½ cups unbleached, all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1¾ cups sugar
- 1 lemon, zest and juice of
- 3 eggs
- ¾ cups buttermilk
- 1 pound rhubarb, trimmed and very thinly sliced (3 cups or 12 ounces prepared)
- 2 tablespoons unbleached, all purpose flour
- For Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- juice of half a lemon
- 1 tablespoon plain yogurt
- 3 teaspoons (or more as desired) strawberry jam
- Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 10-cup Bundt pan. (Note: if you have a detailed bundt pan with lots of grooves and indentations, be very careful to grease the pan well to prevent sticking - canola spray works well.)
- Sift the 2½ cups flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.
- In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, sugar and lemon zest on medium speed for 3-5 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition, then stir in the lemon juice.
- Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture in 3 additions alternating with the buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
- Toss the rhubarb with the 2 tablespoons flour and fold half of the rhubarb into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the remaining rhubarb on top.
- Bake for 30 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake for an additional 30-40 minutes, or until the top of the cake is firm and the center springs back when lightly touched.
- Cool the cake in its pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes before inverting and removing the pan.
- For glaze, whisk together all ingredients. The mixture should be thick; if not, whisk in another tablespoon or two of powdered sugar.
- Spoon glaze over the cake, allowing to drip down the sides.
Congratulations on your new, colorful upbeat blog. My husband’s birthday is next month. He was raised in the Midwest where his mother had a large vegetable and flower garden. Asparagus and strawberry rhubarb were a rite of spring. I used to make him rhubarb pies for his birthday. I have given up pie making and baking so this lemon rhubarb vanilla cake sounds like just the thing to make for him if I can obtain the rhubarb here in Gardnerville, NV. Blessings of the Easter and Passover season to you. Loved the bunny and tulips. Carol Wentzel
Thank you, Carol! My husband also loves strawberry rhubarb, but i make it for him in a crumble. I would love to have your recipe for pie. I hope you enjoy the cake — I’m sure it will taste extra special with local Nevada rhubarb!
Pinned! I’m excited to make all your recipes! I think I’ll make this but replace the rhubarb for poppyseeds to make a lemon poppyseed cake. Sadly, the rest of my family doesn’t like rhubarb. Congratulations on your blog! It’s beautiful inside and out, just like you 🙂
Thank you Sarah! Happy Easter! Hope you enjoy a wonderful Easter with your family. Love that you’ll be doing this with poppy seeds. Let me know how it turns out!
I made the lemon rhubarb Bundt cake. Unfortunately, I may not have prepared the pan well enough greasing it with butter. IThe cake broke in half when I turned it over. I SOSed your mom. We both think it could have been a combination of the high altitude and poor pan preparation to cover all those deep indentations. However, I pieced it back together as best as I could and the yummy glaze with the strawberry jam added to it held the cake together like glue. The cake tasted wonderful!! Our guests liked it very much as did my husband for his birthday cake. Mine wasn’t colorful like yours because the rhubarb I found was not bright red and pink. I brought the remainder of this big cake to a meeting today with two other ladies. The 3 of us loved every bite of the delicious moist cake and I have a request to bake it again using the Canola oil spray to prepare the Bundt pan, as you suggested to your mother. I loved all the pictures for your recent shower and Easter brunch
I’m so glad you enjoyed the flavor and moistness of the cake, Carol! I will make a note in the recipe to use canola spray, especially if your bundt pan has a lot of grooves/indentations. Another tip to ensure the cake holds its shape is to let the cake cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes before flipping.
I would like to know the nutritional value in re cake.
Hi Marlena,
Thanks for reading! The cake serves 16 slices. The nutrition information per slice (does not include glaze) is as follows: 227 calories, 12g fat, 7g saturated fat, 65mg cholesterol, 216mg sodium, 40g carbohydrate, 1g fiber, 21g sugar, 5g protein.