We love rhubarb. At our house, pies and muffins and coffee cakes go into the freezer every Spring and Summer, to last into the Winter. This is one of our favorite coffee cakes, adapted from a recipe in the New York Times. Get the family involved: one person prepares the crumb, another prepares the wet mixture. One person prepares the batter, another prepares the fruit. Then everyone helps to assemble it for baking and everyone enjoys eating it! 

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Butter a 9” springform pan. Serves 12-16

for the CRUMB: 1/3 cup dark brown sugar + 1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon  + ½ teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt + ½ cup/1 stick butter, melted
¾ cup all-purpose flour + 1 cup white whole wheat flour         In a large bowl, whisk sugars, spices and salt into melted butter until smooth. Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon. It will look and feel like a solid dough. Leave it pressed together in the bottom of the bowl.  Set aside THE CRUMB.

For the FRUIT: 16 oz [1#] rhubarb, sliced ½-inch thick 
¼ cup sugar +  2 tsp cornstarch + ¾ tsp ground ginger        Toss these ingredients together. Set aside THE FRUIT.

for the WET mixture: 1/3 cup plain yogurt OR sour cream        1 US Large [2 oz] egg +  1 egg yolk from a US Large egg        2 tsp vanilla extract                       In a small bowl, stir these ingredients together to form the ‘Wet Mixture.’ Set aside THE WET MIXTURE 

for the BATTER: ½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup white whole wheat flour  + ¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar  +  ½ tsp baking soda + ½ tsp baking powder     Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix these ingredients together.                            6 Tbsp softened butter + 1 Tbsp of above Wet Mixture       
Cut butter into 12 pieces. Add these to above. Mix on medium speed ’til flour is moistened. Increase speed, beat 30 seconds.          ½ of Wet Mixture = 3 oz  other ½ of Wet Mixture = 3 oz      Add Wet Mixture in 2 batches, beating 20 secs after each addition, scraping down sides of bowl. Pour batter into pan.    

to ASSEMBLE: Spoon rhubarb over batter. With your fingers, break/squeeze crumb mixture into big crumbs, ~½” -¾” in size. Sprinkle over rhubarb and cake.

Bake 45-55 min until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean (it might be moist from rhubarb). Cool ~10 mins, then remove collar of pan. Cool completely before serving.

This is the blog of the Bennington Rhubarb Festival, started in 2013 to benefit the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund.

If you would like to help the Building Fund, please contribute any amount to the G.E.P. Dodge Library Building Fund, Bennington, NH 03442.

The next blog installment will be posted on March 12, 2024. If you click the ‘Subscribe’ button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month for free.