Hooray for Rhubarb (and Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake)!

Sometimes I find it hard to recognize my childhood memories as being about the real me.

I have no trouble recalling the loquaciousness, the adorability, or (I admit it!) the mule-like stubbornness of the young Tinky.

Nevertheless, it’s hard to believe that I spent my earliest years disliking some of the foods I now adore.

I thought spinach was bitter and ugly.

I disliked Chinese food so much that when my parents wanted to teach me to eat with chopsticks they fed me ravioli. (By the way, ravioli are A LOT harder to pick up with chopsticks than most Chinese food.)

And I was determined not to eat rhubarb in any form.

Today I’m thrilled to see fresh spinach at a farmstand. I long for Chinese food regularly.

And rhubarb is probably my favorite fruit. Don’t bother to write in and tell me that it’s really not a fruit. I know. We treat it as a fruit, however.

It’s beautiful. It’s resilient. And it’s versatile. (Gosh, I just realized that I may love rhubarb because IT’S LIKE ME!)

Today I am happy to post my first rhubarb recipe of this spring, courtesy of Sue Haas of Seattle, Washington, a regular reader of this blog. Sue received it in turn from her mother in Albion, Michigan, a bastion of rhubarb almost as strong as my own western Massachusetts.

Their cake is excellent for supper or even for breakfast. The marshmallows (yes, marshmallows!) tone down the tartness of the rhubarb, and the cake is substantial without being over heavy.


Michigan Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

Ingredients:

for the topping:

3 cups rhubarb (1/2-inch chunks)
3/4 cup sugar
10 large marshmallows, cut in half

for the cake:

1/2 cup (1 stick) sweet butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1-3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 10-inch iron skillet, and arrange the rhubarb pieces in the bottom. (If you don’t have a 10-inch skillet, use an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan.) Sprinkle the sugar on top, followed by the marshmallows.

For the cake cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time. Add the baking powder and salt. Stir in the flour alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Stir in the vanilla, and pour the batter over the rhubarb mixture.

Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into the center (but not too far down; don’t hit the rhubarb!) comes out clean, about 50 minutes. If the cake is brown but not done before this happens, decrease the oven temperature and continue baking.

Allow the cake to cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Loosen the edges with a knife, and invert the cake onto a serving plate held over the skillet. Turn upside down. Remove skillet.

Serve alone or with whipped cream. Serves 12.

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