It’s rhubarb season and this year rhubarb in my garden has been growing like crazy! Over the weekend I picked five stalks, two of which weighed almost a pound. I was searching for a good rhubarb dessert recipe and finally decided to go with this one, which I adapted from a German website.
I love rhubarb, but because of its tartness I often pair it up with strawberries. Other recipes with rhubarb only, seem to call for a huge amount of sugar, which I try to avoid as often as possible. This cake, even though with rhubarb only, has a perfect balance of tart in the sponge part and then sweet in the meringue top. It tastes heavenly and I will be making it again this rhubarb season.
I tried to go a little fancy with piping the meringue on the top, but it can be just simply spread over the cake. If you choose to do the piping, I’d suggest to add one more egg white because I ran out of it (one corner of the cake didn’t have meringue on, but I was embarrassed to show it… :D)
Rhubarb Meringue Cake
Ingredients:
• 800 g (1 ¾ lb)Rhubarb
• 1 TBSP sugar
• 125 g (4.4 oz) Sugar
• 125 g (4.4 oz) Butter (room temperature)
• 1 Pack vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
• 1/2 Lemon (zest only)
• 1 Pinch of salt
• 3 Large eggs (divided)
• Sugar*** (for meringue – see step 6.)
• 1 Whole egg
• 100 g (3.5 oz) Corn starch
• 100 g (3.5 oz) All-purpose flour
• 2 tsp Baking powder
• 2–3 TBSP Milk
Preparation:
1. Wash and dry rhubarb stalks and cut into ½ inch pieces. Sprinkle with 1 TBSP sugar and set aside in a bowl.
2. Divide eggs and place the egg whites in the fridge.
3. Place butter in a mixer bowl, add sugar, vanilla, salt and lemon zest and mix until fluffy, then add 3 egg yolks and 1 whole egg and mix until is all well incorporated.
4. In another bowl combine flour, corn starch and baking powder and mix well. Start adding it to the egg mixture alternating with milk. The batter will turn out really nice and creamy.
5. Prepare a 13 X 9 inch baking pan. Brush the sides with butter and place parchment paper on the bottom. Place the batter into the pan, spreading evenly. Now place the rhubarb on the top. Bake at 395 F (200 C) for about 25 minutes.
6. While cake is baking take the egg whites out of the fridge and weigh them. The weight of your egg whites will determine the quantity of sugar you will need. (My egg whites weighed 108 grams, so I measured 108 g sugar for my meringue). I learned that by using the same quantity of egg whites and sugar I get the best meringue.
7. Beat the egg whites on high gradually adding sugar for about 3-4 minutes or until soft peaks form. If you turn your bowl upside down they will stay in place.
8. When cake is done, take it briefly out of the oven. Lower the oven temperature to 250 F (120 C). Spread or pipe the meringue on the cake and bake it for another 20-25 minutes.
9. Let it cool and serve.
ENJOY! 🙂
This looks sooo good! I’ve got a lot of rhubarb in my garden too so I’ll definitely have to try this! 🙂
Thanks! I hope you try it.
I think it was probably the best rhubarb cake I’ve ever made! 🙂 I baked it on Sunday and yesterday there was not a crumb left! 😀
Sounds amazing.Miss you….
Thanks! 🙂 I’ll try to be around at least once a month and post new recipes. Have a great day!
Hello, Hello, Sibella! This rhubarb cake topped with meringue is beautiful to look at and I can see how moist and delicious it is. Your blog is so beautiful and I have to explore to get some inspiration. Good to see you! xx 🙂
Hello Fae, it’s good to see you too! 🙂 Thanks for your kind words! I’ve been absent for too long, but hope to be able to post at least once a month to keep the blog going.
Rhubarb! I love it and look forward to having it in the spring. When I was little, I ate it raw, straight from my grandmother’s garden. Your cake is such a new twist. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! I love it too! Last year I made a beautiful rhubarb berry cream cheese pie for the 4th of July, but I didn’t post the recipe. I hope to do it this year. When I was a kid I didn’t like it, it was to tart. 🙂
Just lovely…I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cake topped with meringue before.
Thank you, Karen! It might be an European thing… I have quite a few dessert recipes with meringue on top. 🙂
It must be…it certainly sounds wonderful.
Thanks! 🙂 This meringue actually doesn’t turn crispy probably because of the warmth and moisture of the cake. It’s soft, fluffy and sweet and it goes perfectly with rhubarb.