Rhubarb "Big Crumb" Coffee Cake

This recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen by way of Eggs On Sunday to this little bloggo here. Our neighbors the Reams have a beautiful rhubarb plant still growing away and have been urging us to partake of it and this morning we made a pre-Conference trek out to their place with a little chopping knife and devoured part of their rhubarb plant. The Robber thinks this is not so much coffee cake as just cobbler-ness, but regardless he ate over half the pan in one go so that tells you what he really thought of it. More work than a regular coffee cake, but definitely delicious. Ultimately, however, if the amount of rhubarb you have is limited, this is not a good way to use it because the rhubarb gets lost in the cake and the flavor isn't emphasized as much as it is in rhubarb pie or just rhubarb puree, which we have also been making lots of and eating on Greek yogurt. The cake would probably be just as delicious without the fruit or with pears/plums/other fruit as substitution for the rhubarb.

I found the recipe here:

http://eggsonsunday.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/rhubarb-big-crumb-coffee-cake/

Ingredients:

For the rhubarb filling:

1/2 lbs. rhubarb, trimmed

1/4 C. sugar

2 tsp. cornstarch

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

For the crumbs:

1/3 C. dark brown sugar

1/3 C. granulated sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 C. (1 stick) butter, melted

1 3/4 C. cake flour (I’ve used all-purpose as well and it works fine, but do use cake flour if you have it)

For the cake:

1/3 C. sour cream

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 C. cake flour (see note above about AP flour substitution)

1/2 C. sugar

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

6 T. softened butter, cut into 8 pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease an 8×8 inch baking pan.

2. Slice the rhubarb into 1/2-inch pieces, toss with the sugar, cornstarch and ginger, and set aside.

3. Make the crumbs: In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars, spices and salt. Add the melted butter and whisk until smooth. Dump in the flour and stir it into the sugar/butter mixture until fully incorporated. It will look and feel like a solid dough. Set aside.

4. Make the cake: In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the pieces of butter along with a spoonful of the sour cream mixture, and mix on medium speed until the flour is moistened and the butter is broken into bits. Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds, then add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and set aside 1/2 cup batter.

5. Scrape the remaining batter into the pan, spoon the rhubarb over the batter, and dollop the reserved 1/2 cup batter over the rhubarb (don’t worry if it’s not even).

6. Break the topping mixture into big crumbs with your fingers. The recommended crumb size is 1/2 to 3/4 inch. Sprinkle the crumbs over the cake, and bake cake until a tester comes out clean (it might be moist from the rhubarb), 45-55 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.