Once or twice a week P. comes home with some stalks of rhubarb. We both love rhubarb and I have tried several new recipes with rhubarb, like ice cream or cake. P. loves to cook rhubarb compote and when it is ready, we often leave it in the pot and snack on it all day long. But this time we decided that the rhubarb deserved something better. Something sweet. Something with crumbs. Something with vanilla. Something moist and soft. Some cake. And the rhubarb loved it. And the cake was perfect.

For this recipe I merged and adapted two other recipes: the coffee cake recipe from the Post Punk Kitchen (it is also in Vegan with a Vengeance) and the Rhubarb ‘Big Crumb’ Coffee Cake recipe from the New York Times. I was pretty pleased with the result. And my coworkers loved this cake too.

Delicious Rhubarb Cake (makes 12 pieces)

Preheat oven to 340°F. Grease a 10 inch spring form pan with oil and set aside.

For the rhubarb filling:
1/2 pound rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp cornstarch

For the cake:
2 cups flour*
1 1/2 T chickpea or soy flour
1/2 T baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
3/4 t cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup soy yoghurt
3 T canola oil
1 t vanilla
3/4 cup + 1 T soy milk

* I used German “Type 1050” flour, which is similar to American “first clear flour”. If you don’t have this on hand, mix one cup of all purpose flour with one cup of white whole wheat flour (which has less gluten than regular whole wheat flour).

For the crumb topping:
3/4 cup flour (see note above)
1/4 t baking powder
3 T sugar
2 1/2 T margarine ( = 1/3 stick)
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 – 3/4 T soy milk (as needed)

To prepare the filling:
Place rhubarb in a bowl, sprinkle with sugar and cornstarch, mix well and set aside.

To prepare the cake:
In a bowl sift together flour and chickpea flour. Add baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. In a second bowl mix together yoghurt, oil, vanilla and soy milk. Add wet to dry ingredients. Pour 3/4 of batter into your prepared pan. Carefully sprinkle the rhubarb mixture on top and distribute the pieces evenly.
Spoon remaining batter over rhubarb mixture.

To prepare the crumb topping:
In a bowl mix flour, baking powder, and sugar. Add margarine and vanilla. Use your hands to mix until mixture starts to form into crumbs. Add soy milk if  too dry. Crumble over cake.

Bake for 35 – 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. The crumbs should be golden brown, the rest of the batter a bit darker. Cover with aluminium foil if the cake gets too brown during baking. Let cake sit in pan for 10 minutes, then remove the pan. Slice into 12 pieces.

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