Fresh Rhubarb Upside-down Baby Cakes
Rhubarb lovers like me will go nuts for these Fresh Rhubarb Upside-Down Baby Cakes. Raid your rhubarb patch and bake up these gems!
These individual servings of a seasonal Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake is a fun spring dessert that you don’t have to share!
Fresh Rhubarb Upside-down Baby Cakes
April was such a rainy month, I didn’t expect to find anything in our garden besides puddles. But, lo and behold, there was rhubarb! My little patch did not offer up enough for these Fresh Rhubarb Upside-down Cakes, but instead, was a sure signal that winter was finally over. I found some in the market instead…the timing was perfect.
How to Make this Rhubarb Dessert
The recipe wasn’t difficult; it just involved a number of steps. First up was making the caramel topping by melting brown sugar and butter with a touch of brandy. This was divided between my pans with a sprinkling of chopped pecans. Next, sliced rhubarb was arranged over the caramel…and then an utterly wonderful butter cake batter was spread atop the fruit. The batter took a bit of care to make. The butter and sugar had an extended creaming time, then after the eggs were added, the creme fraiche and dry ingredients were alternately added with a light hand. This technique prevents the structure created by the sugar, butter, and eggs from breaking down according to recipe creator, Johanne Killeen. I don’t own baby cake pans per se, but I used some Le Creuset flan Dishes for my miniature upside-down cakes…and they released perfectly with a nice spray of Bakers Joy.
This was one terrific spring rhubarb dessert. The hubby won’t eat rhubarb or pecans, so I didn’t alter it at all. I planned to take it to the friends I’d be volunteering with over the weekend along with a handful of forks. But first, I dug into one myself. The cake was moist and tender, and shallow enough that the caramel infused its way into the top half…mmmmmm. The rhubarb was sweetened by the boozed-up caramel, plus the crunch of the pecans gave a nice contrast in texture. I grew up with a big rhubarb patch in my back yard…and have to make at least one rhubarb treat each spring. And this one is worth repeating next year!
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This marvelous recipe can be found on our hostess’ site: When in Doubt…Leave at 350. Thanks, Erin, for sharing this delicious recipe for all the Baking with Julia crew and our readers.
49 Comments on “Fresh Rhubarb Upside-down Baby Cakes”
Beautiful! I love rhubarb desserts! Happy Mother’s Day, Liz! I hope you have a great day 🙂
My hubby’s not a rhubarb fan either unless I mix it with lots of Strawberries. However, I LOVE rhubarb and so does my SIL, so this would be perfect for one of our girly get togethers. 🙂 Please send some rain my way! We’ve had less than an inch this year. Have a wonderful Mother’s Day!
Rhubarb is on my list of ingredients I have never worked with.. but want to soon. This is a beautiful upside down cake and I wish I was there to eat Bill’s unwanted share. 🙂
Very pretty! I love the fluted edges.
I love the shape of your pans – the cakes are so rose-like! These were a wonderful treat and I’m hoping to make some again with rhubarb from my own garden.
Aw, these little cakes are so cute! And delicious-looking as well. I love rhubarb…how awesome that you grew your own!
I’m so jealous of everybody’s pretty molds! I think I’m going to need to go out and get some. I’m glad you enjoyed this cake, it was definitely a good one.
Beautiful looking cake as always, Liz. Wish we could have found rhubarb for this recipe, but it was not to be, so we substituted pears poached in white wine instead and loved the results. This cake is definitely something we will make again in the future. Love to hear you talking about rain — everything here is just screaming for moisture.
I found this to be an outstanding cake too, even though I made it with pears. The molds you used are nicer than regular baby cake ones! Pretty, pretty