If you only knew how long I’ve been want to try this recipe that I pinned. The fact that I haven’t gotten around to making this recipe isn’t do my usual procrastination, I searched high and low for rhubarb and could not find it. Fresh rhubarb is just really hard to come by in the DMV (or maybe I’ve haven’t been looking in the right places). Fortunately, I was able to find rhubarb and a trip to Wegman’s, only problem was, it was frozen. I thought it wouldn’t make too much of a difference but it did. The cake didn’t come out a pretty as it could have because the rhubarb was kind of mushy but the cake takes amazing. Moral of the story is, if you want a pretty looking rhubarb upside down cake, I would suggest using fresh rhubarb.
Anyway, check out this amazing recipe and try it as soon as possible because summer is almost over and so is rhubarb season.
¾ lb. rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1 ½” pieces on an angle
1 ½ cups sugar
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, plus 6 tbsp. cut into ½” cubes and chilled
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. kosher salt
2 ½ cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ cup vegetable shortening
⅓ cup milk
2 eggs
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, for serving (optional)
1. Heat oven to 375°. Combine rhubarb, 1 cup sugar, 4 tbsp. butter, lemon juice, vanilla, and ¼ tsp. salt in a 9″ cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar is melted and rhubarb is tender and slightly caramelized, 8-10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, whisk together remaining sugar and salt, plus flour and baking powder in a bowl. Add remaining butter and the shortening and, using your fingers, rub into flour mixture to form coarse pea-size pieces (see photo below). Add milk and eggs and stir until a soft, sticky dough forms. Place spoonfuls of dough over rhubarb mixture and smooth with a nonstick spatula.
3.Bake until the crust is golden and cooked through, about 30 minutes. Remove skillet from oven; place a large flat serving platter on top of the skillet and invert quickly and carefully. Serve warm or at room temperature with ice cream or whipped cream, if you like.
