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Sweet and tangy, this cake is sure to be a new summertime favorite! A top layer of rhubarb and strawberries in a sweet and tart sauce covers a white cake base with small bits of tangy rhubarb throughout.
Why I Think You’ll Love This Recipe
- It feels like two desserts in one – Cake and a sweet rhubarb berry topping!
- You can make this sweeter or more tart, depending on your rhubarb taste preference.
Sweet Strawberry Rhubarb Cake
For those who love rhubarb, it is a seasonal treat, so when the season is in, you need to make all the desserts and treats you can! We also love my strawberry rhubarb pie, or rhubarb sauce. This cake is a fantastic summer dessert to serve to your family and friends at a barbeque or picnic.
Grow Your Own Rhubarb
I finally have a giant backyard rhubarb plant at my house, we had to get serious about growing it because we love it so much!
Rhubarb is incredibly easy to grow and I even have a gardening post that is all about rhubarb!
Where Can I Buy Rhubarb
Local farmer’s markets are fantastic places to find fresh-picked rhubarb.If you can’t make it to a farmer’s market, don’t worry. Smaller grocery stores in Canada often work with local farmers to offer fresh, local produce, so you are likely to find some there, too.
How to Make Strawberry Rhubarb Upside Down Cake
- Preheat your oven to 350 °F. Grease a 9×13 pan, pour 1/4 cup melted butter in bottom.
- Sprinkle the cup of brown sugar evenly over the melted butter. Place strawberries and rhubarb in the bottom of the pan.
- In a large bowl, cream your butter and sugars together. Beat in egg and egg yolk and mix in the vanilla.
- Whisk together your dry ingredients in another bowl.
- Alternating between the dry mixture and sour cream, add them into the butter mixture with your mixer on low speed. Once all added mix on low for one minute. Stir in two cups of finely diced rhubarb.
- Drop the batter on top of the strawberry/rhubarb mixture in the 9×13 pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Remove and let cool for 20 minutes. Loosen the edges of the cake with a knife.
- Place a platter on top of the cake pan, then turn the cake pan over to invert the cake onto the platter. The topping will now be on top, and the cake will now be on the bottom!
- Slice and serve.
Karlynn’s Tips & Tricks
- If the rhubarb is older in the season, you can strip some of the strings off the edge of the rhubarb and pull them off.
- If you have extra rhubarb, slice it up and freeze it for later!
How To Prepare Rhubarb
The only part of rhubarb eaten is the stem, so if the leaf is attached, cut it off and throw it out.
If the bottom end is thick and woody, cut off the bottom end a little, and wash the stalks thoroughly or even use a veggie scrub brush to clean.
Slice across the stalk into the desired thickness for your baking and dry on paper towels.
Early season rhubarb is the most tender if you can get those for baking.
Recipe Redo
This recipe is one of the first on my website, so we’ve redone the photos and the post.
Look at how little my babies were when I first made this cake; they are 18 and 20 now! Time sure flies!
I really have a thing for rhubarb, in case you couldn’t tell. I hope everyone is having an amazing day! Visit your local farmers market and see if there is any rhubarb left to make this delectable delight!
Happy Baking
Love,
Karlynn
More Desserts
Strawberry Rhubarb Upside Down Cake
Ingredients
Upside Down Topping
- 1/4 cup butter melted
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 2 cups fresh strawberries sliced
- 2 cups fresh rhubarb chopped into medium sized pieces
Cake Batter
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups white flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 cups fresh rhubarb finely chopped into small pieces
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 °F.
Upside Down Topping
- Prepare a 13-inch x 9-inch pan by greasing the sides with butter, then pour the 1/4 cup of melted butter into the bottom of the pan.
- Sprinkle the cup of brown sugar evenly over the melted butter.
- Arrange the strawberries on the brown sugar, then sprinkle evenly with the rhubarb.
- Press the strawberries and rhubarb gently into the brown sugar.
Cake Batter
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, cream your butter and sugars together until combined.
- Beat in the egg and egg yolk until completely combined, then mix in the vanilla.
- Whisk together your dry ingredients in another bowl.
- Alternating between the dry mixture and sour cream, add them into the butter mixture with your mixer on low speed. Once you've added all of the dry mix and sour cream, mix on low speed for another minute to ensure the ingredients are combined.
- Stir in the two cups of chopped rhubarb.
- Using a large spatula, drop the batter on top of the strawberry/rhubarb mixture in the 9×13 pan. Gently spread the batter out over top of the mixture in an even layer, trying to ensure that the fruit stays on the bottom.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the cake is golden brown, and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- The last place to cook properly with this cake is the very center, where the cake meets the fruit. Make sure that you test with a toothpick to the center. When this area is baked, the cake is done! If the top starts to brown too fast, cover lightly with aluminum foil and continue to cook until the toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove and let cool for 20 minutes. Loosen the edges of the cake around the pan by running a butter knife around the edges.
- Get out a platter that is large enough to flip the cake onto. Place the platter on top of the cake pan, then turn the cake pan over to invert the cake onto the platter. The topping will now be on top, and the cake will now be on the bottom!
- Slice and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
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Myriam says
delicious!!!!
Robin N says
Made this today and we loved it! I did use a shortcut with a boxed white cake mix, whole egg recipe, but used milk instead of water for extra richness. Also added strawberries to the batter with the rhubarb. Came out great. Will definitely make it again.
Priscilla Dark says
Your recipe directions mention sour cream but I don’t see it listed in the ingredients. Was this step actually referring to greek yogurt??
Diane says
Could this be made with frozen rhubarb & strawberries?
nander says
Love love love this cake! Bring on the rhubarb season and get busy. This may be one of my all time favo recipes! And yes it did take a little longer even using the convection setting on my oven, but so worth the wait! I say just do it! Thanks Karlynn! Made my Monday 🙂
Corey says
I have a cross-shaped cake pan that I bought for Easter, but with most recipes the ends burn before the middle cooks through. Besides being delicious, this is the only recipe I’ve found that works with my pan because the batter is so stiff, I fill the ends and leave the middle open. It gradually fills the center as it bakes, but it bakes evenly and flips perfectly.
Debbie says
I really liked this cake and after reading all the reviews, I watched the baking time carefully, expecting it to be longer than stated. It took mine 42 minutes and it was cooked perfectly. I used sour cream instead of yogurt and also only used 1 cup of strawberries instead of two. I just increased the rhubarb. I also ended up with the wrong amount of “topping” ingredients, even after reading that review ?. I’ll blame it on using the phone to follow the recipe. I’m going to type it out with the “topping” labelled as the base instead because obviously, in my mind, it’s the base until it’s cooked and flipped. It still turned out beautiful, moist and delicious even with the mistakes I made. I waited until it was totally cool, put wax paper on a cooling rack, laid that over the cake and flipped it. Came out perfectly.
Juliet Gauchier says
This was a super easy cake to make. Wish I would have read the comments before we ate it. It was still raw in the center. We still ate around the middle and it was delicious. Probably needs to cook for 60 min or so.
Lisa says
I am struggling with the amount of time right now too. Guessing because I had to used canned rhubarb and frozen strawberries. Don’t have fresh rhubarb in Texas. Leaked a ton too with juices burning in oven. I am amateur baker though. Lol!
Cheryl lantripski says
Beautifully tangy-sweet!
I love the extra kiss of rhubarb in this recipe. Yogurt made it sooooo moist!
BonnieB. says
I wish you had listed your “topping” ingredients at the top of your list of ingredients because you use them first. I used the wrong amounts of butter and brown sugar because I was using ingredients in the order called for in your recipe. I also wish you would have included directions about when to flip the cake onto a cookie sheet. I’ve never made an upside down cake before, so I didn’t know if the cake was supposed to be hot or warm or completely cool for that step. All that said, the cake was delicious and my family loved it!
terry m. says
I had the same problem. this recipe is screwed up. Had I not read the reviews I didn’t know how to turn it over. So thank you for that info in the review. BTW I started at the top also. Don’t know how it is going to come out.
Karen MacDonald says
I made this over the weekend and it was good. I did have to cook it for about an hour to get the centre fully cooked. I covered the edges with tinfoil to avoid burning. I also used two whole eggs and sour cream instead of yogurt. I reduced the amount if rhubarb in the batter to about one cup and it turned out fine. One suggestion would be to ensure your description of the cake and your list of ingredients match as it was a bit confusing.
Bee says
I used the sour cream in the recipe and it was delicious.
Leslie Cleary says
I would love to meet you and talk about writing a blog. Let me know how to connect.
Leslie Cleary says
The Kitchen Magpie I just made an epic strawberry rhubarb pie with crumble topping!! Now to try this next week for Sunday .
The Kitchen Magpie says
Mmmmm love strawberry rhubarb pie!
Sue Lassesen-Fowler says
I think I just may have to try this for my Farmers Market Table. Everyone is asking for Rhubarb baking!
Linda Winoski says
Yes… I have the rhubarb…
The Kitchen Magpie says
DO IT!!! And eat a piece for me……
Linda Winoski says
I will….this week..\U0001f642
Karlynn Johnston says
Teena, so jealous you have copious amounts of rhubarb!! Sounds like your version was divine! And yes, not sour cream.I’ll fix that ASAP!
Teena says
Hi Karlynn! Thank you for this recipe. I made this yesterday with these super sweet little strawberries from a farm down the road from me, and rhubarb from my plant that is showing no signs of slowing down this season! I made a few modifications to your recipe: I really wanted to use my big cast iron skillet, so I did the math (yes, I’m a nerd) and the 12″ skillet is almost the same area as a 13″x9″ pan. We really like these Cashew Clusters from Costco, and the bag usually has a lot of nut crumbs in the bottom when the clusters are gone - I put about a cup of these crumbs in the pan after the butter and brown sugar, as part of the topping. My eggs are from pastured chickens, the yolks are huge, and I used two whole eggs, instead of one egg and one yolk. I grated a little nutmeg into the dry ingredients, and instead of vanilla extract, I scraped 3 vanilla beans into the butter and egg mixture (I buy vanilla beans in bulk and have plenty!) My batter was really stiff, almost the consistency of cookie dough, so I’m glad I added the extra egg white. I baked at 350F for about 45 minutes and it was not even close to done. It took almost 90 minutes to get the center of the cake fully baked. This cake is outstanding! I will leave out the nut crumbles next time, since I don’t think they add a great flavor or texture to the cake. I love the addition of rhubarb to the cake batter. It adds a tartness the cake needs, as well as moistness.
BTW – in your directions you say “add sour cream” but I’m sure you mean the Greek yogurt, since I didn’t see sour cream in the ingredient list.
Karlynn Johnston says
Different ovens, different humidity, oh, the many things that can cause it to cook longer! I’m glad that it turned out for you!
The Brussels Cooker says
This looks absolutely yummy Katlynn and the batter sounds really unusual (at least to me from Brussels/Belgium) – AND I have a left-over bag of fresh rhubarb from a friend so I will make this tomorrow! I’ll use all rhubarb though as strawberries haven’t arrived at the markets in cold & rainy Europe yet… (which means I’ll probably also add another 1/2 cup or so of sugar.) And if you’re ever looking for a savoury-spicy rhubarb recipe have a look at my chutney
The Brussels Cooker says
This looks absolutely yummy Karlynn and the cake mix is really unusual (at least for me from Brussels/Belgium) – AND I still have a whole lot of rhubarb which a friend gave me this week so I’ll be making this tomorrow!! It will be all rhubarb though as the strawberries haven’t hit the markets in cold and rainy Europe yet so I’ll up the sugar by ca another 1/2 cup. And if you’re after a savoury-spicy rhubarb recipe check out my chutney:
cooksisterblog says
Hi – I made a slightly adapted version of this recipe over the weekend – added cinnamon and ginger to the batter – and it was truly wonderful – thank you! My only comment is that despite making exactly the same quantity as your recipe and baking it in the same size dish, it took a lot longer to bake than your recipe suggests – over an hour in fact, and I had to cover the cake to prevent over-browning! Not sure what the reason might be, but just thought you’d like to know. Great recipe though!
Monicalsilva says
I want to make this in a round mold. How long would you recommend baking it?
Kendyl says
Question – when I made mine, the “topping” came out quite a bit browner. I used brown sugar instead of golden, could this be the reason?
Mary D. says
When do you flip it out of the pan? Do you need to let it cool for some time?
Karlynn says
Ah yes, it’s you that must have put the thought in my head!! It’s so delicious and our second favorite way to use up rhubarb now!
Juliadrew23 says
beautious!!
Kendyl H says
It looks delicious! My grandma always made this growing up, and I think it’s my turn. We have two 150 ft rows of rhubarb on the farm, so it’s definitely not lacking!