I’m a fan of simple tea cakes. I almost always prefer them to towering layered cakes with mountains of frosting. Also, I never again want to see a thick custard layered with cake. Not ever. When Costco started layering their sheet cakes with custard, I knew it was time to take a stand. A warm pudding cake, on the other hand, is quite another proposition and always a treat.
Tea cakes, bundt cakes, coffee cakes, pudding cakes, and pound cakes were the kind of old-fashioned cake that my farm-raised, Mennonite grandmother always made. “Nothing fancy,” she would say, but fresh from the oven, fragrant, and utterly delicious with a pot of freshly brewed tea.
Grandma Mary liked to put prunes, plums, pears, applesauce, and even jelly into her tea cakes. She always served them plain, with a bowl of whipped cream on the side. My own preference is to include tart fruits, such as rhubarb, sour cherries, apricots, peaches, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. Just like Grandma though, I like to serve these cakes very simply, with just a dusting of powdered sugar, a poof of whipped cream, and for special occasions, perhaps a drizzle of fruit sauce on the plate
Somewhere along my baking path (San Francisco, circa 1980s), I discovered Italian pastries and the notion of adding cornmeal to a cake batter. This was not a notion that Grandma had ever entertained. I was hooked from the first golden, crunchy bite.
By now, I have a repertoire of cornmeal cakes, this one being the latest. Over the next few years, I’ll share them all with you. In the spring and summer, I like these simple cakes on the lighter side, almost always with fruit and perhaps with herbs and floral aromatics as well, such as thyme, rose petal, and lavender. In the fall and winter, I like deeper flavors, winter spices, and perhaps crunchy nut streusel layered with the batter and crumbled on top of the cake.
Once you have a basic cake batter that you trust, you can improvise endlessly with it. This cake batter, for instance, incorporates an acidic ingredient (sour cream), which gives the cake an extra tender quality, along with old-fashioned flavor.
I love buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream, Mexican crema, crème fraîche, and even cream cheese in a cake batter. You should be able to substitute one for another in this recipe, as long as the consistency remains about the same as for sour cream. Cream cheese must be whipped and then thinned with milk before using.
Now, a few words to describe this cake. OH! MY! GAWD! Seriously, MauiJim and I were nearly speechless when we put the first bite of this cake into our mouths. When he did finally speak, his exact words were, “This is unbelievable.” We both had a second serving within minutes of eating the first. Let’s see what YOU think. J
Rhubarb Cornmeal Upside-Down Cake
I can’t decide if I prefer this cake upside-down with the pale pink, glistening rhubarb on top or upside-up with the lovely browned cake on top. I leave it to your discretion.
Whatever you decide, upon your first bite of this anise-scented, tender cake, you won’t care how it looks on the plate.
The ethereally light texture of this cake is the result of the proportions of the ingredients but also, I believe, of the steam that is created from the sauce at the bottom of each ramekin.
vegetable spray
Rhubarb Topping
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
3 cups trimmed, ½-inch diced rhubarb
1 teaspoon anise seed, pulverized with a mortar and pestle
Cake
1¼ cups all purpose flour
½ cup fine yellow cornmeal
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cool room temperature
¾ cup superfine sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks, lightly whisked, cool room temperature
¾ cup sour cream, lightly whisked, cool room temperature
Garnish
powdered sugar in a shaker
softly whipped, lightly sweetened heavy cream
Rhubarb Sauce, optional
- Coat six, 1¼-cup capacity, ramekins with vegetable spray. Place on an edged baking sheet and reserve.
- To make the rhubarb topping, in a small sauté pan, melt the butter and stir in the brown sugar. Bring to a full boil and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the rhubarb and anise, and cook for 1-2 minutes more, until the rhubarb releases its juice into the sauce.
- Evenly distribute the rhubarb and sauce into the ramekins.
- To make the cake, sift the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and baking soda into a medium mixing bowl. Reserve.
- In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, with the mixer set at medium speed, cream the butter and sugar until very light and creamy, about 5-6 minutes, scraping the bowl frequently.
- Add the vanilla and incorporate.
- With the mixer set at medium-slow speed, add the beaten egg yolks, bit by bit, making sure each addition is fully incorporated before adding the next. If the mixture begins to curdle, increase the speed of the mixer.
- With the mixer set to slowest speed, add first ¼ of the flour mixture, then 1/3 of the sour cream, and repeat until the last portion of flour is added. Do not overbeat. Just incorporate the flour mixture and sour cream briefly and then finish incorporating by hand with a flexible spatula.
- Spoon equal amounts of the cake into each ramekin, filling no more than ¾ full. Using an offset spatula, level the batter in each ramekin.
- Bake at 350° for about 25-28 minutes, until the cake is risen, nicely browned on top, and registers 175°-180° at the center of the cake when measured with an instant-read thermometer.
- Remove the cakes from the oven, let rest for 5 minutes, then invert each onto a dessert plate. (Alternatively, you can leave the cakes at cool room temperature up to 2 hours, and then reheat a couple at a time in the microwave for 30-60 seconds to loosen the caramelized fruit.)
- Dust each serving with a little powdered sugar, and serve with clouds of whipped cream and Rhubarb Sauce if desired.
Makes 6 individual cakes.
More LunaCafe Rhubarb Recipes
- Fresh Rhubarb Roundup
- Fresh Rhubarb Primer
- Apple Cider-Brined Pork Tenderloin with Rhubarb Deglazing Sauce
- Lime & Vanilla Scented Rhubarb Clafouti
- Rhubarb Apple Crisp with Toasted Hazelnut Streusel
- Rhubarb Cardamom Lime Muffins
- Rhubarb Cornmeal Upside-Down Cake
- Rhubarb Rose Petal Caramel Syrup + 4 Variations
- Rhubarb, Tangelo & Cardamom Marmellata
- Spiced Rhubarb Chutney
Copyright 2009 Susan S. Bradley. All rights reserved.
What a fun treat! These look lovely. My dad is a huge fan of rhubarb, I’ll definitely have to try these as a treat for his birthday coming up. What a great use of cornmeal.
These upside-down cakes look delicious! I have so many little ramekins and never really know what to make in them, I’ll have to try these once I get my hands on some rhubarb.
I am with you–tea cakes are the only cakes I really enjoy
This looks delicious, just in time for summer! The combination with the cornmeal and rhubarb sounds marvelous! Never thought about those two to combine! Thank you for introducing me to a new cake idea!
I love rhubarb-anything. Cocktails, you name it. The idea of combining it with cornmeal is great!
Yes, Yes, YES!!! I too, much prefer these sorts of cakes to overly indulgent ones {disclaimer: except on my birthday I have to have a Chocolate Espresso Kahlua Cake….}
This is right up my alley! I love rhubarb but also love that like your grandma you can use other fruits as well.
Wow, rhubarb topping flavored with anise seed – that is at once aromatic and delicious! Love that it looks so moist, too!
Abigail, thanks so much! 🙂
Either direction, these sound amazing! I love the “nothing fancy” attitude, and I really love the added cornmeal. Very nice!
Patricia, thank you! 🙂
You had me at cornmeal!! I can’t wait to give this recipe a try, it sounds delicious!
Renee, thank you–and I think you will be pleased. 🙂
I have a cornmeal strawberry shortcake recipe that I adore, but this one sounds even better! I haven’t used rhubarb much, so I think this recipe will be a good place to start once I find rhubarb at the farmers’ market or in stores. I’ts in season in spring and summer, right?
Laura, it’s in local farmers markets now and should be in grocery stores very soon. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
This does sound extraordinary! I love the crunch that cornmeal tends to add to baked goods… and with the rhubarb? Yum!
Marye, I’m a complete cornmeal head. Love it it everything. The infatuation started decades ago in San Francisco with my first bite of an Italian cornmeal cookie. 🙂
I havent ever tried a cornmeal cake! I totally want to try this recipe, thanks so much for the inspiration!
Alice, oh do try this then. I have several others that I will try to share on the blog over this next year.
This sounds really good! I would have never dreamed of this combination. But it actually works! YUM!!!
Lacy, thank you! 🙂
Wow I really like the idea of the cornmeal crust and to top it with rhubarb is a winner. So delicious!
Michelle, the combination is a little unexpected and fun to serve to guests. Even people who think they don’t like rhubarb like this cake.
I love the idea of individual cakes, but I’m not in the market for ramekins right now. Any suggestions for how to cook this as one big cake, like a 9-inch round cake? Thanks!
Chelsea, this cake should work fine in a 9-10-inch cake pan. A similarly sized heavy skillet might work even better though. The curved sides make it easy to turn the cake out of the pan. I frequently bake this type off simple cake in a skillet, especially in the fall with apple and pear toppings. Hope this helps. Let me know how it works out for you. 🙂
I think I’m going to add strawberries. I love strawberry rhubarb. This looks great and I wanted to do a corn muffin like dessert so this is perfect. Thanks.
Love this idea! I never like making a full cake just because I would be stuck eating the whole thing. However, this is the perfect individual single guy’s serving size.
.-= Jeff´s last blog ..Asian style barley =-.
LOL! I’m with you on that. However, nothing seems to prevent me from eating 2 little cakes if no one (MauiJim) is looking. 🙂
Although I disagree with you about the custard – I could eat custard out of the gutter – these cakes look to die for! My Luna Cafe never lets me down!
.-= the wicked noodle´s last blog ..shrimp and feta rigatoni – the perfect recipe =-.
LOL! Don’t get me wrong. I’ll eat custard with you out of the gutter. But only if we can eat the cake later. 🙂
Thank you so much, Louise! 🙂 You can definitely make this little cake. Hope you give it a go…
This dessert is so creative and looks amazing!
Thank you, Dragon! 🙂
This is a great way to enjoy rhubarb!
Hi Kevin! Thank you! 🙂
This looks fantastic. Such a great idea. My future sister-in-law is generously donating her time baking for a soup kitchen and must make a cake with rhubarb and mentioned making a rhubarb upside-down cake so I will be passing this recipe along to her. Thanks!
Oh, it does my heart good to think she might share this dessert with folks at the soup kitchen. Thanks so much for your kind words! 🙂