This Lemon Rhubarb Custard Cake is sweet, tangy and incredibly moist. It gets its name from its almost custard-like, gooey interior.
It’s all about the rhubarb.
I love cooking with rhubarb when the season rolls around. It’s such an interesting piece of produce, and I still can’t believe how this super sour, red celery-looking vegetable, can turn into a delicious dessert. My strawberry rhubarb pie from last year was definitely a favorite, but I wanted to try something a little different this time around. I spotted this rhubarb custard cake recipe from Bon Appetit and just had to give it a twirl.
What makes this a custard cake?
The texture of this cake is out of this world. It’s beyond moist and somewhat custardy, hence the name rhubarb custard cake. Now when I first tested this recipe, I stayed pretty true to Bon Appetit’s version. My only changes were omitting the rum and adding in a little vanilla bean paste.
When it came to the baking of the cake, well that was a different story. My oven currently is a bit of disappointment to be honest. It definitely makes creating recipes difficult sometimes. I use an oven thermometer to double check the temperature, but despite that measure, I find everything bakes quite a bit more slowly than it normally would. Also my oven tends to get much hotter on the outside than on the inside, which leads to some uneven baking.
So the first time I baked this cake, I far exceeded Bon Appetit’s suggested bake time of 45-55 minutes. I baked the cake for about 80 minutes, give or take, and believe it or not, it was still just baked through and set in center. I loved the browning and crispiness I got on top, but felt the texture of the cake, albeit moist, did not quite constitute “custard cake”.
Another slight issue I had with the cake was the level of sweetness. Now using the bitter rum may have leveled things out, and you want a sweet cake to balance out the sour rhubarb, but I wasn’t getting exactly what I wanted.
In the next test run, I decided to bump up the sour cream and add lemon juice in addition to the zest. Not only did these additions add acidity, but they also added moisture. I cooked the cake for approximately the same amount of time the second time around, but was left with such a beautiful custardy interior. You might need a practice run to get this Lemon Rhubarb Custard Cake just right in your kitchen, but it’s so easy to put together and so good, you won’t mind if you end up with an extra cake at the end of the day. Happy baking.
Lemon Rhubarb Custard Cake
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 70 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
This Lemon Rhubarb Custard Cake is sweet, tangy and incredibly moist. It gets its name from its almost custard-like, gooey interior.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar, plus more for topping
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp grated lemon zest
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
- 12oz rhubarb stalks, trimmed, halved lengthwise if thick, cut to fit top of cake
Instructions
1. Prep. Grease a 9-inch springform pan with butter. Line with parchment. Grease parchment. Dust with flour, tapping out any excess. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix dry ingredients. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
3. Mix wet ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar until pale and creamy, about 3 minutes. Slowly stream in butter while whisking until emulsified. Whisk in sour cream, lemon juice, zest and vanilla.
4. Combine and bake. Whisk flour mixture into egg mixture in 2-3 additions until just combined. Do not over mix. Pour batter into prepared pan. Tap against counter to pop any air bubbles. Gently place rhubarb pieces over top of cake as desired. Use large pieces as small chunks may sink into cake. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake on center rack of oven until well-browned on top and toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Start checking for doneness after 45 minutes. This may take upwards of 70-80 minutes to cook, depending on your oven. For a firmer texture, cook until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out completely clean.
5. Cool and serve. Remove from oven and place over a wire rack to cool. After 15 minutes, use a small offset spatula or knife to loosen cake from sides of pan. Remove sides of springform and allow to cool completely. Slice and serve alone or with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if desired. Enjoy.
Notes
This recipe is adapted from Bon Appetit.
- Category: Cake
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: American, New American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/8 of cake
- Calories: 300
- Sugar: 38g
- Sodium: 125mg
- Fat: 9g
- Saturated Fat: 5g
- Carbohydrates: 53g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 5g
Keywords: rhubarb, custard, cake, lemon
So good!
★★★★★
Sabrina
My favorite vegetable is rhubarb can’t wait to try it. Looks amazing. Bravo????
Thank you, Mojgan! Hope you enjoy it 🙂