I love rhubarb – it’s so pretty and the taste – so unexpected! My mind immediately went to the gobs of butter in my freezer just begging to be made into pie dough but then I quickly remembered that a. I made a pie for rhubarb week last time and, b. it’s not nearly strawberry season! (and I really adore the two together, don’t you?)

It’s been such a wet and dreary week.  Down pours almost every day!  Wednesday especially. I awoke early to torrential rain and wanted nothing more than to stay in bed all day.  Once I realized that wasn’t going to happen I figured I was already up, I could at least bake something comforting for the office!  This moist rhubarb coffee cake I found on smitten kitchen would do just the trick.

As I poured myself a cup of coffee I reminded myself – I used to do this all the time!  So with a wink and a nod to my days at Baked I plugged in the stand mixer and preheated the oven.

For a delicious coffee cake to brighten any day…

Rhubarb filling:
1 lb. of rhubarb, cleaned and trimmed to ¼” pieces.
½ cup sugar
4 t cornstarch
1 t ground ginger

The crumb:
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
2/3 cup sugar
2 t ground cinnamon
1 t ground ginger
¼ t salt
2 sticks of butter, melted
3 cups flour (more or less)

For the cake:
2/3 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 T vanilla extract
2 cups cake flour (feel free to use AP flour if that’s all you have on hand)
1 cup sugar
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
½ t salt
1 ½ sticks of butter, room temp. – cut into pieces

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Grease a 9×13” pan with plenty of butter.  In a medium bowl place the rhubarb with the sugar, cornstarch and ginger – mix well and set aside.
For the crumbs, the heavenly heavenly crumbs, whisk together the sugars, spices and salt in a large bowl.  Whisk in the melted butter until smooth.  Switching to a wooden spoon, add the flour, little by little, until it almost becomes the consistency of wet sand or a loose dough.  Leave it in one piece in the bowl and set aside.

For the cake – join together in a small bowl the eggs, egg yolks, sour cream and vanilla.  Gently mix to combine.  In the bowl of the standing mixer whisk together the flour, leveners, sugar, and salt.  Add the butter and ¼ cup of the sour cream mixture and beat on medium until it starts to combine.  Add the rest of the sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition.  (Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl and get all of that goodness in there!)

Layer about half of the cake batter in the bottom of the prepared pan.  Top it with the rhubarb (your rhubarb may have given off a lot of juice – don’t include that in the cake) – lightly strain it with your fingers as you layer it over the batter.Next, top the rhubarb layer with the rest of the batter – even it out as best as you can so that the rhubarb is covered.  Finally, break up the crumb mixture with your fingers and place all of it on top of the batter.
Place the cake in the preheated oven and bake for about 45-55 minutes or until a fork comes out clean (just be aware that the crumbs may look under-done but it’s probably just the gooey rhubarb filling!).  Let it cool for a good long while before you top it with powdered sugar and serve.  It’s just the thing for a rainy day…or a Mother’s Day brunch?!