Strawberry-Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Returning to the garden to remake a favorite family recipe.

BY AMY TRAVERSO

lant a rhubarb patch in your garden, and witness nature’s capacity for second, third, and fourth acts. Winter hardy, drought resistant, and seemingly immune to the errant weed whacker, this humble vegetable-that-acts-like-a-fruit seems to bounce back from any affront. Yet for all its vigor, it cooks down to silken tenderness in pies, cobblers, and cakes.

This rhubarb recipe dates back nearly 40 years, to the kitchen of my grandmother Mary. The daughter of Lithuanian immigrants, she married a first-generation son from EmiliaRomagna and dutifully applied her kitchen talents to his heritage as much as hers. So it was her fried dough recipe—not my fully Italian nonni ’s—that yielded the best frittelle on Saint Joseph’s Day.

But of all her standouts, there are two dishes I hold most dear, and the fact that they are both desserts probably says more about my predilections than it does her cooking. Her apple crisp, which we have published in these pages, remains my go-to dessert for fall dinner parties, for comfort, for a visceral memory of her. And then there’s her rhubarb bread, which is tender, sweet-tart, and moist (it’s made, midcentury-style, with vegetable oil instead of butter), with a crunchy sugar topping that always leaves me wanting more.

I still love that rhubarb recipe, but I longed to pretty up its brown-on-brown color palette and add more of that addictive topping. So I doubled the latter, and I added strawberries to both batter and topping for flavor and a pop of color. Switching the baking vessel from a loaf pan to a cake pan increased the surface area, making the results crunchier, not to mention prettier.

STRAWBERRY-RHUBARB COFFEE CAKE

TO TAL T IME : 1 HOUR , 20 MINU T ES

H ANDS- ON T IME : 30 MINU T ES

Note: You can find freeze-dried strawberries in the dried fruit or natural foods aisle of your grocery store. If they are unavailable, you can substitute regular strawberries, sliced lengthwise.

For The Topping

2 /3 cup granulated sugar

1 3/4 tablespoons salted butter, melted

For The Cake

Butter for the pan

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan

2 /3 cup vegetable oil

¾ teaspoon table salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/3 cups rhubarb (½-inch slices), from 3–4 stalks, depending on size

3/4 cup chopped strawberries

Strawberry slices (either fresh or, for extra crunch, freeze-dried), for garnish

Preheat oven to 330° and set a rack to the middle position. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan.

Make the topping: In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and butter until crumbly. Set aside.

Make the cake: In a medium bowl, stir together the buttermilk, sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth. In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine the flour, oil, and salt; mix on low until crumbly (scraping down the sides of the bowl once). Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium until smooth. Add the baking soda and baking powder, and beat for several seconds. Fold in the rhubarb and strawberries by hand. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and sprinkle evenly with the sugar topping.

Bake the cake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Just before serving, arrange the strawberry slices in a circle on top, with a few in the center. Serve warm or at room temperature. Yields 8 servings.