Big Crumb Coffee Cake with Rhubarb

Big Crumb Coffee Cake with Rhubarb

Apparently, originally from The New York Times 6/6/07, copied by Janet on a piece of computer paper.

For the rhubarb filling:
1/2 pound rhubarb, trimmed
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

For the crumbs:
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, melted
1 3/4 cups flour

For the cake:
1/3 cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons softened butter, cut into 8 pieces.

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan. For filling, slice rhubarb 1/2 inch thick and toss with sugar, cornstarch and ginger. Set aside.

2. To make crumbs  in a large bowl, whisk sugars, spices and salt into melted butter until smooth. Then, add flour with a spatula or wooden spoon. It will look and feel like a solid dough. Leave it pressed together in the bottom of the bowl and set aside.

3. To prepare cake, in a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add butter and a spoonful of sour cream mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened. Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds. Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula. Scoop out about 1/2 cup batter and set aside.

4. Scrape remaining batter into prepared pan. Spoon rhubarb over batter. Dollop set-aside batter over rhubarb.

5. Break topping mixture into big crumbs. Sprinkle over cake. Bake 45-55 minutes and cool before serving. (Mine was very underdone at 50 minutes, and we didn't let it cool.)

This coffee cake was good, but it took forever to make it, plus a lot of dirty dishes to wash. I don't think the goodness factor was as high as the effort factor, so I probably won't make again. But if you are up early and don't plan on eating for two hours, go ahead and give it a go. It is pretty good.

P.S. Brian didn't know what part of rhubarb was the eating part and wondered how I was going to make a cake out of lettuce leaves. He also warned me not to put coffee in the coffee cake.