Rhubarb Crumb Cake

This beautiful morsel was made using rhubarb. Hense the "Rhubarb Crumb Cake" title. 

Yep, even out here in Montana we are abundant in it. Friends of ours have about eight plants that are just bursting with fresh rhubarb. They were nice enough to share and I took about 10 pounds of it.

I'm not kidding. Sounds kind of greedy. I didn't mean to take so much, but it is so much fun to cook with. 

It is this peculiar stalk that when sliced creates this tart saliva-inducing smell that gets me every time. It's weird and tart just like me, maybe that's why I like it so much. 

When I got it home I stared at it lovingly hoping for inspiration. Chopped it up, but it didn't come until I found the Splenda Brown Sugar Baking Mix that I hadn't tried yet and I found a crumb cake recipe and decided that I could add the rhubarb and omit some of the sugar and oil.

This Rhubarb Crumb Cake was so moist, gooey, and sweet, but with that little bite of tart from the rhubarb. It was perfect! I served it to guests over the weekend and no one had a clue they were eating flax (and I didn't tell them). Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag now!

 I ate it plain at first, but it looked so lonely on the plate. Sort of naked and exposed.

I decided it needed a little blanket of sugar free vanilla ice cream and then a little drizzle of sugar free caramel ice cream topping were most appropriate.

There, isn't that better? My spoon even slides through this super gooey cake even easier it seems. 

Yum Yum Yum... I really like Rhubarb Crumb Cake... Yum Yum Yum.

And with no butter or extra sugar, I can feel really good about my decision to choose dessert.

And if you have nuts feel free to add those to the crumble topping as well. Chopped pecans, walnuts, or even macadamia nuts would be extra delicious!

Note: You don't necessarily need the Sugar Free Splenda Baking Blend, it didn't really end up saving that many calories and only saved about .5 g carbohydrates per serving. So you can use regular brown sugar if you have it on hand!

Happy Rhubarb Hunting Season!

Now on with the recipe!

Rhubarb Crumble Cake

1/2 Cup Sugar Free Light Vanilla Yogurt
1 1/2 Cup Splenda Brown Sugar Baking Mix
1 Egg
2 tsps. Vanilla Extract
2 Cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (or 1 cup each all purpose and whole wheat)
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Kosher Salt
1 Cup Lowfat Buttermilk
1 tsp. Cinnamon
4 Cups Finely Chopped Fresh or Frozen Rhubarb

Topping:

1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Milled Flax Seed
1/2 Cup Chopped Nuts (Optional)


1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, combine the vanilla yogurt and brown sugar and cream until smooth. 

3. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until it is smooth and shiny.

4. Then in a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together until evenly incorporated. 

5. Then add half of the flour mixture into the sugar mixture, then add half of buttermilk and stir to combine. Then add the remaining flour and buttermilk and stir until the batter is smooth.

6. Add the rhubarb to the batter and gently fold it in. Then pour the batter into a greased 9 X 12 batter.

7. In a small bowl combine the sugar and flax seed. Then sprinkle over the top of the cake evenly creating a crumble layer. You can add a 1/2 cup chopped nuts to the topping if you want as well. 


8. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Slice and serve!

Servings: 24


Nutritional Skinny:


133.5 calories / .9 g fat / 26.2 g carbohydrates / 1.7 g fiber / 2.3 g protein


Mental Health Benefit: Did you have any idea that one cup of rhubarb contains 105 mg of calcium, which is about 10% of what an adult needs each day? It's also a great source of lutein which helps protect our skin and eyes. It's also loaded with Vitamin K which helps our blood clot when we get a cut which helps us heal faster and it also has lots of antioxidants from the lycopene when cooked to help us boost our immune system. 


Get that rhubarb out of the garden and get cookin'!

And here's another great rhubarb recipe to check out!

Rhubarb Crumble

Rhubarb Crumb Cake