Rhubarb Pudding Cake (Plus 9 More Yummy Rhubarb Recipes)
I was looking for something different to do with rhubarb when I came across a fruited pudding cake recipe in the Favorite Recipes of America – Desserts cookbook from 1968.
The original recipe calls for “any fruit, fresh or canned”, so I figured “Why not rhubarb?” Thus, this old fashioned rhubarb pudding cake was born.
The recipe is quite sweet, even with the tartness of rhubarb. You can cut back on the sugar if you like.
This rhubarb pudding cake recipe has a delicate sugar crust, and rich pudding bottom. It's super easy to make using fresh or frozen rhubarb, and can be made gluten free and dairy free.
The boys are not huge rhubarb fans, but they love this recipe. This is the sort of thing my grandmother would have made. I hope you and your family enjoy it, too.
Rhubarb Pudding Cake Recipe – Step by Step
You can use a little extra rhubarb for this, or mix in other fruits like strawberries or chopped apples.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of rhubarb, chopped
- 1 3/4 cup sugar, divided
- 3 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup sifted flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2/3 cup boiling water
Directions
Cover the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch square baking pan with fruit. (I prefer an 8 inch or 9 inch square glass baking dish. You can also use a deep dish glass pie plate.)
Mix 3/4 cup sugar, butter, baking powder, salt, extracts, milk and flour together. Add a little more milk if it is too thick to pour; pour over fruit.
Mix remaining sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl; sprinkle over mixture in pan. Pour boiling water over the top. ( I know this sounds strange, but trust me, it works to create a pudding around the rhubarb in the bottom of the pan.)
Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes. Yield: 9 servings.
The sugar topping creates a glaze on the top of the cake, something like a creme brûlée. It also creates the pudding at the bottom.
Serve warm with ice cream, if desired. Or let your rhubarb pudding cake cool a bit, and then slice and invert on a plate. This shows off the pudding.
You may also substitute a gluten free flour blend, such as Namaste Gluten Free Flour. With the Namaste flour, I bake an extra ten minutes. Friends made the recipe dairy free by substituting coconut milk with good results.
Shares and Pins always much appreciated if you enjoy the recipe!
Printable Recipe
Use the recipe card below to print out the recipe, or double it for a 9×13 pan. For a double batch, add around 10 minutes of extra bake time. Use the “Cook Mode” setting to keep the screen from going dark while you're reading recipe during baking.
PrintOld Fashioned Rhubarb Pudding Cake
This rhubarb pudding cake recipe is easy to make using fresh or frozen rhubarb. A simple hot water trick allows the cake to make its own sauce while baking.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 9 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 cups rhubarb, chopped
- 1 3/4 cup sugar, divided
- 3 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup sifted flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2/3 cup boiling water
Instructions
- Cover the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch square pan with fruit. (I prefer an 8 inch or 9 inch square glass baking dish. You could also use a deep dish glass pie plate.)
- Mix 3/4 cup sugar, butter, baking powder, salt, extracts, milk and flour together. Add a little more milk if it is too thick to pour; pour over fruit.
- Mix remaining sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl; sprinkle over mixture in pan. Pour boiling water gently over the top of the cake.
- Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes, a little longer for gluten free flours.
Notes
You may also substitute a gluten free flour blend such as Namaste Foods Gluten Free Flour Blend. If using gluten free flour, add 10-15 minutes to bake time.
One of our readers used a metal grey colored Wilton 9×9 pan, and her cake scorched. If you have this pan, drop the temp to 350°F, and watch for excess browning.
This is a sweet recipe!
If you would like a less sweet dessert, reduce the sugar in the batter to 1/2 cup, and the sugar in the topping to 1/2 cup. You can experiment with reducing the amounts even more, but it does need some sugar to form the pudding layer.
Keywords: cake, rhubarb, pudding cake, spring
More Rhubarb Recipes to Enjoy
Blessed with a bounty of rhubarb? You may also enjoy these easy rhubarb recipes for drinks, preserves and desserts:
These recipes work with fresh or frozen rhubarb, so you can enjoy them anytime you have a supply on hand. Let me know if you'd like some savory recipes, too.
For easy to make bread recipes, check out my book “Never Buy Bread Again – The Bread Book for Beginning Bakers“.
You can also get more seasonal recipes, plus other common sense tips, when you subscribe to the Common Sense Home newsletter.
Originally published in 2012, last updated 2023.
I love rhubarb! Made this last night…everyone enjoyed it. I was curious about the boiling water but it turned out fine.
Next time I will cut back on the sugar as suggested to see if we like it better.
★★★★★
Just made this because my little patch of backyard rhubarb produced enough stalks for 2 cups of chopped fruit. My husband, son and I loved it! My 15-year-old son straight up raved about the crunchy topping and overall taste! He has a bit more of a sweet tooth than I do. I only decreased the amount of sugar by 1/4 cup in each part and will probably decrease by 1/8 c. more next time. This time it was borderline too sweet to top with vanilla ice cream but I had my heart set on that. 😁 Next time I will top with barely sweetened whipped cream. Also I did increase the milk by maybe 2 tablespoons, and baked it for 10 extra minutes because I freshly grind my flour. I love the texture I got with Bluebird Grain Farms Hard Red Wheat!
Based on my son’s reaction to this recipe I will have to increase the size of my rhubarb patch if I’m ever going to be able to make a different rhubarb dessert, as far as he’s concerned!! Thanks for posting it!
★★★★★
I’m glad he enjoyed it. Thank you for making time to share your experience.
Made this for company and everyone loved it! Enjoyed the flavor of the almond extract!
The first time I made this recipe, I did it exactly as printed ( I did have to add a little extra milk since it was thick) and it was delicious! I whipped up some whipping cream to add on top also. The second time, I doubled the recipe, so I could share with my daughter and her large family, and baked it in a 9 x 13″ glass pan. I cut the sugar down to 1 cup in the batter and 1 cup in the topping (this is doubled). My daughter and her whole family loved it so much they requested the recipe so they could keep making it. This is a definite keeper for us!
★★★★★
Thanks, Shelley. I’m glad it worked out well for you and your family.
I was so disappointed! This sounds so yummy! Mine turned out very runny, didn’t set up at all. And it bubbled over in my 8×8 glass dish, made a mess in my oven. I am going to try it again in my 9×13. Not sure what happened unless it is a high-altitude thing? I so want this to turn out!!!
★★★
What altitude are you at? I don’t have any way to test different altitudes, but it’s possible that could be the difference.
My altitude is just over 32oo ft. I wouldn’t think that is the problem, but not sure what went wrong. If I use a 9×13 pan, I read that I should double the recipe? Will it bubble over again? Has anyone else had this problem?
Altitude adjustments for canning kick in at just 1000 feet above sea level, and I did find cake baking adjustments for altitudes above 3500 ft, so you’re in that range. Given that pudding cakes tend to be more bubbly overall, hopefully that’s where the trouble is and we can adjust appropriately.
Based on recommendations for adjusting regular cake recipes, the following changes may help:
Decrease baking powder by 1/8 teaspoon.
Increase milk by 1 tablespoon.
Decrease sugar in the batter by one tablespoon.
*Increase oven temperature from 375F to 400F – this one I’m not sure about. I’m afraid the higher temperature may cause scorching.
Maybe try the batter changes (adjust baking powder, milk and sugar) and a single recipe in a 9×13 at 375F to make sure it doesn’t boil over?
Thank you so much! I will give this a try the next time I make it!
The cooking time seems to be off. I put it in for only 40 min at 375 and it still burned quite a bit around the edges. If I decided to try again I’d do 350 for 30-35 min at most. Was there a different cook time for a 9×9 that I missed.
★★
Any chance your oven may be running hot? I used to have to set our old oven 5 degrees cooler than recipes indicated. What type of pan did you use?
It’s not running hot as I’ve checked and I used the grey coloured Wilton 9×9 pan. Was so disappointed when I took it out as the picture had looked good.
So it was a metal pan then. I always use glass, so I’ll add a note about reducing the temperature for metal pans.
I bet a combination of peaches and blueberries would also make a yummy substitute for the rhubarb…but I would definitely use less sugar in doing so. Thanks for sharing this yummy and versatile recipe!
Just made this May 2022 doubled the recipe and was confused the sugar and cream of tartar on top and then pour the hot water over-maybe I didn’t let it cook enough it’s not very pudding like but it’s delicious and Sweet-will use less sugar next time -I took pics but not sure where to attach
★★★★★
I’m guessing you meant the cornstarch and sugar, since there is no cream of tartar in the recipe.
Are you able to watch the recipe video in the article that’s embedded in the printable recipe card? If so, at just after the 6 minute mark is where I put on the sugar and cornstarch mix and water. Maybe being able to see it come together will be easier to follow than just reading the recipe, since it’s a little bit of an oddball step.
To cut the sugar, I’d reduce a little in the batter and in the topping, rather than cutting it all from one spot or the other. It is a sweet recipe, even with the tartness of the rhubarb.
This is fantastic!!! It’s our favorite rhubarb dessert!!!!
★★★★★
Glad you like it, and thanks for taking time to leave a positive review.
Cut sugar in cake to 1/2 cup and topping to 3/4 cup. Added 1 cup strawberries to the 2 cups rhubarb. Still a bit too sweet for us but the strawberries probably added to that. In any case the cake worked well and the topping was still very crispy flaky sugar so cutting back didn’t change how it worked. Next try will be increasing rhubarb and skipping the strawberries. Might try going to 1/3 and 2/3 cups sugar at some point and love the suggestion of orange in the cake. Easy to make, and a nice size cake for a small family.
★★★★★
Thank you for sharing your experience.
Excellent! Perfect recipe for the rhubarb we have in the freezer. Made with chick pea flour and is delicious! I will make it again.
★★★★★
I’m glad it worked out well for you and thank you for taking time to leave a positive review and share your experience.
Turned out beautifully! A definite keeper! The strawberry rhubarb was creamy, the cake moist and the crispy topping was just right.
Thank you! I almost didn’t share….Can I substitute the sugar with Splenda? My husband is diabetic.
★★★★★
If you have the Splenda blends that are made to substitute directly for sugar, it should work, but I’m not sure it will impact the texture and browning. If you try it, could you let me know, as lots of folks are watching sugar nowadays.
Thank you for your prompt reply. I will definitely try with the Splenda and get back to you with my findings.
Take care and talk soon.
Hi all. I baked the rhubarb cake for the 1st time yesterday. Have to say it was delicious. However, I made some modifications: I tripled the rhubarb quantity, cut it into small slices; only used vanilla essence as had no almond; used white sugar for the sponge; used demerara sugar for the topping mixed with baking powder. I thought the sugar/baking powder topping was too much sugar so only scattered half of it over the top. Once baked, absolutely delicious. Thank you for the recipe. Wasn’t convinced at first as it sounds a bit unusual but it works.
★★★★★
Thanks for sharing your adjustments, Sara, and I’m glad it worked well for you.
How do i store this if i make it ahead ? can it sit out or should i refrigerate it ?
It’s really best fresh, because the crackle topping absorbs moisture from the rhubarb as it sits. The moist environment of the refrigerator will speed this up. If I plan to use it within a day, I keep it on the counter. If we have leftovers that are around longer than a day, I cover and move them to the refrigerator.
Based on the author’s comment I decreased the sugar to 1 cup divided. I omitted the Almond extract due to nut allergies and used Better Batter GF flour due to celiacs in the family. It was delicious! I did not need ice cream. Making it again today
Christine
★★★★★
Thanks for sharing what changes you made, Christine, and that they worked out well. That’s really helpful for people trying to adapt the recipe to different diets.