Rhubarb Pudding Cake (Plus 9 More Yummy Rhubarb Recipes)
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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
Preheat oven to 375°F.
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.
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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
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- 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.
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.
Made this tonight. It was delicious! Thank you!
You’re welcome
My husband loves this, made it couple times before with fresh rhubarb, and i don’t remember leaving a comment. So I am correcting that now. We also have several packages of rhubarb from our garden froze and going thru the comments, I see where it says it worked well. So that’s what I’m doing this am 🙂 So that’s great. This recipe is so easy to do. ty
Glad you enjoy it, and thanks for sharing your experience.
Everyone loves this recipe. Usually top it with a little frozen yoghurt rather than ice cream. Made it a little saucier and increased the water to 2 cups and only use vanilla. It’s perfect every time.
I made this recipe twice now and my guests have licked the bowl. Even my picky guests loved it. I was considering making it and taking it with me on a trip. Has anyone made this the night before it was served? How did it turn out? Thank you.
It’s best hot out of the oven, but not bad the second day. The “pudding” gets soft set, but as long as you don’t cover it while it’s still hot, the top crackle will stay “crackly”.
I was searching through Pinterest to find a different rhubarb recipe since I have so much from my garden and I found you. I jumped up off the computer and started making it. I usually him and haw if I should try a recipe or not, but this was so easy and I had everything else. Well it just came out of the oven and it looks divine. Too hot to eat right now but I’m sure it will be like heaven. I love rhubarb and have other fruits in my garden also. Strawberries are on their second round and the blackberries are red and getting ripe. So my next try will either be with blueberries and blackberries or a mixed berry custard dessert. One thing, I was low on milk and I just had enough, I see that other ladies are substituting, but how about buttermilk? I have powdered, would that work also? Thank you for posting and I joined your newsletter, can’t wait to read it. I never make box cakes, always home made, old fashion and trusted recipes handed down. I need all the rhubarb recipes I can get my hands on so keep them coming. Oh my Lord, it is heaven…… I’ll be making another one because this won’t last an hour between me and my two boys. Thanks again..
I generally like the taste of buttermilk in recipes, especially paired with fruit, so I think that would work. Powdered has usually worked fairly well the few times I’ve tried it in the past, but there’s only one way to tell for sure.
I have canned rhurbarb made like a sauce, could this be used? If not i can get fresh… Thank you for your time..
I think fresh would be better, but it would probably work. Care to try it and share the results? The original recipe did say, “any fruit, fresh or canned”…
I have tons of rhubarb and I cannot wait to make this.
Just made this. It’s wonderful. My mom used to make an absolutely perfect peach pudding with the same recipe. I just never thought to switch out the fruit. Watching the sugar content of the fruits, I’m ready to experiment. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it! Tell your friends. 😉
I have this in the oven right now! Didn’t have butter, so used margarine, do you think that will work?
I don’t normally use margarine, but it should make a cake.
I made this last week, soooo very yummy. Best rhubarb recipe I have ever tried. Easier than pie, more tasty. Made it just like the recipe said.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi, I have only non stick pan not glass. Will that make any difference?
Kim
That should be fine.
Did you grease your baking dish? Looks delicious, am making it this afternoon. Our rhubarb is plentiful this year.
You don’t really need to, as the pudding won’t scoop out cleanly no matter what you do, but you can if you like. It may make cleanup a little easier.
Turned out great! Tastes like my MILs Rhubarb Custard Pie, only its cake & much easier! Thanks for the recipe!
Glad that is worked out well for you. Thanks for letting me know.
I want to try this!!
It’s a reader favorite. 🙂
Ok I had my students make this for a lab and 4/6 kitchens pans over flowed on to the bottom of the oven almost causing a fire alarm??? I am pretty sure most followed the recipe exactly. Does anyone use bigger pans??
Did you use 8×8 or 9×9 pans? The most commonly found size I’ve found while searching online for glass pans in the last couple of years is 8×8. My 9×9 pans are older and have become hard to find. 9×13 would be overkill, but an 11×7 pan would probably work.
We grow Rubarb in Victoria Aus but it needs a good sun shade to limit not block harsh sun then goes beserk in autumn when temp comes down to the 20 `s C with some rain and heavy dews.
Red Variety is sweeter than green, shows red flesh when cut, but harder to grow ( more delicate ) and needs regular watering.
Tastes better straight from ground.
I’ve been trying to get a patch of red started. One year it drowned, one year it froze, but this year I found a neighbor I can get a start from, so I’m hopeful we have a winner.
Tried this recipe and It was to die for…thanks..
Glad it worked out well.
Your recipe is EXCELLENT! We all love it here, thanks for posting it.
Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for leaving a comment.
Oh thank you for sharing this! I have lots of rhubarb in my yard! I can’t wait to make it! Maybe tonight or tomorrow for company! Yum! When you reduce the sugar (which I’m thinking of doing since we tend to like things not overly sweet), where do you reduce it? In the batter or the topping or both? What do you recommend reducing it to for someone who is interested in reducing it?
I’d probably cut back a little in both. Just be aware that the sugar is responsible for that crackled crust and proper browning of the recipe.
Laurie – have you ever tried xylitol or coconut sugar in this recipe? I am just wondering in either or both would be a good substitute for the white sugar and still achieve the top crackle and browning.
No, I haven’t tried them, but I’d love to hear how they work out if you do.
I just tried this using coconut sugar in place of white sugar. I still reduced the amount of sugar, since I don’t like things overly sweet. It is delicious, it has a crackled appearance, but the coconut sugar gives it a darker brown appearance throughout, as compared to the online picture. (since it is a brown colored sugar). My neighbor happened to give me just enough rhubarb to make this recipe . So glad I stumbled upon it, as I was looking for something a little different.
How much sugar did you end up using? Thanks for letting me know that it worked out.
Thanks Kim for reporting back! I plan to cut back the sugar amount as well as we like our food made with usually much less than recipes call for. I am going to try it with both xylitol and coconut sugar and I will let you know how it goes 🙂
Your welcome Laurie and Dawn! I didn’t have white sugar on hand and have been mostly using coconut sugar these days, since I heard it has a lower glycemic index. I think I did use just under 3/4 cup in the batter and just a little bit less than 3/4 cup in the topping ( instead of the 1 cup). So, I just reduced it a little, but I will probably reduce it more next time. It did not seem overly sweet with the amount I used, though. My husband thought it was really good . I would say it definitely has a darker appearance though and I’ve never made it the other way, so not sure if the top is as it should be. Let me know what you think.
I will definitely make this again using other fruit, since I don’t get rhubarb very often.
Thanks, Kim. I’ve been meaning to try other sweeteners, but that mysterious “spare time” keeps disappearing. 🙂
Hi,
I just saw this delicious looking recipe today on FB (surprise!). I have family who cannot have gluten (thanks for the suggestion of gluten-free flour) and no dairy. I have to be so careful with the ingredients but would love to try this this summer!
So two questions, what would you suggest as a butter replacement? For the milk replacement, almond milk may work brilliantly and sugar replaced with Agave.
Would appreciate your thoughts!
I think I’d opt for coconut milk over almond milk if you can tolerate it, because of the higher fat content. As for a butter replacement, ghee would be my first choice if you’re only avoiding lactose, palm shortening if you must avoid all dairy (Tropical Traditions has an organic palm oil that is responsibly raised and harvested, which I reviewed here). Coconut oil would be my next choice if you don’t have either of the above, but the other two give a texture more similar to butter, from my experience.
In my experience, in most cooking & baking, water is a perfectly reasonable replacement for milk. Since most of the expensive alternates still don’t have the protein that milk does, it doesn’t act the same in recipes (it’s not usually due to fat, or skim milk wouldn’t work). For my family, the only reason to cook with almond or other milk alternate is for the flavor, which in this case you probably wouldn’t even notice.
Wow, that was really good and soooo easy! I’m not one that really likes warm fruit desserts, but I had a bunch of rhubarb I had to use. I’m glad I used it on this! Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks for the feedback!