TWD: Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake

Tuesdays With Dorie baking through Baking with Julia
by Dorie Greenspan
Contributing Baker: Johanne Killeen

This turned out better than expected!

From the beginning I had my doubts on this one. I started this cake at a time when I was feeling tired and not in the mood to bake, but had to make it being I purchased the rhubarb almost a whole week ago. I never made it to Sur La Table (my all-time favorite culinary store) to purchase the paper molds to make this into baby cakes as the recipe called for - the original name of this recipe is Rhubarb Upside-Down Baby Cakes.

The book states you can use a 12-inch pan in place of the eight 4-inch pans called for. Unless you want a "torte" instead of a cake, a twelve inch pan works great. I think a 10-inch pan would have been a better choice.  My cake was not much higher than the height of a dime.

I had subbed the pecans called for in the recipe with walnuts. I'm trying to use what I have in the pantry, especially those bags that are already opened. I also used Cognac in place of the bourbon - again, that is what I had on hand. This is one of those cakes you can easily sub what suits your needs; in fact it begs to be played with - think pears or mango, even cranberries during the holidays.

This simple butter cake came out moist and tender with a slightly spongy feel and with a crisp exterior. I don't think I would have achieved a crisp edge using a smaller pan. The walnuts (which I'm not a big fan of) ended up being a nice addition, I used about a 1/2 cup rather than the two tablespoons - really? Only two tablespoons? - called for in the recipe. I would have liked to have a little bit more caramel as well. It may have been enough for the baby cakes, but for the twelve inch pan it was a bit scarce. 

I was on my own for dinner the day I made this (which I love when I have baking and blogging to do!) and must admit that I had two slices of this delicious cake for my meal before I proceeded to wrap it up and take it to my sister for her to take into work with her the following morning.

She texted me the next day to say "the cake was creamy-moist and the rhubarb was just the right amount of tartness", and the consensus from her co-workers: recipe please!

Success meter (1-3): 3 

Spreading the caramel and nuts pretty much removed most of the butter and flour from the bottom of the pan.

 So very pretty - don't you agree?

 Not quite enough batter to completely cover the topping.

I flipped the cake out immediately after removing from the oven. Still the topping stuck. Good thing I did not painstakingly arrange the rhubarb in circles as instructed.

Looks a little better after scrapping the pan of the stuck topping and smoothing it back onto the cake. The only problem is the caramel did not disperse evenly.

 The crispy edge.

This turned out to be a delicious cake. If you would like the recipe, visit Erin of When in Doubt…Leave it at 350, our host for this recipe.

I'm looking forward to seeing what other substitutions were used from the talented bakers in the group - so make sure to check out their creations as well. You can find their links over at the TWD website listed under LYL: Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake.

TWD: Hungarian Shortbread

Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan
Contributing Baker: Gale Gand


                                     Hungarian Shortbread

Our Tuesdays with Dorie hosts this week are Lynette of 1smallkitchen and Cher of The Not So Exciting Adventures of a Dabbler…. Visit their blogs for the recipe and their take on this creation.

Separate your egg whites into individual dishes

then freeze. Once frozen warm bowls to loosen

 and transfer to a Ziplock bag to use later.

Light and fluffy.

With five bags of cranberries in my freezer I

decided to make cranberry jam rather than the

rhubarb jam called for in the recipe.

I rolled the dough thin enough to fit in the feed tube

 of a food processor as suggested by this fellow baker.

First layer of grated dough.

I pre-baked the first layer just until it started

to change in color before adding the filling.

I was hoping to have some leftover

jam for toast it was so good.

Bwahaaha...

The first piece cut after a few

 hours of cooling fell apart.

By the next day they held together beautifully.

The cranberry jam had wonderful flavor

before baking. After baking it seemed to

lose its tartness.

I consumed more of these then I wanted to trying to determine if I liked them. The answer was right there on my tastebuds. If I did like them there would be no question and I could have stopped at the first piece (or not.) I kept sampling over and over again trying to find the intense flavor I so imagined these would have and unfortunately it was not found in these bars.

The shortbread turned out softer than I was expecting and my filling did not pack much of a punch. The flavor of the jam really did not come through at all now that I think about it. These I find are a bit on the bland side. (Update: I took the leftovers to our girls-night. Everyone loved them - except me.)

I'm thinking I should change my success meter from numbers to "Is it worth the fat and calories?"

Success meter (1-3): 1/No



My version did not impress me but reading other bakers comments they were happy with their outcome. So don't just take my word on this recipe, try it out for yourself by going to our host's sites mentioned at the beginning of this post to obtain the recipe or you can purchase Baking with Julia at your local independent bookseller or on-line.

On another note I once again have been bestowed upon with another blogger award! This one is from Sabine of Berry Lovely. Thank you Sabine. I am deeply touched by your generous gift. Sabine has a beautiful blog and is an amazing photographer. Take the time to check her site out - her photos are visually captivating.

Pretty in Pink

       Homemade Rhubarb-Ginger Pop Tarts

I have not been able to stop thinking of these ever since I saw them on my favorite blog that I follow regularly.

This is not something you can make on a whim in hopes of having for breakfast that morning (like I did); not only does the dough need to chill before rolling out, the tarts need to freeze for two hours before baking. So if you want fresh warm tarts for your weekend morning, I recommend making them the day before or earlier in the week and popping them in the oven straight from the freezer the day you wish to devour them.  

I changed it up a bit with a filling of rhubarb-ginger jam, for I have been craving the wonderful rhubarb crisp from Chow; and also made them mini in size. Depending on what recipes you read, some suggest removing the strings from the rhubarb which I chose to do. I feel my crust was a little too thick. I would roll it out as thin as you can and add as much filling that will fit without oozing out the seams when pressed together. I was slightly disappointed with my choice of filling for it was not as tart as I would have liked, and the ginger came through as the prominent flavor, rather than the rhubarb. 



I'll have to try the original recipe of strawberry next time, for strawberry never seems to disappoint.

Success meter (1-3): 3