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This is a soft, old-fashioned Rhubarb Cake with Butter Sauce: a simple one-bowl cake to stir together and bake in a 9 x 13 pan. This is perfect for a potluck or picnic.
Rhubarb Cake with Butter Sauce
Tangy Rhubarb Cake becomes completely irresistible when paired with the sweet Butter Cream Sauce. This cake is a twist on a classic Christmas dessert, cranberry cake with butter sauce.
I’ve updated it for spring and substituted rhubarb for the cranberries. It works so well, as both cranberries and rhubarb are tart and pair well with the butter sauce.
How To Make An Old Fashioned Rhubarb Cake
This is an egg-less cake which makes it super easy to make in one bowl. First, you’ll sift all the dry ingredients together. They are just the basics: flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
To that mixture you’ll gently stir in the milk, melted butter and diced rhubarb. Pour into a pan and bake.
This is seriously the easiest dessert. It’s just as fast as using a cake mix and doesn’t require and special ingredients (other than rhubarb, of course.)
The Rhubarb Cake is perfect for last minute company or anytime you want to bring a dessert somewhere.
The lack of eggs in this cake makes it especially tender and I love that. Be careful not to over bake it as it will be dry. Don’t worry though, a healthy dose of butter sauce will fix it.
How To Make Butter Sauce
Butter sauce is just butter, heavy cream and granulated sugar – and it is oh, so delicious when poured warm on cake. Think of it as a superior frosting since frosting is just sugar and butter too.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter, stir in the heavy cream and sugar, bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute.
Ta da, magic butter sauce that is perfect over cake.
In addition to seeing this butter sauce over cranberry cake, I’ve also seen it served over a Pecan Praline Cake and a Warm Gingerbread Cake.
More Rhubarb Recipes
Both my family and my reader’s love rhubarb recipes. If you’re looking for ways to use up extra rhubarb, check out one of my other rhubarb recipes.
- Rhubarb Bars
- Rhubarb Coffee Cake
- Rhubarb Crunch
- Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
- Rhubarb Sauce
- Old Fashioned Rhubarb Custard Pie
- Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler
Can I Freeze Rhubarb?
Rhubarb season is short, but never fear, you can use freeze rhubarb and use it throughout the year without any issues at all. You can also purchase frozen rhubarb at most grocery stores.
To use frozen rhubarb: thaw the rhubarb first and let any excess liquid drain off. Don’t squeeze any liquid out, just drain what naturally thaws out of the rhubarb.
Rhubarb Cake with Butter Sauce
Ingredients
For the cake
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups rhubarb diced (see note below about using frozen rhubarb)
- 2 cups milk
- 6 tablespoons butter melted
For the butter sauce
- 1/2 cup 1 stick butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the diced rhubarb, milk and melted butter. Stir just until combined.
- Pour the batter into a greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and cool
- To make the butter sauce, combine the butter sugar and cream in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 1 minute stirring frequently. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
- To serve, cut pieces of cake and serve with a generous amount of warm butter sauce. The sauce can be gently reheated on the stove or in the microwave if necessary.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
{originally published 4/20/19 – recipe notes and photos updated 5/6/21}
Can I add strawberries to this recipe?
I think that should work, Amy. It sounds like a delicious idea. I would swap some of the rhubarb for strawberries to keep similar proportions.
This is obscenely delicious!!! I admittedly put more rhubarb in than called for (oops) which only meant I cooked it a bit longer. It was soooo good. Thank you!
I’m so glad you loved the rhubarb cake, Ginny, and that it turned out so well for you. Enjoy!
this was fantastic! so good. turned out very well.
I’m so happy the rhubarb cake turned out well, Gwen. Enjoy!
Such a fantastic cake! I’m wanting to try cupcakes with a buttercream frosting….what changes would I need to make? Time and Temp?
That would be an entirely different recipe, Lisa. I haven’t tried that myself.
I made this yesterday. DELICIOUS! I read some of the comments, and I would suggest, whisking the dry ingredients thoroughly. I did not add any eggs or anything the recipe did not call for. I did stir the rhubarb in first, then stirred in the milk. The cake rose nicely and tasted great! I picked my rhubarb early and had more red pieces than green so I think that helped with the bitterness of the rhubarb. The butter sauce was an amazing addition.
Yes, Joni, mixing the dry ingredients thoroughly really does help balance the consistency of the cake. I’m so glad it turned out well for you! The butter sauce really is a great topping, isn’t it? Happy baking!
Ok. My sister in law gave me a ton of rhubarb, so my friend sent me some recipes she saw.?
This one looked great. I read all the reviews. And I must say, some of them were incredibly rude.?
Anyhoo, I decided to go for it. I can’t figure how people had any trouble with this recipe. I found it to have great tart rhubarb flavor. I did decrease the sugar by one half cup. The batter was not stiff. The cake raised like any normal cake and is not gummy after 45 minutes of baking. Yes, it took considerably more than one stalk of rhubarb….I can understand the question if you have to buy it and want an idea of how much to purchase.
I”m so glad you liked the cake, Becky! Strange reviews are everywhere; it’s not too bad. I hope you enjoy the recipe, and happy baking!
Can I use canned strawberry rhubarb pie filling in place of the fresh or frozen rhubarb?
Hello, Penny! I don’t know how well that would work in the recipe, to be honest. The cake would have a very different consistency. Still, if you decide to try this idea, let me know how it turns out!
Epic fail! I made this with frozen rhubarb and followed the directions on how to handle it in a frozen state. I cooked it as directed, even left it in the oven for 5 extra minutes as the top of the cake was very pale, only looked a bit brown on the edges. A toothpick inserted in the middle came out clean.
While it was technically cooked it was so heavy and doughy it was inedible. I saved about an inch and a half around the edge and the rest went in the bin. We tried to eat some of that but it still wasn’t great.
Wow. That is a bummer, Wendy. My guess is there was quite a bit of excess liquid yet with your thawed rhubarb.
On the rhubarb cake with butter sauce can you use gluten free flour ? Or how to substitute to make it gluten frew
If you have a GF flour that substitutes 1:1 that should work fine.
Love it! ❤️ My husband really enjoyed it. I’m sure I’ll make it again.
That is fantastic, Elaine.