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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}
I made this cake, but added 2 cups of strawberries to it as well, very good. I will be making it again!!
I’m thrilled that you like it, Sue! I bet it was great with the added berries.
I took this to a family reunion. It was an instant hit and a new favorite. I took along a small crockpot to keep the sauce warm. If your crock does not have a “warm” setting, keep on eye on it and turn on low/off as necessary! I used the frozen rhubarb and it turned out great!
I’m so glad you loved the cake, Tina.
Great cake, did reduce sugar to 1 1/2 cups as some others commented. We prefer a bit tart on rhubarb recipes. Also only made 1/2 the butter sauce and was plenty for us for the cake. Thanks for sharing such a great recipe!
I’m so glad you like the cake, Joy!
Can you still add butter sauce to cake ,even though its not being served at that time? Or will it be too soggy?
It will definitely soften the cake, Juanita. I like to top it right as I’ve serving it.
Made a half of the recipe. Looks just wonderful! Used more rhubarb than it called for and treate the rhubarb with red food coloring (2 Droosj. Made the butter sauce. Looks just yummy! Will let you know how it tasted later!
Can you just pour the butter sauce all over the cake and be done with it?
Sure. You can do that. You can also skip the sauce. If you pour it all over the cake at once, it will soak into the cake after a bit and the final result will be different from when you top a piece of cake with the warm sauce as you serve it.
all the while I was making the batter I said to myself, something is missing here but I followed the recipe. If you like dense cake, you’ll love this one. If I were to make it again I would definitely add 2 eggs and double the rhubarb.
Hi Linda, as you can see in the photos, this is a fairly dense, moist cake. Adding eggs should work to make it a bit lighter in texture.
Loved this , couldn’t believe you could make a cake without an egg so I added an egg and reduce the milk maybe to one and three-quarter cups. I would like more rhubarb taste so would maybe up to 6 cups or adding some to the butter sauce is a terrific idea, I also think a larger pan would be better 11 x 15 maybe as it was stuffed into a 9 x 13 but it taste terrific and I will certainly make it again.
I’m glad you loved the recipe, Lynne, and that you were able to make the recipe your own. Enjoy the recipe, and happy baking!
I made this cake exactly as the recipe reads and served it to my card group. Everyone asked for the recipe! The cake was moist, flavourful and I must say a definite keeper. I can definitely use the butter sauce for many other desserts.
I’m so glad your group loved the cake, Carol! The butter sauce is very versatile as well. Enjoy, and happy baking.
Loved this recipe. I cut the sugar in the cake to 1 1/2 cups and it was perfect, not to sweet. Tasted delicious with the butter sauce.
I’m so glad you loved the cake, Cherie. The butter sauce makes all the difference. Happy baking!