Maybe it’s just me but if I think about rhubarb I also got strawberries on my mind, they just belong together. And here I come up with a rhubarb and chocolate combination and I have to admit it’s sounds weird. But it works great, actually it’s like opposites attract, two ingredients that couldn’t be more different.
Some years ago Mr. F and I enjoyed a vacation in Denmark, it was (early) preseason and I expected windy walks along the beach and hot tea in front of the fireplace. Against all odds we got gorgeous weather and we explored the beautiful area around our vacation home but also did some day trips to Copenhagen. We had to pass the impressive Great Belt Bridge to go there and I still remember that our camera battery died at the moment we reached the bridge (it wasn’t my fault this time). We found a little bakery near by the Rosenborg Castle, it was Mr. F birthday and we were looking for a cake to celebrate. Although he is more the butter cream birthday cake type, he choose a rhubarb cake. This guy is always good for a surprise, that’s why I keep him around… After a long day of sightseeing and all the way back over the long bridge, we made some coffee and cut the cake. At this point I discovered the chocolate in it and my first thought was: what the heck, who does that? But after I tried some, I was hooked and now I even belief chocolate is a better companion for rhubarb than strawberry.
I wanted a firm cake that holds all the rhubarb and chocolate well and can be taken to picnics, bake sales and office parties without tasting dry or falling apart. My first idea is sometimes the best and I decided I need a pound cake batter. To reduce the butter amount, I swopped half of it with non fat yoghurt and it worked great. The cake holds it’s shape perfectly and is easy to cut, at the same time moist and tender.
rhubarb chocolate cake
ingredients:
110 g / 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
220 g / 1 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar
2 large eggs
220 g / 7.8 oz. unbleached all purpose flour (about 1 1/3 cups)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
230 g / 1 cup Greek yoghurt (fat free)
1 tsp vanilla extract
140 g / 5 oz. semisweet chocolate morsels
450 g / 16 oz. rhubarb
powdered sugar for dusting
instructions:
Preheat your oven to 180 C / 360 F and grease your springform pan (24 cm / 9.5 inch)
Trim the rhubarb and slice as thick as a finger (about 1.5 cm / 0.6 inch), set aside. In a medium bowl measure flour, baking powder and salt, stir well and set aside.
With your electric mixer cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and beat well after adding each.
Add following and beat well between each addition and if necessary scape down the batter from the bowl sides: half of flour mix, yoghurt and vanilla extract, rest of flour mix.
Add chocolate and rhubarb pieces and fold in. Pour into springform pan and bake for about 1 hour. Check after 45 minutes and cover with a sheet of aluminium foil to prevent from getting too dark.
Let cool and dust with powdered sugar if you like.
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Look delicious! I love the taste of rhubarb and this cake looks so easy to make. The recipe is actually a lot like one my grandmother have taught me. And the chocolate is definitely a surprise!
And btw your blog is lovely
You just blew my mind! Chocolate and rhubarb are about my favorite ingredients ever, and I’ve never seen the two together. The cake is absolutely gorgeous. I will definitely be making this asap. So glad I found your site (on pinterest) – looking forward to perusing it some more. : )
This looks absolutely beautiful; hard to tell if the pictures look better than this dessert sounds, too!
Can’t wait till it cools off a bit and I can bake this!
Thanks for sharing!
Carol
Thank you for stopping by. Yes it is always the question: should I fire the oven or is it just too hot for that? My appetite wins all the time.
These photos are too beautiful not to make this cake, so I’m off to mix rhubarb and chocolate for the first time… but while you mention vanilla in the instructions, it’s not in the ingredients list. Since I’m just about to bake, I’ll just guess on the vanilla, but I just thought you’d like to know so you can update the ingredient list.
Thank you for pointing out! I don’t know how I could mess this up! I corrected the ingredients list.
I made the cake and it was INCREDIBLE. So great!! Thanks for the recipe and especially the instruction to cover the cake with foil at the 45-minute mark. I used a 9″ springform and after the hour, the cake needed to bake for an extra 15 min before it seemed set, but it was worth the extra time for the delicious result. You’ve fully convinced me of the joys of chocolate+rhubarb… My husband said the cake gets “9.6 out of 10.” When I asked him where it lost the .4, he said, “My piece wasn’t big enough.”
Every oven is different and mine also has his “moods”, sometimes I don’t even need to cover this cake for the last 15 minutes. The extra baking times might be caused by opening the oven for some time while covering the cake with foil?
Unfortunately rhubarb is not easy to find in the South, so I make this cake every time I can get some.
Thanks for your comments, I appreciate your feedback. ♥
Please give your husband a bigger piece, I think he deserves it!
This case looks gorgeous! Going to make it for my dad’s birthday cake (he’s 88) using rhubarb from his garden.He will be extra pleased as the cake has his other favourite ingredient……chocolate! Just wondering how many reasonable size pieces it would yield? Also…any ideas for a funky decoration?
I am sure your dad will love this cake if he likes rhubarb and chocolate. How great that you are able to use homegrown rhubarb, I am jealous!
Maybe you can drizzle some chocolate sauce over the plates or write 88 on the rim. Long and lean birthday candles are beautiful, but don’t try to place 88 candles on this cake, just kidding…!
You will get about 12 servings out of a cake baked in a springform pan with this size.
Phew! Funky decoration is not that easy.
I would love to see how your cake looked like. Please take a snapshot of your cake and post it on my facebook page!
I hope your dad’s has a wonderful birthday, I wish him health and happiness! Happy Birthday!
Lucky you! No rhubarb here and no spring at all – it seems we’ll have a white easter – so I’ll go and buy frozen rhubarb and make your wonderful cake, Eva!
Big hugs,
Sandy