Saturday, June 22, 2013

Ravishing Rhubarb-Strawberry Coffee Cake with Streusel Topping

LUCY BURDETTE

On the way back from a wedding in Pennsylvania on Sunday, John and I stopped at the local farm store and happened upon local strawberries. They were so gorgeous that we bought more than was reasonable for two people. Of course, I posted about this dilemma on Facebook and got an onslaught of great sounding recipes. Doesn't a homemade strawberry milkshake sound good? How about strawberry bread? Jam? Pie? Or just plain pop them in the freezer for a treat on a winter day?

In the end, we ate most of them, except for the ones I made into my own recipe for Strawberry-Rhubarb coffee cake. I'm happy to share it with you!

Rhubarb-Strawberry Coffee Cake with Streusel Topping 

Ingredients

1 1/4  cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 cup milk or buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups rhubarb, chopped
1 cup strawberries, chopped

For the topping:
1/4 C. butter, 1/3 C brown sugar, 3 TBSP flour, 4 TBSP rolled oats


Cream the butter and sugar, and add the egg. Sift together flour and baking soda and add to creamed mixture with the milk and vanilla. Fold in the rhubarb and strawberries. Pour into greased 9 x 11″ pan. Blend topping ingredients until pea-sized with a pastry blender and sprinkle on top of the cake. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.


This is one of the recipes included in the back of DEATH IN FOUR COURSES. Hayley's good friend Eric makes it when Hayley's mom is coming for a visit.  Because doesn't a homemade coffee cake cure just about all ills?


What would you make with those strawberries?

17 comments:

  1. Yum for the coffee cake . . . strawberries and rhubarb are a favorite around here, so I’m sure everyone will love this! Thanks for the recipe . . . . We always enjoy strawberry shortcake, with homemade biscuits standing in for the shortcake, when the strawberries are in season . . . .

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  2. The farmers market opens today. I am going to look for rhubarb and strawberries. Yum. Thanks, Dee

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  3. SWEET DREAMS:
    One pint fresh strawberries
    One pint Myer's dark rum
    Blend and drink, slowly, stay away from open flames

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  4. That sounds totally delicious!

    It's pick-your-own season here in Maine,too; lots of strawberries. I like them with a little milk and sugar (substitute) or sliced into greek yogurt. They give my husband hives so I get them all to myself.

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  5. I had the great good fortune to get to eat a piece of this coffee cake, and as one who generally does not like rhubarb and strawberries (too sweet for me!) it was senSAtional!

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  6. Strawberry freezer jam is easy to make, and delicious. And then you can extend the strawberry goodness for a couple of months.

    When I was a kid the daily milkman would offer strawberry milk in the late spring. That was always the best treat, seeds and all.

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  7. "The daily milkman..." That takes me back. I live in a town that still has a milk truck the does home delivery. Seemed so weird when it was parked across the street from the Peapod truck.

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  8. Hallie, when you had milk delivery did you live in California? It was always a challenge in Ohio in the wintertime, when the milk might freeze before my mother could bring it in. Those glass bottles were not especially forgiving in deep cold.

    My dad drove a milk truck for a short while, until he fell asleep at the wheel and ran into the back end of someone parked at a stop sign.

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  9. Lucy, this sounds fabulous. I LOVE rhubarb combined with other, sightly sweeter flavors. I rarely make cakes any more because I eat them afterwards, but I may try this. I just bought organic strawberries last night.

    And they still have milk delivery in England!

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  10. Strawberries rarely live long enough to be made into anything in our house. Neither do our fresh cherries, come to think of it...

    But man, Jack, that sounds like the perfect use for strawberries!

    Actually, I'm now contemplating a freshly made strawberry ice cream mixed in with a lovely dark rum for a dessert beverage on a hot evening. Hmm, the possibilities!

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  11. oh boy, you all are making me hungry...that's a lot of rum though Jack:).

    Strawberry milk sounds very good, as did the milkshake!

    Thanks Hallie:). We have visitors this weekend and they are all helping to eat the cake so it doesn't fall entirely on me.

    now back to Murder with Ganache

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  12. I would have made strawberry rhubarb pie, which now that I think of it, I haven't made in ages. I can't wait to try the coffeecake. It sounds delicious.

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  13. Mmmm. I love rhubarb. As soon as you tell us it is almost no calories, I will make it. (Actually I'm pretty sure I will make it anyway!)

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  14. Well Triss, the rhubarb doesn't have any calories:)

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  15. Hi Lucy/Roberta,

    I could become addicted to foodie mysteries... (she says, as if she already were not).

    My favorite strawberry recipe is my mother's strawberry shortcake made with biscuit style shortcake and freshly whipped cream. My mother-in-law gave me the oversized biscuit cutter that Steve made in school when he was a little boy. I think it was a Mother's Day project. He etched his name into the top with a nail. It makes the perfect size biscuit for shortcake.

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  16. Reine, that's so sweet--another piece of priceless memorabilia!

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  17. Today, I made jam to put in the freezer for the year.
    After eating home made jam for years, I can't eat bought ones anymore. Living near a producer, I'll eat strawberries with yogourt for breakfast all summer long. YUM !!!
    And with the rhubarb in my yard, I'll try your recipe. Thank you.

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