I don’t use whole wheat flour nearly as much as I should. There, I said it. So when I received received my shipment of 1847 flours I knew immediately that I had to make it my mission to work with the “Run of the Mill”whole wheat blend. I’ve been sorting through my cookbooks recently and was leafing through a binder of recipes I have from years and years ago, when I first started cooking and baking, and came across the perfect recipe for this flour – a simple upside down cake (originally with apples) from a school fundraising cookbook (from, err… the 70s – how’s that for dating me?). It’s a very basic recipe that calls for self-raising flour so it actually didn’t work well as written when I subbed in the whole wheat flour. It’s now been through a few iterations – an apple upside down cake I was very happy with…

and then, because rhubarb arrived in my Fresh City Farms delivery last week, I couldn’t NOT make this:

It’s definitely a cake on the denser side but it makes it a perfect breakfast cake (or, let’s face it, anytime!). The whole wheat flour adds a nuttiness to the flavour that works well with the fruit and because rhubarb is not so sweet, it’s not overly sugary, despite the faux-caramel in the fruit layer. It actually tastes really wholesome and I’m going to make a muffin version very soon!

Simple upside down rhubarb cake

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

45 mins

Simple upside down whole-wheat rhubarb cake. Celebrate the season!

Author: Mardi Michels

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

• For the caramel:
• 57g (1/2 stick, ¼ cup) unsalted butter
• 75g (1/3 cup) dark brown sugar
• For the cake:
• 300g rhubarb, trimmed
• 160g (1 cup) 1847 Run of the Mill Whole Wheat Flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 110g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
• 57g (1/2 stick, ¼ cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 egg
• 2 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 60mls (1/4 cup) whole milk

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350ËšF.
2. Grease the sides of a 9inch round cake tin.
3. Heat the butter and brown sugar in a small pan over medium-high heat until the sugar has melted.
4. Remove from the heat and pour into the prepared cake tin, making sure to cover the base evenly.
5. Cut the rhubarb in the size/ shapes you want to cover the bottom of the cake tin. The rhubarb will shrink as it cooks so try to pack it fairly tightly.
6. Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda in a small bowl.
7. In a separate bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), beat the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy.
8. Add the egg, then the egg white, mixing to combine thoroughly after each addition.
9. Add the vanilla and mix to combine.
10. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the dry ingredients until just combined.
11. Add the milk and mix until smooth.
12. Pour over rhubarb/ caramel, gently smoothing the top with an offset spatula.
13. Carefully tap the tin on a hard surface to settle the batter over the fruit.
14. Bake at 350ËšF for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
15. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes then invert onto another wire rack, picking out any pieces of fruit that stick (there are usually a few) and replacing them gently on top of the cake.
16. Allow to cool before serving.
17. Perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.

Notes

You can replace the rhubarb with approx 300g apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced.

3.5.3208

You could definitely glaze this if you choose – with some warmed redcurant jelly or apricot jam lightly brushed over. But the cake itself is fairly moist so I felt it didn’t need any more liquid. This was deemed by my neighbour (who “just happened” to be passing by as I was photographing this) “the best cake” he’s had in a while. And he eats pretty much everything I bake I really like this because it incorporated whole wheat flour, yet it rose beautifully and despite its “sturdy” nature, it definitely is a lovely light bite. Incorporating whole wheat flour into your baking has never been tastier!

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Disclosure: 1847 Stone Milling provided me with samples of their flours and compensation in exchange for recipe development. All opinions are, as always, 100% my own.

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