Rhubarb Upside Down Cake Recipe

Beautifully pink soft rhubarb on top of a light and zesty lemon sponge!

This rhubarb upside down cake is super simple to make and tastes incredible! You just arrange your rhubarb on the base of your cake tin, then mix up your cake batter and carefully pour it over the top. Once your sponge is baked, flip it over to reveal your beautiful cake! You could arrange your rhubarb in any sort of pattern and I've seen some gorgeously intricate ones online or just chop it up and throw it in, it will taste delicious either way!

This recipe makes one 8" upside down cake. It is best eaten within 3-4 days while it is freshest or you can freeze them for longer.

Makes one 8" upside down cake

Rhubarb layer ingredients;

400g rhubarb

60g brown sugar

30g cornflour

50g melted butter

Sponge ingredients;

300g plain flour

1800g caster or granulated sugar

18g baking powder

1 tsp vanilla powder

Zest of one lemon

80g sunflower oil

315g plant milk

12g lemon juice

You will also need; a large mixing bowl, whisk, spoon, 8" cake tin, baking paper circle, knife, chopping board, zester, small bowl, cooling rack

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How to make your cake;

1. Pre heat the oven to 160°c

2. Lightly grease your cake tin with vegan butter or oil and place a baking paper circle on the bottom of your tin. You can also place a long strip of baking paper around the sides as well if you would like

3. Wash your rhubarb stems and cut them into 1-2" sized pieces. Arrange them over the bottom of your cake tin in any sort of pattern you would like. You just want to make sure that they are in an even-ish layer

4. Pour the melted butter across the rhubarb

5. In a small bowl, mix the cornflour and brown sugar together, then sprinkle over the rhubarb. Use the back of a spoon to make sure it is evenly spread out, but be careful to too disturb the rhubarb pattern underneath

6. If you have any spare rhubarb once the base of the cake tin is covered, chop this into smaller 1cm sized pieces and save to add to your sponge batter

7. Set aside and mix up your sponge batter

8. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder and vanilla powder and give a whisk together

9. Add the zest of one lemon, then pour in the sunflower oil, plant milk and lemon juice

10. Mix together using the whisk until everything is smooth. Try not to overmix, as this will loose some of the light and fluffy texture of the sponge

11. If you would like, you can add any extra rhubarb pieces to the sponge batter now by giving them a quick stir through

12. Pour the sponge batter into the cake tin over the top of the rhubarb layer

13. Bake for around 40-50 minutes until the cake is lightly golden and a cocktail stick comes out clean

14. Once baked, set the cake tin on a cooling rack for around 20-30 minutes to let the cake slightly cool and firm up a little

15. Carefully run a knife around the edge of the cake tin. Then, take a large plate and place it on top, gently flip the whole thing over and lift the cake tin off to reveal your yummy cake!

16. Serve slightly warm with ice cream or custard or leave to fully cool

Tips & Tricks!

• I always use PME cake tins. This is my 8" tin; https://amzn.to/4aIdVUU

• You could swap out the rhubarb in this recipe for pretty much any sort of fruit to make different flavoured upside down cakes

• I like to use pre-cut baking paper circles for ease but you could of course draw around the tin and cut out your own; https://amzn.to/4rUC1Cy

• If you add the extra rhubarb pieces to the sponge batter, it make take a little longer to bake as they add some extra moisture to the cake