Rhubarb Orange and Cardamom Cake - I couldn’t wait to share this brand new recipe on the blog!! A golden almond cake bursting with tart juicy rhubarb, sweet orange, and earthy citrusy cardamom. It’s as vibrant and alluring as a summer sunset.
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This recipe uses just a few ingredients and the simple two-bowl mixing method—-wet and dry ingredients. So don’t feel intimidated the next time you see those gorgeous fushia stalks at the farmer’s market. Grab them and make this cake!
Baking in Season
We see rhubarb pop up in baked goods everywhere, especially pies and tarts, when it finally bursts onto the scene in spring. Strawberry-Rhubarb is a common and very delicious combination. But I knew I wanted to explore different flavors…..and I wanted to make a cake!
Rhubarb is quite tart and needs to be sweetened when cooking—which produces the uniquely delicious sweet-tart flavor that makes this such a sought-after seasonal treat. It also has a crisp firm texture so softening with the sugar first for 30 min releases the juices and works really well in this preparation.
Texture
The almond flour, butter, and orange juice produce an incredibly moist stick-to-the-fork crumb. As it cooks the rhubarb softens into a preserve-like texture and dots the cake with crimson bits of sweet-tart bliss!
Flavors
I love the way the sweet-tart orange juice and zest complement the rhubarb. Cardamom has definite citrus notes which play up the brightness of the cake. But it also has a floral and earthy taste that rounds out the flavors and adds a cozy warm feeling similar to cinnamon.
Ingredient Spotlight
- Rhubarb - Crimson fuchsia fading to spring green stalks. Technically a vegetable but always grouped with fruits. ONLY the stalks are edible, discard the leaves, as they are not edible. Rhubarb is quite bitter so it works perfectly in sweetened baked goods. In season Spring to Summer.
- Almond Flour - GF, nutty flavor, produces moist dense baked goods.
- Ground Cardamom - complex Indian Spice, earthy, floral, herbal, citrusy. An incredible addition to baked goods and desserts. Try out my quick and easy white chocolate bark with cardamom
Tips
- Remember to zest the orange before cutting in half. Then squeeze out the juice
- Keep the almond flour in the refrigerator for freshness as nut flours have oils that can become rancid. You can also freeze it
- It can take more or less time to bake this cake depending on your oven. Insert a wooden skewer in the center and make sure that it comes out clean
- If the top starts to brown before the cake is fully cooked, cover it with aluminum foil
- Since Rhubarb is available in late spring and summer, I often dice and freeze it in zip-lock bags so I have them for the rest of the year!
How to Make Rhubarb Cake
Here is the step by step recipe with photos. Printable recipe card along with the ingredient measurements are at the end of this post:
- Grease the bottom and sides of a 9" spring form cake pan. You can also cut a parchment paper and place it on the bottom and grease the sides. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Rinse and dry the rhubarb. Cut into small ½-inch cubes. Add rhubarb to a bowl and sprinkle sugar on it. Lightly mix and allow the sugar to dissolve 20 to 30 mins
- Zest the orange. Cut into half and then squeeze out the juice.
- Melt butter in a large bowl by microwaving it for 30 to 40 seconds. Remember not to make it too hot. Add orange zest, orange juice and sugar. Whisk together until well blended. Add eggs.
- Mix the butter and eggs.
- In another bowl add all purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, cardamom powder and salt. Mix it well.
- Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and mix well.
- Add the rhubarb mixture and gently fold it in the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the sliced almonds and sugar on top. Bake at 350 F for 40 mins to an hour or until a wooden skewer in the center comes out clean. If the top starts to brown before the cake is fully cooked, cover it with aluminum foil for the last 10 minutes or so.
- Allow it to cool on a cooling rack for 20 minutes before opening the spring form pan. Cool completely and cut into slices.
How to Serve
This is a perfect cake to serve at parties, get-togethers, and special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, Mother's Day, or Father's Day! Although the cake tastes delicious as is here are a few ways to fancy it up:
- Dust the cake with powdered sugar
- Enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream
- Add some sweetened whipped cream on top
Storing
Rhubarb cake has nice crisp edges and pillowy soft center. Keep it at room temperature for a day. Any leftovers can be refrigerated for up to a week. You can also freeze individual slices.
More Almond Flour Recipes
Recipe
Rhubarb, Orange and Cardamom Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups rhubarb diced into ½ inch pieces
- 1 cup sugar plus 1 tablespoon for topping
- grated zest of 1 orange, plus ½ cup fresh orange juice
- 1 cup butter melted room temperature
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup all purpose flour 4¼ ounces or 120 grams
- 1 cup blanched almond flour 95 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
Instructions
- Grease a 9” spring form cake pan with butter or oil spray. You can also cut a parchment paper and place it on the bottom and grease the sides. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Zest the orange. Cut into half and then squeeze out the juice - you need half cup of juice.
- Rinse and dry the rhubarb. Cut into small ½ inch cubes. Add rhubarb to a bowl and sprinkle half a cup of sugar on it. Lightly mix and allow the sugar to dissolve 20 to 30 mins
- Melt butter in a large bowl by microwaving it for 30 to 40 seconds. Remember not to make it too hot. Add orange zest, orange juice and remaining half cup of sugar. Whisk together until well blended. Add eggs.
- Mix the butter and eggs.
- In another bowl add all purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, cardamom powder and salt. Mix it well.
- Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and mix well. Add the rhubarb mixture and gently fold it in the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the sliced almonds and one tablespoon of sugar on top. Bake at 350 F for 40 mins to an hour or until a wooden skewer in the center comes out clean. If the top starts to brown before the cake is fully cooked, cover it with aluminum foil for the last 10 minutes or so.
- Allow it to cool on a cooling rack for 20 minutes before opening the spring form pan. Cool completely and cut into slices.
Video
Notes
- Dust the cake with powdered sugar
- Enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream
- Add some sweetened whipped cream on top
Nutrition
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danita says
How much of the sugar listed is for the rhubarb, cake topping? The instructions don't indicate.
Archana says
Hey! So the full one cup goes with rhubarb and the 1 tablespoon is for the topping along with the almonds.
Shital Lakhani says
Omg this looks so yummy. Can’t wait to try!
Archana says
You will love it!
Caroline kella says
Tried this today, minus the almonds on top.
So so good ! And suprisingly rich , although i think its a tad too sweet but over all we enjoyed it!
Archana says
Thank you!
Meenakshi says
Can you make this without eggs?
Archana says
Hi Meenakshi, I have not tried this recipe without eggs
Karina B says
This was very tasty and easy to use make!
It turned out very light and paired well with whipped cream!
Archana says
Thank you for the feedback
Sravanthi says
Hi Archana! Love this recipe - so fresh and exciting!
Any substitutions for all purpose flour you would recommend?
Archana says
I am so glad you like the recipe. You can try gluten free all purpose flour.
Katy says
So I decided that this looked delicious enough that I straight away made a double recipe. It is currently in the oven, so I can't (yet) say how it tastes, but I did have a question/concern: I left my rhubarb+sugar mixture for about 45 minutes as I was making lunch, and ended up with almost a cup of liquid in the bottom. I added it to the batter, which ended up looking far more liquid than yours - should I not have added the liquid? How much did you end up with when making this cake (the pictures don't show)?
And for others to know - a double recipe with that possibly-extra liquid filled my 9x13 pan almost all the way up (maybe 1/2 inch of space) so I decided to be safe and instead put it into a much deeper 9x13 roasting pan. I took it out at 1 hour, and the knife was clean, so fingers crossed it turns out well!
Katy says
Just an update - the cake turned out really well. Not very sweet, and the texture is almost custard-like.
Archana says
Thank you for the update!
Archana says
Great idea to use a bigger pan. Also, I add the rhubarb mix right away before it gets too watery
Ann says
This is absolutely delicious. Have made it 3-4 times now with great results, so many thanks! I serve it with a dollop of plain Greek yogurt on each portion.
Our green figs are just now ripening in the garden (early Sept. in North America), and I thought about using them in this recipe in place of the rhubarb. What do you think??
Archana says
Thank you!! I think figs will be SO yummy!
Maureen Wells says
I made this yesterday from freshly harvested spring rhubarb for a Ramadan dinner party last night and it turned out fantastic. I only made two changes to the recipe: (1) 1.5 tsp fresh coarsely ground green cardamom seeds for the 1 tsp cardamom powder and (2) 1 tsp granulated sugar plus 1 tsp decorator sugar sprinkles for the topping instead of 1 Tbsp granulated sugar. The decorator sugar gave it a nice crunch without being too sweet. The cake was super moist had very interesting layers of flavors with cardamom being the top note. Thank you for the recipe.
Archana says
Thank you, Maureen! Freshly harvested spring rhubarb sounds incredible!
Coby Burns says
This looks amazing! If I wanted a fluffier light cake would I sub self rising flour for the almond flour?
Archana says
I have not tested with self rising cake flour but I think that should work and I would also reduce the rhubarb to 2 cups since that also makes teh cake dense with all the liquids
Sharon Foster says
Tastes delicious! I needed to add about 12 extra mins of cooking time for it to set.
Daniela says
I made this cake yesterday and it was absolutely delicious! I omitted the almond flour and subbed AP flour instead. Overall the cake was very light and tasty. Thank you for sharing
Archana says
Thank you for your feedback Daniela. Its great to know that the recipe also works well with AP flour.
Heidi Fassmann says
Do you think you could use olive oil instead of the butter?
Archana says
Hi Heidi! Yes, olive oil will work well too
Sara says
Delish! I double the recipe - made in a 9x13. I used GF AP flour (blue cup4cup) and it came out so well.
Yvonne says
Can I use frozen rhubarb in this recipe? Thanks.
Archana Mundhe says
yes! frozen rubarb works,
Eliza says
So so good. I cut the recipe down by a third to fit in a 6inch cake tin and baked for 10 minutes less, basically just skipped the foil on top part of baking. Turned out great.
Carol Goodman Kaufman says
Is the rhubarb, orange and cardamom cake an authentic Indian recipe?
Archana Mundhe says
Rhubarb is not a commonly used ingredient in traditional Indian cuisine. While cardamom is a common spice in Indian cooking and can be found in many Indian desserts, the combination with rhubarb and orange is one of my favorite flavors and hence the recipe 🙂
Gill says
absolutely delicios cake so moist and delectable
Archana Mundhe says
Thank you!
Linda says
As it's the Christmas season, I'm wondering if I could make this with some shopped up fresh cranberries instead of the rhubarb. Any thoughts?
Archana Mundhe says
That sounds like a delicious idea! Although I have not tried it, I think fresh cranberries will add a festive tangy twist. Let me know how it turns out—sounds perfect for the season.