Rhubarb Pistachio-Streusel Bundt Cake combines the tart and tangy rhubarb with the sweet and nutty pistachio streusel. The cake is moist and not too sweet with pockets of rhubarb tartness. So Yummy. If you love rhubarb as much as I do, try my Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, or my Rhubarb Crisp.
SIS (Simple is Smart) Tip: Reverse Creaming Method
What is the reverse creaming method for making a cake? The dry ingredients are mixed together and then the butter is mixed in until a sandy-looking mixture is achieved. This method coats the fat with flour before the liquid is added. The result is a velvety crumb, tender texture, and less doming of the cake.
What do I need for ingredients for the Rhubarb Cake?
For the Pistachio Streusel:
- Pistachio: Chopped roasted pistachios.
- Butter – softened unsalted
- The flour I used was all-purpose
- Sugar
- Cinnamon
- Salt
- Softened cream cheese
- Sifted powdered sugar
- Half and Half
- Vanilla.
Ingredients for the Rhubarb Cake:
- All-purpose flour – you don’t need to use cake flour for this recipe.
- Butter unsalted softened
- Sugar – white granulated
- Eggs
- Baking powder
- Lemon Zest
- SeaSalt
- Vanilla
- Rhubarb juice – drained from the rhubarb.
How to Make the Rhubarb Cake – Step by Step.
Prep. the rhubarb by dicing it into 1/2 inch pieces and adding the sugar to the rhubarb. Toss to coat the rhubarb, and then place the rhubarb in a colander and let the juice drain into a clean container. The liquid will be used in the cake.
Make the Streussel:
Use a pastry blender to work the butter into the sugar and flour. Add the cinnamon, salt, and chopped pistachios. Mix and set aside.
Make the cake using the reverse creaming method. This method mixes the butter with the dry ingredients to achieve a sandy texture. The flour coats the butter resulting in a velvety soft crumb. I use a food processor with the plastic mixing blade attached to mix the butter into the dry ingredients.
Add the dry sandy mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer with the blender blade attached. Add the vanilla and rhubarb juice. Mix in. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well. The batter will be thick.
Bake and Glaze the Rhubarb Cake:
Preheat the oven while you make the cake. Pour half of the batter into a greased and floured 12 cup Bundt Pan. add the pistachio streusel. Top with the rest of the batter. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan.
Make the Glaze:
While the Rhubarb cake is cooling mix the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and half and half. I use a hand mixer as the stand mixer bowl is dirty from the cake. Mix until smooth and creamy. Add extra half and half if needed to make the glaze think enough to drizzle over the cake.
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Equipment
- Food Processor
- 12 cup bundt pan
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Ingredients
Rhubarb
- 4 cups rhubarb (500g) diced into ½ inch pieces.
- ¾ cup granulated sugar(150g)
Streusel Layer
- 1 cup flour (120g)
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar(135g)
- 8 tbsp softened unsalted butter (1 stick) (113g)
- ½ cup coarsely chopped pistachios (60g)
- ¼ tsp salt
Cake
- 3 cups flour (360g)
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 cup sugar
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter (1 stick) 113g
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup juice drained from the rhubarb. There may be more. use up to 3/4 cup total if there is that much juice.
- 1 tbsp lemon zest.
Cream Cheese Glaze
- 6 oz. cream cheese
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2-3 tbsp Half and Half or milk
Instructions
Rhubarb
- Add the sugar to the diced rhubarb, toss and place in a strainer over a clean bowl.
- Let the juice drain from the rhubarb and occasionally stir the rhubarb.
Streusel
- Mix all the dry ingredients except the pistachios
- Work the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers or a pastry blender.
- Stir in the pistachios.
Cake
- Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon zest, and cinnamon together.
- Add the butter to the flour mixture. Work the butter into the dry ingredients with a food processer fitted with the plastic mixing blade until a sandy texture. This is called reverse creaming.
- Add the sandy mixture to the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the vanilla and drained rhubarb juice. Mix to combine. The mixture will be very thick.
- With the mixer on low add the 3 eggs. Mix the eggs in on medium and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Stir in the rhubarb pieces by hand.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (178°C)
- Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan.
- Add half of the cake batter to the bottom of the pan.
- Add all of the Streusel mix.
- Add the rest of the cake batter on top of the streusel mix.
- Bake 350°F (178°C) for 60 minutes. Cover with a piece of aluminum foil the last 20 minutes if the cake top is over-browning. Test with a cake tester or toothpick to ensure the cake is done. The tester or toothpick should come out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then invert on a metal cooling rack.
Cream Cheese Glaze
- Mix all of the ingredients and beat with a mixer. Add more sugar or milk to achieve a consistency that is good for glazing.
- Put the glaze in a pastry bag. Cut the tip off of the bag and glaze the cooled cake
Video
Nutrition
The flavors are terrific … lemon, rhubarb and vanilla. I was surprised by the dense/heavy nature of the cake. I would make it again if I could figure out how to make it lighter. All in all, glad that I made it.. Note: I was confused on the mention of adding cinnamon to the cake when I didn’t see it in the cake ingredient list.
Thank you for your comments and review. Yes, the cake is a denser cake, more like a coffee cake. The cinnamon was mistakenly listed in the streusel ingredients. It is now listed in the cake ingredients.