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Rhubarb Cake with Butter Sauce

Rhubarb cake with butter sauce is a moist, golden bake studded with diced rhubarb and finished with a warm, pourable golden sauce. It’s the homestyle warm dessert you can serve straight from the pan, with sauce ladled over each slice.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
cooling 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 12 servings
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Cake
  • 2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1.5 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 0.5 tsp salt
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 0.5 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 cup fresh rhubarb, diced
Butter Sauce
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 0.5 cup heavy cream
  • 0.5 cup butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Equipment

  • 1 sheet pan

Method
 

Bake the cake
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.
  2. Whisk together all-purpose flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt until evenly combined.
  3. Mix buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
  5. Fold in the diced fresh rhubarb until the pieces are evenly distributed.
  6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350°F for 40–45 minutes, until golden.
  7. Cool the cake for 10 minutes to set before serving.
Make the butter sauce
  1. Combine sugar, heavy cream, and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.
  2. Boil for 3 minutes, then remove the saucepan from the heat.
  3. Stir in vanilla extract until the sauce turns glossy and smooth.
Serve
  1. Serve warm cake with hot butter sauce poured over individual servings.

Notes

For clean slices, let the cake cool 10 minutes so it firms up before sauce goes on. Refrigerate leftovers in a covered container for up to 3 days; rewarm slices in the microwave and reheat the sauce gently until pourable. Freezing is yes for the cake (without sauce) up to 2 months; thaw overnight and rewarm before serving. If you want a lighter option, use half-and-half in place of heavy cream for the sauce while keeping the butter.