Make this easy Rhubarb Coffee Cake to celebrate rhubarb season in all its tangy, cozy glory. It’s fluffy, moist, and topped with a generous layer of buttery streusel—perfect for late spring mornings or a slow summer weekend brunch.
This is absolutely one of my favorite recipes to bake during rhubarb season!
I also make it with plums in the fall or with stone fruit during summer – it’s always so good!
Even my oldest kid who isn’t into cake at all loves this one. And that’s really saying something. It’s great as a snack cake or for a festive brunch (think Mother’s Day!). It’s really good by itself, but you can also serve it with whipped cream or Greek yogurt. Or, I mean, vanilla ice cream? I’m definitely not above that last option… Enjoy!
What ingredients I use (and why)
Real butter is the winner here
The cake really works best with real butter. Especially the streusel turns out really well with it.
If you don’t have butter or want to make the cake more budget friendly, stick margarine can be substituted (it will slightly change the flavor and texture of the cake and streusel). Do make sure to use stick margarine and not a spread!
Your fruit matters
While this recipe is written with rhubarb, the cake works with many different kinds of fruit! But please know that your exact fruit dictates how the cake turns out. The sweeter/juicier the fruit, the more sweet and moist your cake will be.
Peaches, plums, strawberries, raspberries, apples… Change it up or use a mix, if you like! Strawberry and rhubarb together is pretty amazing here.
Other ingredient substitutions I’ve tried and liked
Sour cream can be used in place of the greek yogurt. Plain yogurt works in a pinch, but you’ll need to increase the flour by a couple of tablespoons.
A delicious twist on the cake is using 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon almond extract in place of all vanilla in the batter! I love it, but not all of my family like almonds, so it’s a rare treat for me 😉
A little streusel science
Make sure you properly cut the butter into the dry ingredients, until you have a bowl of what should resemble crumbly cookie dough. If you don’t fully work the butter into the dry mix, you will end up with a sandy/gritty topping.
Here is a little video to show how I make streusel:
Also, chilling the streusel helps it to stay in thick, cookie-like crumbs during baking. So don’t skip this step! It only needs to chill while you’re making the rest of the cake, so it won’t add any additional waiting time.
This makes a huge amount of streusel. If you prefer less streusel, cut the amount in half (for reference, the photos were taken with less than the full batch, to make sure the rhubarb shows well in the pictures).
A few extra tips
- Do not skip beating the eggs until fluffy. This really does take around 4 minutes – otherwise the cake will be dense and flat.
- The batter is fairly thick, don’t be alarmed by this. It needs to be sturdy to support the load of fruit on top. If it seems impossibly thick, add a couple tablespoons of milk.
- The cake keeps at room temperature for up to 2 days. Cover it well to keep it from drying out.
Printable recipe
Rhubarb Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the streusel
- 1 ⅓ cups flour (plus a few tablespoons as needed)
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 1 stick cold butter
For the cake
- 1 ½ sticks butter (softened)
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Fruit
- 2 pounds rhubarb (cut into ½ inch pieces)
Instructions
- Prep: Line a 9×13 inch (22 x 33cm) cake pan and preheat the oven to 360°F (180°C).
- Make the streusel: Add flour, sugar, ground cinnamon and salt for the streusel to a small bowl. Mix well, then cut in the cold butter until crumbs form. Chill in the fridge until ready to use.1 ⅓ cups flour, ½ cup sugar, ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, pinch of salt, 1 stick cold butter
- Cream wet ingredients: Cream softened butter, sugar and eggs together until light and fluffy (this takes 4-5 minutes, so be patient or your cake won't rise). Slowly beat in greek yogurt and vanilla extract.1 ½ sticks butter, 1 cup sugar, 3 large eggs, 1 cup Greek yogurt, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Combine dry ingredients and make cake batter: Combine flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon and salt for cake in a separate bowl.3 cups flour, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Make batter: Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the egg mixture until a smooth batter forms – it will be thick.
- Assemble and bake the cake: Spread the batter in the prepared cake pan. Arrange the sliced rhubarb on top, slightly pressing it into the batter. Scatter the streusel over the cake. Bake the cake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out fairly clean.2 pounds rhubarb
- Cool and serve: Cool in the pan on a wire rack before slicing to serve.
Video
Recipe first published on 05/05/2020. Updated with step by step photos on 03/26/2021.
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