Thirty Days Thankful: Coffee and Cake

I am always thankful for coffee and cake. What better way to celebrate these things than with a brand new coffee cake recipe? That's the main feature of today's post, which we'll get to in a bit.

But first, coffee! Regardless of type - black coffee, flavored, cappuccino, mocha - all of them are a little bit of heaven in a mug. And necessary for getting through the morning without a headache!

A yawn is a silent scream for coffee.

I started drinking coffee at the early age of eight. Our family was on a trip in South Dakota, and Mom and Dad told me about the tourist-y tradition of drinking 5-cent (!) coffee at Wall Drug Store. I desperately wanted to take part in this tradition, so I tried my first coffee at the hotel beforehand, to make sure I could handle it. I found it to be pretty alright, and so began my coffee habit. Also, we can debunk the myth that coffee stunts growth, since I sprouted up to a decent height of 5'8" (unless it did stunt my growth, and I could've ended up a more statuesque 6-feet tall. But we'll never know, will we? Haha.)

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And now for the cake...

Rhubarb Spice Tray-bake

We still have canned rhubarb left from the 2018 garden season, so I'm under a bit of pressure to use it up. I was feeling a bit bored with my Rhubarb Walnut Quick Bread, so I wanted to come up with something new.

Here's what I invented. I modified the spice cake recipe from my Over-the-top Pineapple Upside-down Cake, toning down the spices just a smidge and swapping out the pineapple for rhubarb.

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter + 1 stick margarine, melted and cooled

• 2 C. brown sugar

• 4 eggs

• 1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. vanilla

• 3 C. all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp. baking soda

• 1 tsp. baking powder

• 2 tsp. cinnamon

• 1 tsp. ground ginger

• 1 tsp. nutmeg

• 1 1/2 to 2 C. rhubarb

Optional streusel topping

Make a half batch of this recipe. Sprinkle it on top the cake once it has baked long enough for the top to set. (Roughly 20 minutes, but use your best judgment.)

Directions

• Grease a 9x13 pan or glass baking dish. Preheat oven to 350⁰F.

• Combine butter, margarine, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. Slowly increase mixer speed to medium-high, until ingredients are creamed together.

• In another bowl, thoroughly mix together the flour, baking soda and powder, and spices.

• Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture, little by little. Mix until just incorporated.

• Note: At this point, the batter may seem very heavy and almost dough-like. Not to worry! This will be remedied in the next step...

• Gently fold in rhubarb. The fruit juices will help to thin down the cake batter, so it becomes easier to spread. If the batter is still pretty viscous, feel free to add a few spoons of water to slacken it.

• Spread batter into the pan/baking dish and smooth to the edges with a spatula.

• Bake for 50 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

• Serve with ice cream or whipped cream... or dunk a forkful of cake in some coffee! It's sublime!

'Til next time,

Eva