It was a chilly weekend. We wanted to work in the yard, but it was too wet and cold. I was forced to stay inside and bake. On Saturday morning, I made a blackberry rhubarb buttermilk cake. I am trying to make a dent in our rhubarb-we have four plants and they are ripe and ready to be used.
Strawberries and rhubarb are commonly used together, but I wanted to try blackberries since they are my favorite berry. I adapted one of my favorite Gourmet cake recipes as the base. The tender buttermilk cake is simple to make. It is moist, buttery, but not overly sweet. The plump, juicy blackberries add bursts of sweetness and the rhubarb chunks bring a slight tartness to the cake. I think the blackberries were the perfect pair for the rhubarb.
The cake is charmingly rustic, no frosting is needed. The berries sunk to the bottom of the cake, so I just served it upside down to show off the beautiful berries. If you want to showcase the sugary crust, serve it right side up. Either way, this cake is a winner.
Blackberry Rhubarb Buttermilk Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter softened
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
- 3/4 cup fresh blackberries
- 1/2 cup rhubarb chopped
- 2 tablespoons turbinado sugar
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Coat a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray.
- 2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
- 3. Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until batter is smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and lemon zest. Mix until well combined.
- 4. At low speed, mix in the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk. Start with the flour and end with the flour. Mix until just combined. Don't over mix.
- 5. Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Scatter blackberries and rhubarb evenly over the top of the batter. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons of turbinado sugar.
- 6. Bake until cake is golden brown and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Let the cake cool in pan for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool completely. Serve the cake upside down to show off the pretty berries and rhubarb. Cut into slices.
Have you tried this recipe?
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If you like this cake, you might also like:
Plum Nectarine Buttermilk Cake from Two Peas and Their Pod
Peach Almond Cake from Two Peas and Their Pod
Strawberry Buttermilk Cake from Dishing Up Delights
Blueberry and Strawberry Buttermilk Cake from Pinch My Salt
I think it is too cool that you have rhubarb plants. I still have never had rhubarb – I know, it’s terrible! Your cake is beautiful.
Sorry the weather was yucky! But looks like you had quite the success in the kitchen! Josh and I are HUGE blackberry fans. I wish I could steal some of your rhubarb 😉 Have a good week Maria
Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous! My favorite cakes are more on the rustic side, so this is calling my name! I love the thought of pairing the blackberries, something Ive not done with rhubarb! Love it!
That is such a lovely cake! Nice fruit combo!
Cheers,
Rosa
Oh my, it looks delicious! I love your presentation…those are lilacs in the background! Beautiful. Have a lovely day – I hope the weather takes a turn for the better!
RecipeBoy says this looks, “Yummy!” 🙂
It looks good. I’m not a big rhubarb fan, but I’m betting I would like this one.
I haven’t tried either blackberries or rhubarb before and this looks like perfect recipe to try it in!
Looks like a really nice summer cake. I wish we had a cooler weekend, here in MN its been close to 90 & so humid we don’t want to work outside either.
Looks delicious! I would love to take some of that rhubarb off of your hands if you’re feeling overwhelmed…just saying… 🙂
My dad LOVES rhubarb so I always think of him when I see these recipes. I’ll have to call my Mom and give her the recipe to try.
Such a pretty dish, bet it’s delish!!
I made a similar cake using strawberries last week. It was so good, and I’m sure yours is delectable too!
Sounds amazing! I can’t get enough berries right now. I’m eating blueberries and blackberries at every meal it seems!
I love when I have a great base recipe that I can adapt in so many different ways. This looks like a great one!
This is fantastic! The blackberries look like little jewels hidden in the cake. I am going to get my hands on some rhubarb very soon.
Wow, this cake looks so great!
You’re fast, Maria, it seemed like it was just yesterday you were tweeting about what to do with rhubarb! You did a fantastic job and it makes me wish I had all these produce here! 🙂
I love baking with buttermilk, it makes it so moist!
I made this cake again a couple of weeks ago. I never get sick of it!
What a delicious cake! I am in love with rhubarb now, too, although I have to beg it from my neighbors and am jealous of your four plants. Wow!
I made this cake but with blueberries this weekend! I love your blackberry rhubarb idea.
How wonderful that you have your own rhubarb plants. I can’t wait to see what else you make with it.
Your picture is just beautiful. I love a buttermilk cake, and the berries would just make it all the better!
Looks fabulous Maria! You are the rhubarb queen!
It certainly looks like a winner to me! Bookmarking this!
Oh, we both baked with blackberries this weekend!! Your cake looks BEAUTIFUL and so light. Yum!
I love these types of simple cakes. Buttermilk always adds such a nice moistness and I am sure it is delicious with the blackberries and rhubarb.
Just lovely! I made some Strawberry Rhubarb jam a couple of days ago. Super yummy. I’m hoping to post it soon!
Love what you did with this cake. It looks so elegant.
I think I have all the ingredients for this recipe. It looks lovely.
What a lovely cake! The blackberry rhubarb combo must be fantastic!
Mmm, I made a rhubarb cake recently similar to this. Good stuff! Yours looks great with the added blackberries.
It’s 90 degrees here in Kansas! WAYYYY to hot and humid. Not sure if I’d take this or the snow (3+ inches) in Eagle Mountain at our new house we’ve heard about today! Crazy!
Wow this looks delicious – I can’t wait to try it! 🙂
Yup, either way this cake is a winner indeed. I do need to get a hold of rhubarb. Have not had it in years. This cake would make a great snack right now. xo
I am in love with buttermilk! Have been since birth. I don’t know if you read Pioneer Woman, but she’s always saying that sweetened condensed milk is the nectar of the South. Well, yes. But without buttermilk there would be no South. So there! 🙂 I can’t wait to try this! Thanks!
I absolutely adore Gourmet’s buttermilk cake! I couldn’t get over how good it was when I made it last year – totally gobbled up far more than I should have! Will have to try it with blackberries and rhubarb some time!
Oooh! This sounds delicious! I am already in love with it 🙂
Anything that looks this beautiful must be delicious. I hope you are having a wonderful day, Maria. Blessings…Mary
This cake look so delicious. I’m loving all these rhubarb recipes, YUM!
I love buttermilk in cake recipes! I am definitely going to have to try this one!
This looks absolutely amazing! Your pictures are too die for! I would be delighted if you liked this to Tuesday Tastes tomorrow! YUMMMMY!
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Happy Day,
Jasey @ Crazy Daisy
Great idea to serve it upside down. It looks delicious.
This cake looks so pretty and I love that you served it upside down.
Such a pleasant looking cake. I never made anything with rhubarb, such a shame.
What a pretty cake, Maria! I think the combination of blackberries and rhubarb is lovely.
oh, woe–forced to bake. 🙂
pretty pairing, maria!
This cake looks beautiful! I just happened to combine blackberries and rhubarb on Friday. I made a crisp and I agree that it is a very tasty combo.
Yum, love the idea of this combo.
“forced to stay inside and bake” LOVE IT! hehe
This is a deliciously sweet pairing. What a unique idea.
I love the idea of using rhubarb in a cake like this!
i love blackberries but not rhubarb, strange i know. still trying to find the one rhubarb recipe i can love….
I keep seeing all these amazing looking recipes featuring rhubarb and I still haven’t tried any of them yet. This is definitely tempting me to go to the store (like right now!) so that I can finally get my groove on with rhubarb. This looks like the perfect springtime tea snack to have. Your photos are absolutely gorgeous!
Ooooh that cake does look good!
That is an excellent base cake recipe. Love your adaption and blackberries are my fave, too!
~ingrid
This photo is gorgeous! The cake sounds delicious too 🙂
What a lovely cake… I would love a slice of this for breakfast!
That looks so delicious and moist! I can almost taste it from here.
So pretty Maria! I’ve been meaning to try that buttermilk cake from Gourmet forever…
This is a great recipe! I absolutely adore blackberries and am starting to see them on the market. But better than that is this simple delicious cake, just what we love to have on the table for breakfast and snack (nibbling at all day)!
The man I work with saw me biking around in a fruitless quest for rhubarb in Boston a couple of weeks ago and he found me a BIG bunch. I made a wonderfully simple rhubarb only pie with crumb topping from martha stewart and a rhubarb streusel bread. . . and still there was more rhubarb.
So, I made this for a community brunch using orange zest instead of lemon and it was fantastic. The church ladies went for seconds. What a winner of a recipe. I am going to use this buttermilk cake recipe with other fruits as well!
Thanks. . .
I bet orange zest was fantastic in the cake. Glad you enjoyed it. I will have to try that next time.
Hi,I am planning on making this cake for my husband’s birthday but I find it very difficult to find rhubarb in the Salt Lake area…plus I am a newie to the whole rhubarb thing. Where do you get it? When is it in season?
Thanks,
Claudia.
We grow our own rhubarb, but I know Dan’s and Harmon’s usually have it. I hope you can find some! It is in season right now.
Have you tried this with strawberries and rhubarb?
No, but I am sure it would be great too!
I baked this recipe twice — so far. On the first time I made two 9-inch cakes so we could share with neighbors and co-workers. Everyone raved about it! My husband and I enjoyed it very well, too. We had a good harvest of backyard blackberries recently and also found rhubarb in a local up-scale grocery.
It’s too hot to grow rhubarb here in Louisiana; we got to like it while living in Connecticut. A web search found many possibilities, but I settled on your recipe and was very pleased with the results!
This was excellent! Nice and moist.