Iowa recipes: Rhubarb coffee cake

So this is kind of a funny story.

I made this rhubarb cake the other night while my hubby was out fishing.  After a couple days, it looked like he hadn't eaten any of it, so I threw the rest of the cake away.. (I was afraid I'd eat it all myself!)  The next morning, I got a call from my husband at work.  He asked why I threw the cake out.  I told him it's because I figured he didn't like it.  But it turns out, he really, really liked this cake.  He's just been too busy fishing, he never got around to polishing off the cake!

I found this rhubarb cake recipe in a local ag newspaper; I found another version of this recipe in one of my church cookbooks.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

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Rhubarb coffee cake

• 3 C. finely cut rhubarb
• 2 C. sugar
• 3/4 C. margarine
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 2½ C. flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 C. buttermilk
• ¾ C. brown sugar
• ½ C. nuts
• ½ C. evaporated milk

Combine rhubarb and 1/2 C. sugar, and let stand. Cream margarine and 1 C. sugar. Add egg and 1 tsp. vanilla to margarine-sugar mixture. Add alternately to that: flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk. Blend in rhubarb-sugar mixture. Put into greased 9x13-inch pan and top evenly with brown sugar and nuts.

Bake 45 to 50 minutes at 350 degrees. While the cake is baking, combine: ¼ C. margarine, ½ C. sugar and evaporated milk. Boil exactly 3½ minutes. Remove from stove and add ½ tsp. vanilla and mix well. When cake is baked, spoon the margarine-sugar-milk mixture over the hot cake.