Spring means rhubarb to me. I’ve been lucky enough to get a fair share of rhubarb from my in-laws and parents over the years to bake with. But, this weekend, things changed!

I was able to take my first cutting off our rhubarb plant! We transplanted it two years ago and the past two years it’s been extremely sad looking and scraggly. I actually thought it had died after it got trampled during our garage re-siding project last summer. It looked dead, that’s for sure.

Then this year, it miraculously grew into beautiful stalks. I got a mere half pound off of it, so it still has a long ways to go, but it’s a great start!

This was originally meant to be a 9×13 pan of coffeecake, but all of my 9×13 pans have disappeared. I really need to keep better track of my bakeware. Thankfully, the muffin pan worked just as well 🙂

Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake
makes 1 9×13 cake or 24 individual cakes

for the filling:
1/2 pound fresh rhubarb, sliced (about 2 cups)
1 pound strawberries, hulled and sliced (about 3 cups)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1/4 cup cornstarch

for the cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

for the topping:
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin pan with muffin liners or spray with nonstick spray.
2. To make the filling: in a large saucepan, combine rhubarb, strawberries, and lemon juice. Bring to a simmer and let cook for 5 minutes. Stir in sugar and cornstach. Bring to a boil and let cook for 2 minutes or until thickened, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. To make the cake: whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a medium bow, stir beat buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla until wellc ombined. Pour into crumb mixture and stir until combined.
4. To make the crumb topping: melt butter in a small pan over medium heat. Stir in flour, sugar, brown sugar, and ginger until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
5. Fill prepared muffin cups half way with batter. Add a heaping tablespoon of filling on top and drop 1 tablespoon of batter on top of filling. Sprinkle with  crumb topping.
6. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes before moving a wire rack to cool completely.

recipe adapted from Taste of Home