Learn how to make the best orange rhubarb cakes with this easy recipe. These orange cakes are made with a little cornmeal, creating a light, flavourful citrus cake that pairs well with fresh rhubarb.
Rhubarb pairs well with sweet ingredients like almonds (ground almonds, amaretto, and almond extract) and corn (such as polenta and cornmeal). The tart flavour of rhubarb also plays nicely with bright orange zest. By combining all these elements, I ultimately adapted a classic orange polenta cake recipe and topped it with rhubarb. If you don't have rhubarb, fresh blueberries or raspberries would make a fantastic replacement for these mini orange polenta cakes.
Unlike this glazed orange cake, which is made with ground almonds and is gluten-free, this orange rhubarb cake has both regular flour and cornmeal.
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What You Need To Bake Rhubarb Orange Cakes
- butter—I bake with unsalted butter and add the salt myself. If using salted butter, you may want to reduce the salt in the recipe
- sugar—I like to use a combination of granulated sugar (sweet, but tasteless) and honey (with a robust flavour). Use a strong honey like Greek honey or autumn honey
- eggs—use large eggs for this recipe
- flour—I bake with bleached all-purpose flour but unbleached should work fine
- cornmeal—use a fairly finei cornmeal, otherwise the cake crumb may be too crunchy
- leavening—since the cake batter contains sour cream (an acidic baking ingredient), you will need both baking soda and baking powder for this recipe. Read about baking soda versus baking powder if you are confused about the difference
- salt—I bake with Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount
- sour cream—I prefer to bake with full-fat sour cream, not low-fat or fat-free
- flavouring—both vanilla extract and orange zest are used to flavour this sweet cornmeal cake batter.
- rhubarb—use fresh rhubarb only for this recipe. Trim the stalks and remove the leaves, splitting the stalks into thinner pieces (see photo).
Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions And Variations
- Greek yogurt—replace the sour cream with the same amount of Greek yogurt (preferably with 9–10 % fat content). Don't use low-fat Greek yogurt, though it will work just fine, but could result in a dryer texture.
- Citrus—replace the orange zest with any citrus zest, like lemon or clementine or mandarine. I don't think grapefruit zest has enough flavour but it's worth a try.
- Glaze—if you want to glaze these, make the orange glaze from this orange almond cake recipe or this orange poppy seed cake. Brush it on top of the cakes
- Almonds—you could replace the cornmeal with ground almonds.
With most substitutions, you will have to retest the recipe to ensure it works. Tread carefully and take notes!
How To Make Mini Rhubarb Cakes
I love baking muffins and cakes with cornmeal. These orange cakes with cornmeal and rhubarb are moist and buttery, with a light texture and a pronounced orange flavour. The rhubarb is just right for these cakes. I really hope that you will try this recipe.
Step 1—Whisk the dry ingredients, including the leavening and salt, in a small bowl (image 1) while creaming the butter, sugar, honey, and orange zest in the stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment (image 2). Then, add the eggs and vanilla (image 3). Ensure that you mix everything thoroughly to incorporate a lot of air and lighten the mixture (image 4).
Step 2—Add a third of the dry ingredients (image 5) alternating with the sour cream (image 6), stirring between each addition. You will end up with a very thick batter (image 7).
Step 3—Portion out the orange batter with a medium scoop (image 8). Divide the batter evenly between the mini loaf pans (image 10) and smooth it out from edge to edge (image 10).
Note: The pan I used to bake this recipe is a Wilton mini loaf cake pan similar to this one on Amazon. If you don't have one, feel free to use muffin pans, but you will have to adapt the size of your rhubarb pieces accordingly, and the baking time will need to be adjusted. The recipe as is would probably make 10 rhubarb muffins.
Step 4—Garnish each cake with 2-3 small pieces of rhubarb (image 11) and bake the cakes until fluffy and golden brown on the edges (image 12).
Let the cakes set before unmoulding them with a mini offset spatula..
Tips For Baking With Cornmeal And Polenta
Cornmeal, also known as polenta, is made from dried corn that is ground. The grind can range from coarse to very fine. It's important to pick the right one when you are baking:
- Coarse cornmeal, also known as coarse polenta is slower to soften when it comes in contact with moisture, which you need to know if you want to bake with it because it will likely stay crunchy and inevitably add a lot of texture to cakes and cookies if you don't give it time to hydrate. Coarse cornmeal is also useful when making homemade bagels or pizza. The cornmeal prevents the dough from sticking to the pan.
- Fine cornmeal or fine polenta will soften faster when incorporated into cake batters and so that is what I used in these orange polenta cakes because I didn't want too much texture, but I still wanted that flavour
- Don't confuse either of these with corn flour, made from dried corn or masa harina, which has been treated with a basic (alkaline) solution in a process known as nixtamalization, which affects the texture and taste. In the UK, cornflour refers to cornstarch, which adds another layer of confusion.
You can add cornmeal to various recipes to enhance both flavour and texture, as seen in the recipe below. Fine cornmeal in these chilli cheese cornbread muffins adds sweetness to balance the spicy chilli peppers and adds texture too. Cornmeal adds crunch to fritters.
Other Rhubarb Baking Recipes
And if you need more things to bake with a bumper crop of rhubarb, check out my best rhubarb recipes, whether you like to bake it on its own in a rhubarb lattice pie or rhubarb crumble or mixed with other berries like raspberry in this raspberry rhubarb upside down cake or strawberries in this strawberry rhubarb muffins. You can even mix it with blueberries like in this blueberry rhubarb crisp with oat crumble topping.
If you tried this recipe for the best orange rhubarb cakes (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
📖 Recipe
Orange Rhubarb Cakes
Ingredients
- 94 grams bleached all-purpose flour
- 100 grams fine cornmeal
- 5 mL baking powder
- 1.25 mL baking soda
- 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
- 115 grams unsalted butter room temperature
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 2 large egg(s)
- 85 grams honey
- 5 mL pure vanilla extract
- 15 mL orange zest
- 60 mL sour cream (14% fat) or full-fat Greek yogurt or labneh
- 145 grams fresh rhubarb sliced into 27 thin logs of about 2–3"
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF (175 °C). Grease and flour a 9-cavity mini loaf pan (like this one from Wilton on Amazon).
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and the salt. Set aside
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter with the granulated sugar for 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
- Add the honey, the vanilla, and the zest, and beat it all in well.
- Add half the dry mixture to the mixer bowl and stir it in on low. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the labneh, mix again, then add the rest of the dry ingredients.
- Divide the mixture between the greased & floured cavities, smoothing each with a mini offset spatula (like my fave Ateco spatula on Amazon) or the back of a spoon. Top each with 3 strips of rhubarb.
- Bake until a skewer inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean and the edges of the cakes are golden. This takes about 20 minutes or so.
- Let the cakes cool at least 10 minutes before unmolding them carefully with the help of an offset spatula.
Notes
- Substitutions (With most substitutions, you will have to retest the recipe to ensure it works. Tread carefully and take notes!)
- Greek yogurt—replace the sour cream with the same amount of Greek yogurt (preferably with 9–10 % fat content). Don't use low-fat Greek yogurt, though it will work just fine, but could result in a dryer texture.
- Citrus—replace the orange zest with any citrus zest, like lemon or clementine or mandarine. I don't think grapefruit zest has enough flavour but it's worth a try.
- Almond—you could replace the cornmeal with ground almonds.
- Glaze—if you want to glaze these, make the orange glaze from this orange almond cake recipe or this orange poppy seed cake. Brush it on top of the cakes
- Make sure to take the time to prepare the cake pans properly by applying a thin layer of softened butter and dusting with flour
- This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
Nutrition
cc says
hi there! am i able to substitute a portion of the AP flour in my recipe for cornmeal? if so, what's the recommended amount to, in order to achieve sufficient cornmeal taste without affecting the texture too much? in addition, should i be substituting by grams? thanks!
Janice says
Hi Cheryl,
I'd replace 1/3 of the flour, by weight. You likely could even replace 1/2 of the weight, but I would first test replace a third and then go from there, just to be safe 😉