Bourbon Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

Yup, you heard that right! Rhubarb upside down cake. Don’t worry I did a double take too. This cake is part of my Tuesdays with Dorie group and is not your average pineapple upside down cake. Orginally it was baked as smaller cakes but the end of the recipe has a suggestion to bake in a 12″ cake pan. I couldnt even begin to think how epic 12 inches of upside down goodness would be. I knew I had to try it out.

Beautiful isn’t she? While I have heard of, and occasionally tasted rhubarb in a pie of some sort, I have never actually boughten or handled rhubarb. On my way through the produce department I located the rhubarb bin immediately by the bright beautiful red hue and placed it in my cart. I didn’t know it was so leafy! I just happened to glance at the actual label as I was checking out… SWISS CHARD!… Whoops! I told the cashier they had the swiss chard in the rhubarb bin and the bagger graciously left in search of my rhubarb replacement. Literally 10 minutes later I heard them overhead page the produce manager…Five minutes after that there was a whole team walking toward me : the bagger, two produce clerks, the customer service agent, and the produce manager. The produce manager greeted me …” I knew it had to be you!” (I have a reputation.) Normally it takes a team to find what I am looking for, then we have to have education time. “What is it?”, a clerk will ask. “How do you use it..”, another one. ” What does it taste like”.. and so on and so forth until everyone involved in the search knows all about the product. I’m afraid I didn’t have too much to tell them this time, but we talked about the basics. Tart flavor…etc. Then one of the produce clerks said, ” Well I’m glad I know the difference now, I’ve been putting that red leafy stuff in there forever” Which thusly launched us head long into a discussion on swiss chard, again never actually used it but we covered the basics. LOL. “I knew it had to be you!” Jeez!

Anyways this cake is an absolute winner! I like it even more then the pineapple version. The caramel for the bottom is super easy and made with brown sugar. Oh, and it has bourbon. Yup!! After that you place the rhubarb down in an even layer. For the batter you just cream together butter and sugar. Then you beat in the eggs. For the liquid I subbed in sour cream and I mixed the vanilla in. I also mixed in a tablespoon of bourbon….shhhhhhh! Our secret :). The batter becomes pretty stiff, this is normal. Spread on top of the rhubarb in an equal layer and bake off. I like it best warm. Reheat your second slice in the microwave for a couple seconds. Completely worth it!

Erin of Pastry Brush is hosting this week so hop on over to her blog for the whole recipe!
Dream. Bake. Believe.
Love, Steffie