Yay! Our old house closed Friday afternoon and somehow, things just felt settled. No more stressing that we “needed” to be at the old house doing work. We spent this past weekend working on the new house! A double yay for that. BTW, tidbit on the sale of our home? We never had it officially for sale! Our plan had been to find a new home, move and then spend a month or so on the old home, getting it ready (finishing all the trim work and painting and so on, that we hadn’t gotten finished). And then having it up for sale come June. When we went to contract on the new home, Kirk listed the house on Zillow as a “Make Me Move” just to see if anything happened. Well…it did! We had multiple emails within the first day, and had a serious buyer – with an offer that day! We were under contract within days. It was stressful, having to move and get it all done (and Kirk had business trips as well!), but we got it all done. And maybe only had a few hissy fits at each other 😉 Having said that, I really hope to not move for a veeerrrrryyy long time again. I am glad that we didn’t have to deal with open houses, staging and all the other stuff! It worked out in the end and now I am free to spend my time all on this house 😉
I found a couple of new rhubarb plants for our yard, and got them in. Since it will be next year before I get a good harvest, I went out to my favorite farmeress and picked up a bundle of freshly cut rhubarb on Friday (after signing the house paperwork of course!). The thought of tart rhubarb and fresh June-Bearer strawberries combined had me working hard on the kitchen – so I could bake!
This cake is everything a cake should be: Crispy edges with a soft topping. Fancy, yet unpretentious. And oh, the leftovers? They get better once you refrigerate the cake overnight. The topping sinks in a bit and the cake gets even moister.
Rhubarb & Strawberry Upside Down Cake
Ingredients:
- 1½ cups thinly sliced rhubarb
- ¾ cup orange juice, divided
- 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 2½ cups sliced strawberries
- 3 Tbsp ground flaxseed + 9 Tbsp water
- 2/3 cup sunflower oil
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°, oil a nonstick 8″ cake pan (I used my favorite, a Wilton Perfect Results 8-Inch Square Cake Pan
Mix rhubarb, ¼ cup of the orange juice and granulated sugar in a bowl, stir gently and let rest for 20 minutes. Fold in strawberries, then spread in bottom of cake pan.
Whisk remaining orange juice, flax-seed, water, oil, brown sugar and vanilla together in a large mixing bowl. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together, add to wet, mix until just combined. Spread over fruit in pan.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until golden brown on top and a toothpick comes out clean from center.
Let cool for an hour, loosen edges of cake, place a serving plate over cake, flip over. Let rest for another hour before serving.