The best cake I ever made – InForum

WEST FARGO — Recently, my daughter and I were watching “The Great British Baking Show” and we were saying things like, “That’s a nice sponge cake,” and “That’s a good crumb.”

Watching this delicious show is both a fun family activity and research for my work project on my grandmother’s copy of “The Joy of Sharing,” a church cookbook published by the women of Oak Valley Lutheran Church in Velva, North Dakota.

Much like North Dakotans, the British love rhubarb. I’ve had some of the most delicious rhubarb treats in the UK. Rhubarb tarts served at an art gallery café in Edinburgh, Scotland, come to mind as I watch the many bakers on “The Great British Baking Show” draw inspiration from the tartness of the vegetable we use as fruit to cut through the richness of their custard or chocolate ganache.

Spring in North Dakota also heralds rhubarb season, which usually lasts through the end of June. As I pondered what to make next from “The Joy of Sharing,” all these elements converged. I followed the recommendation of its primary editor, Mardi Shock, whose own copy of the cookbook is marked “very good,” alongside Olga Odland’s “Rhubarb Cake.”

And it was very good.

In fact, it was the best cake I have ever made.

Karla Knutson / Contribution

The recipe for “rhubarb cake” had clear instructions, recognizable to anyone with some experience mixing dough. It also drew on the baker’s previous experience in baking.

Although the instructions don’t specify the mixing technique, I chose to use my electric mixer, creaming the sugar and shortening to create aeration, before adding an egg, then alternating between adding the sifted dry ingredients and the buttermilk, being careful not to overmix the batter.

Karla Knutson / Contribution

I then folded in the rhubarb by hand. Similarly, when I made the filling, I questioned the wording “mix remaining ingredients until crumbly” because the crumb preparation led me to expect wording like “mix until crumbly.”

So I sifted the flour, added the sugar, remaining butter, cinnamon, and half a cup of chopped walnuts to the bowl, mixed it all together with my hands until most of it stuck together, and sprinkled it all over the top of the batter in its cake pan.

Karla Knutson / Contribution

And wow, this cake batter was delicious, probably because it was mostly butter. (Instead of using shortening, I substituted butter.)

Butter is “the traditional fat for cakes,” writes Harold McGee in “On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen.”

McGee, a food science writer, explains that butter is preferred for its flavor, though it can yield a heavier texture than a cake made with shortening, which is filled with “preformed nitrogen bubbles and bubble-stabilizing emulsifiers” designed specifically to create a light texture.

Karla Knutson / Contribution

I slid the pan into my oven, setting the timer for the shortest time in the 40-45 minute range. After 40 minutes, my rhubarb cake was ready, having passed several doneness tests, like seeing if a toothpick comes out clean and whether the edges of the cake retracted from the sides of the pan.

Karla Knutson / Contribution

Yes, that’s a pretty grand statement. But it’s not an exaggeration. This is the best cake I’ve ever made.

Although my family always baked their own cookies, I grew up with boxed cake mixes, as did many Americans born in the 20th century. Cake mixes were a technological breakthrough that brought a pleasantly textured, quick-to-make cake into family kitchens, as James Beard explains in “American Cookery.”

In her new book, “The Cookie That Changed My Life,” Nancy Silverton also notes that baking “takes time. Give yourself that time and enjoy the process.”

So why wouldn’t most busy people take a shortcut, like a boxed mix?

This rhubarb cake is the reason why. Velvety and richly flavored with butter in both the dough and the filling, this cake was tender, light and airy — thanks to its “good crumb” (thanks, Prue and Paul).

Buttermilk also helps with texture.

Beard points out that “using acid, such as sour milk, buttermilk or citrus juice, helps break down gluten, which is why early baking pioneers, especially in the Midwest, preferred sour milk cakes.”

Making this cake didn’t take long either — I spent more time on it than I would have spent on a blender since I had to chop the rhubarb, but not much more.

The time I invested in it was definitely worth it. My husband and daughter both said it was the best cake I’ve ever made; my daughter also noted that she was surprised at how tasty it was, as she didn’t think she liked rhubarb.

Rhubarb is a fascinating ingredient, associated with spring, cold climates, and, most importantly, pies. As Beard notes, “As one of the first fresh garden produce of the season in cold climates, rhubarb was considered a tonic and was so prized for making pies that in many early cookbooks it was called ‘pie plant pie.'” Rhubarb’s distinctive flavor is its other defining characteristic; McGee describes its taste as “surprisingly tart,” which is why it’s often paired with strawberries and lots of sugar.

I am absolutely delighted with this recipe, not only because I have discovered a cake that I can make again and again, but also because I have been able to piece together many elements to help explain why Olga Odland’s recipe is so good and why it is a product of its place and time.

By Olga Odland, from “The Joy of Sharing: Oak Valley ALCW Centennial Cookbook,” published in 1985 by the women of the Oak Valley American Lutheran Church in Velva, North Dakota.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp soda
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups rhubarb, chopped
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• Nuts, if desired

Directions: Cream sugar and shortening. Add egg and beat well. Sift dry ingredients. Add milk alternately to creamed mixture. Add rhubarb and vanilla. Mix well. Pour into 9×13-inch pan. Stir remaining ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes.