Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler Cake

Tart rhubarb and sweet strawberries come together in an addictive dessert that’s a cross between a cobbler and a cake. There’s a crunchy buttery cookie-like “cake” underneath, with a sweet-tart filling that I just can’t get enough of! Served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, it’s a little piece of heaven.

I published my first “cobbler cake” years ago and I called it simply a strawberry cobbler. That “cobbler” was nothing like any cobbler I’d ever experienced before. Most cobblers have a fruity bottom with some biscuit-type “crust” on top. This one had the “crust” on the bottom, with the fruit plopped on top. The other “odd” thing about that recipe is it had a buttery, cookie-like crust, something like a cross between a cookie and a cake, not the more biscuit textured toppings that you normally think of with cobblers.

I immediately fell in love with this new style of cobbler.

I have since begun to name these things “cobbler cakes”, to distinguish them from the traditional cobbler. The lovely thing about cobbler cakes is even though the fruit is placed on top, the “crust” rises as it bakes, enveloping the fruit. It all comes together so nicely in sort of a symphony of a summer dessert. I highly recommend a scoop of ice cream over a warm wedge of cobbler cake. That cool, creamy goodness melts into the warm cobbler and makes a lovely contrast of temperature and texture on your tongue.

You want your fruit nice and juicy and sweet before you add it, which is why you toss it in a bowl with some sugar. Berries and most other fruits will naturally start to “sweat” and product berry juice. Since rhubarb is technically a vegetable (related to celery!), it doesn’t really create the same amount of juicy goodness you want for a cobbler cake. Pairing tart rhubarb with some sugar and strawberries takes care of THAT problem. Not only do the strawberries add a little sweetness and counterpoint to the tart rhubarb, they happily juice up quite nicely, thank you.

You can make cobbler cake with just about any fruit that will juice up nicely when a little sugar is added, and technically you can make it with just rhubarb, but it’ll be a little drier. Right now, I’m perfectly smitten with the strawberry rhubarb pairing and can’t seem to get enough. I’m going to need to let go, though, and move on to other things because the heat of the summer is here now, and that’s not rhubarb’s happy time. Rhubarb likes spring and early summer, when the heat isn’t so intense. This is the last of my rhubarb for the year. It’s time to let the plant rejuvenate itself and prepare for next year.

While yes, you can technically use frozen fruit for this recipe, you’ll get better results if you make it fresh, when strawberries and rhubarb are in their prime.

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