By Kevin Williams
I really am enjoying examining the recipes in the Buchanan County, Iowa Amish cookbook that I recently bought. Â The reason, again, is that you are getting authentic recipes passed down through generations of insular Amish. Â Many of the Amish cookbooks today are heavily influenced by pop culture and other outside influences. That isn't to say they aren't good, but as someone who studies Amish anthropology, Amish cookbooks from the early 80s and earlier interest me most because they really capture the culture.
Interesting how the price of the book goes up with increased attention, but I still am finding reasonably priced used copies on Amazon here and here.
Rhubarb season will be here before you know and this classic cake really reflects what I mean about all the scratch-made recipes in the book.
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 cups rhubarb
- 2 egg yolks (beaten)
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 /2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 egg whites (beaten)
- Melt butter in a deep pan or cake pan.
- Add rhubarb which has been cut into small pieces.
- Sprinkle brown sugar over rhubarb.
- Beat egg yolks, water, and sugar.
- Add sifted flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add vanilla and stiffly beaten egg whites.
- Pour over rhubarb and bake in moderate oven for 45 minutes.
- Serve with milk or cream.
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Julie Wermers
Hi busy Kevin ! In the ingredients for the Rhubarb Cake, it only lists Brown Sugar for the Upside-down part, and none for the batter. Maybe 2/3 or 3/4 or a cup of White Sugar ? Thank you for all your time . You do have a good website.
Kevin Williams
Thank you, Julie, for catching that. I'm going to have to go in and correct that, but you guessed correctly! The correct amount is 3/4 cup white sugar. Good luck with the recipe, it's a good one!