There is nothing like starting your morning (or ending your day!) with a big slice of delicious, Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake. With a layer of bright, sweet tart fruit filling baked into a rich, moist cake made with sour cream and finished off with a thick, heavenly layer of buttery brown sugar cinnamon crumb on top, this easy cake is just as happy on the brunch menu as it is on the dessert table.
If you love rhubarb season like we do, be sure to also check out our guide on How to Freeze Rhubarb so you can enjoy it all year long! And be sure to try our Rhubarb Crisp or Layered Rhubarb Pudding Dessert next!
Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake
Since today is National Coffee Cake Day and I haven’t yet shared a coffee cake recipe on this blog, I decided to bake a delicious strawberry rhubarb coffee cake to celebrate!
It may be a slim excuse, but really, no excuse is needed for something as easy and delicious as coffee cake!
Although if you are looking for one, you’ve also got Mother’s Day, wedding and baby showers, graduations, and a host of other Springtime occurrences that can serve as reason enough to whip up a batch of this warm and satisfying cake.
I have a deep and abiding love for strawberry rhubarb desserts. I have already shared some of my favorite strawberry rhubarb recipes with this strawberry rhubarb pie that is easily one of my top five favorite pies of all time, and these strawberry rhubarb crumb bars that are incredibly tasty as well.
So it just made sense to me to use a strawberry rhubarb combination as a filling for a springtime coffee cake.
Especially since the warmth of the cinnamon and brown sugar topping balances out the tart and tangy strawberry rhubarb layer in between the temptingly tasty cake.
If you think of yourself as a cinnamon crumb coffee cake purist, I have a pretty strong suspicion that this fruity variation could change your mind.
How to Make Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake:
- Prepare the strawberry rhubarb filling. This isn’t a complicated process. Just dump chopped rhubarb and strawberries in a pan with sugar, cornstarch, and a little water over medium heat and five minutes later your kitchen will smell divine and you will have a yummy jam-like filling ready to create a vibrant pink layer in this coffee cake.
- Mix together the brown sugar cinnamon crumb topping. Go ahead a use a pastry cutter, mixer, forks, or just your hands to blend the butter into plenty of brown sugar and cinnamon with a little flour, then squeeze handfuls to create clumps of streusel topping to sprinkle over the cake before baking.
- Cream the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs and vanilla. I find that starting with cold butter and adding the sugar slowly gives a really wonderful texture to the coffee cake. Same goes with adding the eggs, one at a time.
- Mix in the flour and sour cream, alternating between each addition. This is another tried and true technique with many cakes, to add wet and dry ingredients alternately. Just take care not to over mix the batter.
- Layer the coffee cake components in a large baking dish. You definitely need a 9×13-inch baking dish for this coffee cake so it has room to rise.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes at 350°F. The crumb topping will be a deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean, but take care not to overbake. Mine was done right around 55 minutes.
- Let your strawberry rhubarb coffee cake cool for at least 30 minutes. The layer of fruit filling takes longer to cool down and set up than other cakes so if you slice right into this, you will end up with strawberry rhubarb jam oozing out. If you want to show off that pretty pink ribbon of fruity filling in your slice, let the cake cool a bit before digging in.
Pro tip: a still warm slice of strawberry rhubarb coffee cake and a scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream are a match made in heaven.
More Summer Dessert Recipes
- Authentic French Fruit Tart
- Fresh Strawberry Pie
- Fresh Peach Cobbler
- Easy Blackberry Turnovers
- Easy Blueberry Custard Pie
- Raspberry Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Strawberry Shortcake
- Old-Fashioned Fresh Peach Ice Cream
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Strawberry Rhubarb Filling
- 3 cups rhubarb sliced into 1/4-inch discs
- 2 cups strawberries diced
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 2 Tablespoons cold water
Crumb Topping
- 1 1/3 cups brown sugar
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 Tablespoons cold butter cut into pieces
Batter
- 3/4 cup cold butter cut into pieces
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups sour cream
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×13-inch baking dish with parchment paper, then butter the paper and set aside.
Strawberry Rhubarb Filling
- In a medium-size saucepan over medium heat, combine the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, cornstarch, and water. Stir frequently until the cornstarch begins to thicken but the rhubarb is still fairly firm, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.3 cups rhubarb, 2 cups strawberries, ½ cup sugar, ⅓ cup cornstarch, 2 Tablespoons cold water
Crumb Topping
- In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the sugar and flour mixture until it resembles coarse sand. Use your hands to squeeze handfuls of topping together, creating some larger clumps, then set aside.1 ⅓ cups brown sugar, ¼ cup all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 4 Tablespoons cold butter
Cake Batter
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cold butter until smooth and creamy. Slowly add the sugar while continuing to beat at medium speed, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl and beating well between each addition. Mix in the vanilla.¾ cup cold butter, 1 ½ cups sugar, 4 large eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour, then add the flour mixture to the batter 1 cup at a time, alternating with ½ of the sour cream between each addition and mixing on low speed just until everything is combined. Be careful not to over mix.1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, 3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 ½ cups sour cream
- Spread half of the cake batter into the bottom of the prepared pan, using a spatula to make an even layer right to the edges of the pan. Top with the strawberry rhubarb filling, gently spreading that to the edges as well. Dollop the remaining cake batter over top of the fruit filling, using a knife or spatula to gently spread it to the edges as well.
- Evenly sprinkle the crumb topping over the cake batter, squeezing handfuls of topping again to make sure there are at least some larger chunks of topping.
- Transfer the coffee cake to the oven and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool completely.
As you know, I was going to make a rhubarb strawberry coffee cake too but then life got in the way. This recipe sounds better than that which I was going to use so it all worked out in the end and this is going on my to make list.
That rhubarb can be tricky to find this early in the season! I called around and got lucky to find some at a local store, so I bought a bunch and chopped the rest to freeze for when it’s out of season again!
I love strawberry and rhubarb together, and that topping is calling to me! Looking forward to the farms opening up with rhubarb in a month or so!
One of my favorite spring combos! Glad you found some rhubarb to make this cake!
I really need to seize the moment when rhubarb is in season here. This sounds delicious, and that topping!!! Gorgeous!
This is gorgeous and sounds incredibly yummy. I love rhubarb and strawberry together but never had it in a coffee cake and that probably needs to change. YUM!
Nothing says spring like strawberries and rhubarb and this sounds amazing!
Such a classic flavor combination in a delicious coffee cake package. That cinnamon topping looks divine!
Mmmm….this strawberry rhubarb coffee cake was so delicious! I’m so happy I stumbled upon this fabulous recipe. I’ll be making it again for Mother’s Day. Thanks so much for sharing it!
I have yet to try rhubarb…but you make it look so good in this coffee cake recipe 🙂
Loving these spring ingredients right now! This coffee cake look absolutely amazing! I would love a piece!
Rhubarb cake is my favourite rhubarb recipe ever and famous among my friends. Believe it, this is a fabulous cake! Once you eat it, you will ask for more.
Can this be frozen and still taste yummy?
I haven’t tried it, but probably? I really prefer coffee cake when it’s still warm though, tbh.
Can you use frozen rhubarb
Yes, you can!
I just made this recipe, it came out really great and tastes amazing! Thank you for sharing 🙂
I was looking for strawberry rhubarb coffee cake recipe and this one did not disappoint! The topping was to die for!
Can another red berry be substituted for the rhubarb?
That’s a good question – I think raspberries, blackberries, or even cherries would work well with strawberries!
I have made this cake twice and each time it turned out incredible! It’s so moist and just enough strawberry and rhubarb filling to make it delicious! I will be making this cake again when either my rhubarb stash in the freezer is gone or until spring when I can get it from my garden!
Found my last recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb coffee cake! This recipe is PERFECT!
Thank you Laurie!
Delicious! Took 30 min prep, but worth it! Everyone loved it so will make agin for sure!
I made this for Father’s Day and it was a huge hit all around the table! Paired it with an egg bake, hashbrownss, bacon and fresh fruit. Honestly one of the best brunches I’ve made—and the coffee cake was the star of the show! So moist, and that strawberry/rhubarb was shining! Note: my oven took 65-70 minutes— just kept checking, starting at 45. Five stars!
Sounds so good Jill! I have a weakness for strawberry rhubarb so this breakfast spread sounds divine!
This was excellent. I made a half recipe and it baked in 9″ square pan for 25 minutes. Great fluffy cake with a wonderful center and perfect crumb. Will make again!
Great Erica! Thanks for sharing!
Best coffee cake I’ve ever had!! Best streusel topping I’ve ever made (I did add an extra teaspoon of cinnamon)!! Excellent recipe! Thank you!!!!
Yay! I am so happy you liked it! Thanks Teri!
I made a strawberry-rhubarb pie, and had 2 cups of cut-up fruit leftover. I did the arithmetic (0.6-0.7 x each ingredient measure), and put it all in a glass pan smaller than the 9×13. (Tip: converting the butter and flour measures to grams first made the multiplication way easier.) It was great! So moist and light. It looked heavy, but wasn’t at all! I was also afraid it’d be too sweet with the topping, but again – not at all! A definite keeper. Thank you!
Way to use your math skills! I am glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Do you think this would work with 5 cups of frozen cherries?
Hmmm maybe? I would be a little worried that with the frozen cherries it would add too much moisture. I would probably thaw them and chop them up into smaller pieces and then make the cherry filling by cooking them in a saucepan. It should probably work. I also have a homemade cherry pie filling that you could make with the cherries to use as the fruit filling in the coffee cake. https://houseofnasheats.com/homemade-cherry-pie-filling/
If you try it let me know how it goes!
I made the cake with cherries instead of strawberries and rhubarb. The cake with the topping was fine, but I didn’t care for the taste of the cherries in it as much as the strawberries and rhubarb, so I’ll stick with them for this recipe (which I loved!) Mr. Spouse had bought 5 pounds of cherries when they were on sale for $1 pound, so it was good to use some up, and make some room in the freezer. The cherry pie I made was great, but I guess I’m not a cherry cake person.
I completely understand with not loving the cherry flavor in this one. Thanks for letting me know your results with using the cherries! Sounds like you have a lot of cherries to get through! I have some delicious cherry recipes to try if you need to use them up including cherry pie bars https://houseofnasheats.com/cherry-pie-bars/ and cherry crisp https://houseofnasheats.com/cherry-crisp/