Recipe for a super fluffy vegan Rhubarb Crumble Cake - all dairy-free and egg-free. One-bowl vanilla batter + soft rhubarb + golden crumble on top = YUM!
May I present the fluffiest vegan Rhubarb Crumble Cake ever! This cake has everything you want: a super simple one-bowl vanilla base, soft rhubarb pieces in the middle and perfectly golden homemade streusel on top. The sweet vanilla base and streusel will balance out the rhubarb's tartness. This is the ultimate spring goodness cake.
Cut the rhubarb in small pieces and sprinkle them with sugar. Let them sit for about 20 minutes. In this time, the rhubarb will get softer and lose some of its water. Drain the rhubarb before pouring it onto the cake batter.
Here's everything we need: Rhubarb on the left, the one-bowl vanilla batter on top and homemade streusel in the middle. These simple streusel will make the perfect topping for our crumble cake and they are so easy to make!
The baking dish I used is 10x8 inches. The cake is big enough for 6 portions.
Vegan Rhubarb Crumble Cake
Ingredients
Ingredients for the vanilla batter
- 1 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil , liquid
- ½ teaspoon coconut vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup lukewarm water
Ingredients for the streusel
- ¼ cup cold vegan butter (EarthBalance, Alsan,...)
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup white sugar
Ingredients for the rhubarb pieces
- 3 stalks rhubarb
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
Instructions
- For the RHUBARB: Wash, peel and cut the rhubarb stalks in pieces. Put them in a bowl, and sprinkle them with 1 teaspoon of white sugar or your preferred granulated sweetener. Let them sit for about 20 minutes.
- For the simple one-bowl VANILLA BATTER: Preheat the oven to 360°F/180°C. Place all the dry ingredients for the cake base in a mixing bowl and combine, add the wet ingredients and whisk until it's a smooth batter.
- For the STREUSEL: Put the cold butter, all-purpose flour and sugar in a bowl, mix and knead with your hands until crumbly.
- ASSEMBLE and BAKE: Oil the baking pan lightly and pour in the cake batter. Drain the rhubarb and spread the pieces evenly onto the cake better. Sprinkle the crumble on top. Bake it in the oven for about about 25 minutes. When the crumble is nice and golden, your cake is ready.
Notes
Nutrition
If you give this vegan Rhubarb Crumble Pie a try I'd love to hear how it turned out for you! Leave a comment or post a picture on instagram, use the hashtag #elephantasticvegan and tag me via @elephantasticvegan to make sure I'll see it ^.^ I love to see all your lovely creations! Thanks! <3
Rebecca Strength and Sunshine says
This is the most stunning rhubarb crumble I've seen! It's so elegant, clean, and WHITE! Haha!
It looks like a sweet, buttery, lovely cloud just ready to be broken into with a fork!
Delicious my friend! Bravo!
Bianca says
Aww, thank you Rebecca! I love your description, it's so accurate! It's definitely the best, fluffiest rhubarb cake I've ever had, and the streusel on top were the perfect addition :)
Kyra | Vie De La Vegan says
This rhubarb crumble cake sounds sooo good Bianca! I was just looking at some rhubarb when I went grocery shopping yesterday but didn't have anything in mind to make with it, so I left it there. I'm really wishing I grabbed some now so I could be making this right now! <3
Bianca says
Thank you, Kyra! Hahaa, I always buy neat seasonal ingredients, even if I have no idea what I want to make with it. I can't be bothered with thinking about recipe ideas when grocery shopping, I need the pressure of having it at home and actually making something with it. I love how the rhubarb crumble cake turned out, so buttery and soft.
Natalie | Feasting on Fruit says
This fluffy dream of a dessert has been popping into my head constantly ever since I saw it in your newsletter last night :o I'm not even sure what makes it so dang light, must be the vinegar baking soda combo, but wow does it ever look magical. Almost giving me angel food cake flashbacks here with the light white cake and browned top! And did I mention I love streusel? Well I do. Deeply. This is beautiful <3
Bianca says
Thank you, Natalie! Yes, the vinegar baking soda combo is my go-to-leaving agent in baked goods :) Especially the coconut vinegar is so mild and soft and undetectable. It's my favorite vinegar. I love streusel too, I'll be adding them to more sweets & treats in the future. This was the first time I made streusel myself, I can't believe I waited that long, they are so easy. :O
Aimee / Wallflower Girl's Kitchen says
Every time I've seen this pop up on my social media feeds, it's made my mouth water instantly! The texture looks so spot on. I love rhubarb season <3
Bianca says
Thank you Aimee! This rhubarb crumble cake is the best I've ever made with rhubarb. It's so heavenly soft and perfectly balanced with the rhubarb's tartness. It made me fall in love with rhubarb and spring in general :D
Becky Striepe says
This looks so good!
Bianca says
Thank you Becky! I'm glad you like it :)
liz farron says
Hallo before I try this I have to ask what is coconut vinegar? I don't know if I will find that here in switzerland .....can it be replaced with white vinegar?
Bianca says
Hi Liz, you can use white vinegar as a substitute :) I just like to use coconut vinegar because it's a super mild, but you shouldn't be able to notice the white vinegar in the cake. I got my coconut vinegar in an Asian store, in case you want to look for it :)
liz farron says
Thank you....I will look it il up in Asian shop then....have a wonderful week
Kat says
That cake was just amazing. :) I had the chance to try it and I've been to Veg-Heaven.
I'm totally going to try some recipes at home. New ingredients are always a challenge but a fun one.
It was so nice to meet you. Thank you!
Greets, Kat
(sevenandstories.net)
Bianca says
It's so nice to hear from you, Kat! Thank you so much for leaving a comment!
I'm so glad everyone loved the cake (at least no one told me otherwise :D ).
It was such a fun day, I had a great time talking about a topic I'm really passionate about.
I hope you'll give your vegan week a try soon :) Let me know if you need any info on substituting anything. I'm always happy to help.
All the best, Bianca
Christina says
just stumbled upon your recipe and I will definitely give it a try and let you know if mine looks as delicious as yours!! :D
Bianca says
I hope you like it! :)
Emma says
Thank you for sharing this recipe, everything is great apart from one thing. I've never used xylitol before, and didn't know anything about it, until I'd used it for this recipe. It causes a laxative effect in many people! Which I didn't know till I'd eaten it! I thought it might be worth giving people a warning maybe? I have digestive issues and this made me ill for a day. I've since made it again just using sugar and it was great.
Bianca says
Hi Emma, thank you for letting me know! You're right, some people seem to have digestive issues with xylitol - especially when introducing the new sugar into their diet. I guess I was lucky enough to start with small amounts. However, I've changed it to white sugar in the recipe.
Helen says
Hi Bianca, thank you so much for posting this wonderful recipe. Just checking, there is no vanilla added to the vanilla batter, is that right?
Bianca says
haha, I can't believe I've never noticed that! I've just updated the recipe and added 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the batter. Thank you for being so attentive <3 I hope you like the cake if you give it a try :)
Helen says
Thank you Bianca, this recipe sounds amazing and I look forward to trying it soon!
Julie says
Bianca,
Thank you for the delicious cake recipe. My family and I really enjoyed it! I only made one substitution (which is really good for me:)), I didn't have coconut vinegar so I used apple cider vinegar. I also made a rhubarb sauce (cooked down rhubarb and sugar to taste) as a side to the cake. We loved the combo!
Bianca says
I'm so glad to hear that you and your family enjoyed the cake, Julie. The rhubarb sauce sounds like a great addition! :)
Autumn says
Recipe looks awesome! Unfortunately, I've cut all of my rhubarb down for the year and it's waiting to be used in the freezer. About how many cups of rhubarb do you think you used?
Bianca says
Thank you! I'd say you should be fine with 3 cups of rhubarb - that's what I used. :)
Jackie says
Have you (or anyone) tried a GF variation?
Adela says
I made it in a smaller baking pan therefore baked it longer because the top wasn't browning so the cake batter was slightly overcooked, but it was still delicious. I wish i could post a pic here because it looked great too!
Bianca says
I'm glad you liked it, Adela! :)