Jun 19, 2011
This review is for all you high altitude bakers out there. I live at 7500 feet. Not extremely high but not sea level either, so many of these cakes don't turn out the same for me as they do for people even 2000 feet lower.
The recipe, as written, didn't work that well for me. Although it was tasty and moist, it was dense and somewhat tough/chewy. Not what I thought a cake should be like. Usually I just give up at that point, eat my failure and mark a par for the high altitude course. BUT...this recipe has received 5 stars from a LOT of people. So, I just had to try it again with high altitude adjustments.
Below are the adjustments I made, for what turned out to be a completely different cake - moist, yet light and cakey, with a crunchy/crumbly top. I am so excited by the result I just had to share.
For the batter:
- moved the butter from the topping, down into the batter
- reduced sugar in batter to 1c.
- reduced the baking soda to 1/2 tsp
- added 1 tsp baking powder
- added 3T flour
- added an egg
I started out creaming the butter and sugar. Added eggs and sour cream. Slowly stirred in the dry ingredients, not stirring too much. Then folded in the rhubarb.
The topping:
2/3c brown sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
Temp/time:
- temp up to 375 deg
- 30 min until golden brown
It wouldn't be fair to give the recipe less stars b/c of my altitude. I gave it, 5 stars because my end result is what I think the author intended - and it's darn tasty!
—medicinehorse
