Enjoy the rhubarb moment with this light, fluffy post-run cake

I honestly can’t get enough of this rhubarb season. When the two houses I frequent the most have a garden filled with it, I have to get creative with my recipes to avoid forcing everyone around me to eat muffins and crumble every day. (Not like that would be a bad thing though…) Unfortunately, most of my rhubarb recipes are desserts. There are different glazes and jams that it’s good for too, but I always default to baking. However, as a runner and even when the furnace is hot and can burn anything, you don’t want to be fueling with high-sugar treats. I’ve found through adding healthy twists to my favourite recipes, that you can easily half the amount of sugar in a recipe and it won’t affect the texture.

RELATED: Fresh, homemade rhubarb muffins

I usually find a number of recipes online either through Google or Pinterest. Then, from the ingredients listed, I make my decision based on what recipe I have the most ingredients for. I often don’t have everything, so I alter it to work with what I have. That’s exactly what I did for this cake. There were a lot of things I didn’t have, so with the substitutions, the recipe doesn’t really resemble the original…

Rhubarb citrus bundt cake

INGREDIENTS
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 orange, zested
3 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour, divided
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp Kosher salt
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 ¼ cups rhubarb, diced in 1/2-inch pieces

Lemon Glaze:
1 cup icing sugar
4 tbsp pulp-free orange juice
1 tsp lime juice
1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a bundt cake pan. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large mixing bowl, beat together butter, sugar and orange zest until light and fluffy, about three to five minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula, then add the eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Mix in the vanilla.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together 2 ½ cups of flour, baking powder and salt. Alternating between the flour and buttermilk, add into the egg mixture on low speed until fully incorporated.
4. In a medium bowl, toss the rhubarb with the remaining two tablespoons of flour until the rhubarb is well coated. 5. Gently fold rhubarb into the batter until it’s evenly distributed.
6. Spoon the cake batter into the prepared pan, and gently spread to level it out.
7. Bake for about 60-70 minutes, or until the cake springs back gently when touched and a toothpick inserted into it comes out clean.
8. Allow cake to sit and cool in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, make the glaze by whisking together all the glaze ingredients until smooth. Thin with extra lime juice or thicken with more powdered sugar as you see fit.
10. When the cake is cooled, tip it out onto a serving plate and generously drizzle cake with the lemon glaze.
Slice and enjoy.