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This gorgeous Rose Rhubarb Layer Cake is what you need to celebrate a special occasion! Vanilla sponge layer cake filled with rhubarb curd and covered with mascarpone frosting.
For a simple everyday cake, take a look at my Rhubarb Cake Sharlotka. 
I don’t bake grand layer cakes often but when I do my heart and soul go into them. I imagine myself in a top bakery where everything is possible. Where I can have my dream cake. Then I build my cake…in my mind.
You would think that after that process I’d be set but you would be wrong. Even on the baking day I change my mind again and then again and then again…I change it at least 500 times.
In this instance I changed what type of sponge I wanted, what type of icing I wanted and decorations but one thing remained constant. Rhubarb Curd. I knew from the start the cake would revolve around it. I knew I wanted to make a rhubarb layer cake.
Let me tell you no one was disappointed, most importantly I wasn’t disappointed. The cake we had for Easter was lighter than a cloud, vanilla bean flavoured sponge, layered with sweet and slightly tart rhubarb curd and encased in luscious rose water mascarpone cream.
As much as I love a good chocolate cake delicate vanilla and fruit cakes have a special place in my heart. This one is so light and springy!!
Don’t be intimidated by the lengthy recipe card and time spent in the kitchen. I tried to be as detailed as possible, which made it long! Also, this cake is WORTH IT!
Recipe Tips and Notes
- Prepare the rhubarb curd at least one day before baking the cake. It needs time to chill and set in a fridge. The curd is thickened with cornstarch. A firmer than usual consistency is necessary for the curd to stand up to the cake layers.
- Follow instructions for the cake sponge carefully. This particular sponge recipe is very delicate and very light, similar to Angel’s Food cake but it uses whole eggs instead of just egg whites. The height of the sponge is 100% reliant on the eggs and how well they are whipped. For detailed instructions, read this article and watch the video.
- Soak the sponge layers with the syrup to add more moisture and flavour during the assembling of the cake.
- Finally, mascarpone tends to separate if over-whipped. Both mascarpone and the heavy cream need to be straight out of a fridge. Use the instructions as written if using double cream. If using whipping cream, whip the cream first until soft peaks form, then fold it into slightly whipped mascarpone. This extra step prevents the icing from separating and especially relevant to the US and Canadian readers due to the dairy products variation.
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More layer cake recipes
Rose Rhubarb Layer Cake
Ingredients
For the Rhubarb Curd
- 400g(4 long stalks) rhubarb
- 3 eggs, large
- 170g/3/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed
- 3 tsp cornflour/corn starch
- 150g/3/4 cup caster sugar/ granulated sugar
- a drop of pink colouring, optional
For the Cake
- 5 eggs, room temperature, large
- 200g/1 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
- 140g/1 cup all purpose/plain flour
For the Syrup (for soaking the sponge layers)
- 4 tbsp elderflower liqueur
- 4 tbsp simple syrup, a solution of water and sugar in equal parts
- 2 drops rose water
For the Mascarpone Cream
- 500g/2 cups mascarpone, chilled from fridge
- 250ml/1 cup double/whipping cream
- 100g/1/2 cup icing sugar
- 2 tsp This is an affiliate link.vanilla
- 2-3 drops rose water , or less depending on the strength of rose water
For decoration
- lemon thyme sprigs
- organic pink flowers
- dried rose petals
Instructions
For the Rhubarb Curd
- *Prepare the rhubarb curd at least a day before assembling the cake. Wash and cut rhubarb stalks in 2″ sections, put them in the bowl of a food processor and process until then turn into a pulp. Push it through a fine sieve with a spoon to extract all the juice, then discard the pulp. You should get about 300 ml/ 1¼ cup of rhubarb juice.
- In a food processor or blender mix eggs, sugar and cornflour/corn starch until you have a homogenous mixture with no lumps remaining. Alternatively you can do this step by hand using a bowl and a whisk.
- In a saucepan combine 1 cup of rhubarb juice, egg, sugar and corn starch mixture and cubed butter, set the pan over low heat and star cooking it while stirring with a whisk the entire time until butter melts and the curd thickens. Do not turn the heat up to speed up the process or the eggs will turn into scrambled eggs and the curd go lumpy!
- Take off the heat when the curd is the consistency of thick sour cream. You may push it through a fine sieve again to ensure there are no lumps and the curd is silky smooth. Add the remaining rhubarb juice to increase the tart flavour of the rhubarb and a drop of pink food colouring if desired as the curd loses its colour when cooks!
- Chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight. The rhubarb curd will thicken when chilled.
For the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F/180C.
- Grease 3 8″ cake pans and line them with parchment paper. (Don’t be tempted to skip this stage, the sponge is very delicate, so it’s important to use parchment paper for easy removal.)
- Crack 5 eggs at room temperature to a bowl of a stand mixer and add sugar and vanilla been seeds, beat at high speed for 5 minutes until the mixture is pale and triples in volume.
- Fold in flour through a sifter in 3 additions blending it in gently after each addition. Your goal is to keep the volume of the egg mixture so be very careful in this step of the process.
- Divide your cake batter among 3 pans, I weigh mine to make sure they are exactly the same and bake for 25-30 minutes until cake tester or tooth pick comes out clean and the cakes have risen to the top of the pan. (I baked 2 layers and then 1 later).
- Cool for 10 minutes and then run a knife around the edges of your pans to release the cakes and flip them over on a wire rack to cool completely.
- (After your cakes have cooled you can individually wrap them in plastic wrap for later use. You can bake you sponge layers up to 2 days ahead.)
For the Syrup
- In a measuring cup mix together simple syrup, elderflower liqueur for beautiful floral notes and 2-3 drops of rose water, the amount of which largely depends on the strength of it. Each brand is different, so it's important to taste and smell to determine the desired amount. Add with caution as it can smell like a perfume instead of a dessert if too much rose water is used.
For the Mascarpone Cream
- In a bowl of a stand mixer whip well-chilled mascarpone for no longer than 30 seconds with a balloon attachment until light, add heavy/double cream, icing sugar, vanilla and rose water and whip for 1-2 minutes longer until it looks like thick whipped cream. If your mascarpone cream is too thick and hard to spread add a splash of heavy/double cream and whip for just a few seconds longer to loosen it.
Assemble the cake
- Load 1/3 of mascarpone cream in a large piping bag with a plain round tip.
- Pipe a border around the first drizzled with syrup layer, this will prevent rhubarb curd filling from spilling out, fill the space inside the border with rhubarb curd.
- Top with the next layer and repeat the actions. Place the third layer on top and cover the entire cake with a thin layer of mascarpone cream also known as crumb coating. Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. When the crumb coat is firm frost the cake with the rest of the mascarpone cream.
- Decorate the top with lemon thyme, small organic pink flowers and rose petals.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hello – a few questions! Could you freeze the layers for 4-5 days, then thaw and continue making from there? Also, how long can you leave the cake out at room temparture? Does it need to be refrigerated up until serving? Thanks!
Hi Jamie, yes you can can freeze the layers! I wouldn’t recommend leaving the cake out since the icing is dairy and will go off but you should take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving to allow the cake to come to room temperature, it will taste better.
Making the cake right now, can not figure out what is that dark pink colored layer on the two layers? Also about how long do you cook the curd? My tuned out too watery, cooked longer and now it’s half the size and a dark caramel color.
Hahaha, good eye, Irina! I was experimenting and tinted two layers pink but decided to do a swirl design rather than solid pink. I didn’t mention it in the recipe as it didn’t contribute to the taste and wasn’t really visible! 🙂
You shouldn’t cook the curd longer than 20 minutes on very low heat, it thickens when it’s chilled in the fridge.
Lovely cake! What is the name of the organic pink flowers?
Dried rose petals and blackcurrant bush blossoms from my garden, Sarah! They are really tiny and look great on a cake. 🙂
You are absolutely,unequivocally,amazing!Having pinned 10 million of your recipes,this one killed me!Love to subscribe by email.I subscribe to over 300 and am not certain if I have yours.Wordpress and Bloglovin love me!Am from Wisconsin where rhubarb was ever so plentiful.Never wasted a stalk.BUT,have never made curd nor a beautiful presentation such as yours.All I knew about curds,back then was in regards to cheese!????In Arizona and rhubarb is awful!If I find some,this cake I shall bake!
Oh wow, your comment has just made my day, Teri! Thank you for following. Rhubarb curd is absolutely gorgeous! I hope you try it for yourself. Best wishes, Julia
Thanks so much all my elements have turned out superb! And i am about to assemble but i do have another question im in Australia and a little confused with which cream to use for the mascarpone icing as you have mentioned in the recipe ingredients whipping cream but in your notes/method its says heavy /double cream?
Here in Australia we normally whip pure cream to create a fluffy cream but then we also have thickened cream whichnis slightly thicker then we have double cream which is very similar consistency as mascarpone cream ?
Whipping cream and double cream are pretty much used interchangeably in my recipe, Nastassja. We have both double cream and whipping cream in the UK but they when whipped they look the same. I hope this helps. Enjoy your cake!
Thankyou i ended up using the whipping cream. What a beautiful cake I made it for my mums 60th and was a huge success.
I also ended up substituting the elderflower liquor as it was so expensive. So what I did was bought some organic dried elderflower and added it to my syrup and cooked/infused then strained it and it gave it a wonderful flavour ????
It sounds wonderful, Nastassja! I am so happy to hear everyone enjoyed the cake. Happy birthday to your mum!
Hello im in the process of making this cake ???? iv made my curd and sponge cakes but have a few questions.
*Once my cakes cool and i wrap them is it best to store at room temperature or in the fridge? Ill be assembling them tomorrow afternoon.
*when assembling cake do apply syrup first on each layer of cake then create my boarder? Hiw much syrup per cake?
Thanks!!
You can store the cooled cakes at room temperature for the next day assembly. You will have to drizzle each layer with syrup, which is equally divided among three layers, then pipe the border around each layer before filling and stacking them.
Am I right in thinking u don’t actually cook the rhubarb first, you blend it raw?
Raw rhubarb gets blended in a food processor and then juice is extracted, which gets cooked into a curd with the rest of the ingredients.
Thanks… I’m assuming the flour is plain flour… Gonna try this today… Made the curd and it’s amazing 🙂
Yes, just plain four, Sinead! Yay for the curd! I am all out and really need to make another batch while rhubarb is still in season.
Hi all, how long did you cook the curd for on low heat before it thickened? Im doing it now, and I hope that it is going to thicken… about 7-8 minutes in and it still looks pretty watery…
Hi Sarah, I suppose this comment will come a bit late but the timing really depends on how high your heat is, the depth of your pan, how much you are stirring, etc. If the mixture has cornstarch, it’s bound to thicken. My guess is after 7-8 minutes you were not too far away from sweet success.
We made this wonderful cake last weekend – for a 65th birthday party. We were happily AMAZED at how wonderful it was. Everyone was hesitant to try with the name Rhubarb cake but after they tried one bite, nearly everyone ate their piece and asked for a second one!!! Total 1000% success!
Thank you for sharing your recipe and photo’s that inspired us. We also topped with edible flowers!
What a wonderful feedback, Sharon. Thank you for sharing with me, comments like yours is what inspires me to create more and blog about it.
It was amazing! Really, really amazing.
Oh awesome, Magda!! I think you the first one to report back after making it. This makes me so happy!