Grapefruit Olive Oil Pound Cake

Finally.  This place cools down!  While all of my Colorado friends have been talking snow, I’ve been stuck here in Florida, a place that will never get snow.  Well, real snow anyway.  But, it did dip below 30 last night, so I’m happy to pull out boots and coats!

If there is anything the military soon teaches you, it’s that you best learn to find what you like about where you live, because you certainly don’t get to choose it.  A lot of people are envious of our new Florida location, but our family is a mountain family, one that giddily awaits the first snow.  We are not water and sand people.  There is water and sand here.  A lot of water and sand.  But, we are learning to like it, albeit knowing it will never top mountains and snow. 

So, in learning to like the new area, our new house has a citrus tree.  I was so excited to have oranges!  Well, come to find out, it isn’t an orange tree; it’s a grapefruit tree.  My first reaction was, “Gross!  A grapefruit tree!  Who likes those?”  I spoke from my only experience of buying grapefruits at the grocery store, bringing them home and wondering why I would buy an awful fruit just to top with sugar.  What not just eat the sugar? 

But, with cooler temps predicted, I decided to take a grapefruit from the tree and test it out to see if they have ripened enough.  Much to my surprise, they were tasty!  Really tasty!  The Boy ate an entire one by himself, and I didn’t ever get out the sugar. 

As we were eating our grapefruit, a picture from the back of my memory came to the forefront… I remembered that the SmittenKitchen Cookbook (you will not find a bad recipe in this book!) had a grapefruit cake!  I checked, and yes, it did!  I set off to make it, because I had the perfect excuse that our neighbor’s little girl just had a birthday, which meant I could try the recipe and share the wonders. 

Grapefruit Olive Oil Pound Cake 
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen Cookbook 

Cake

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (I used King Arthur Cake Flour)
• 2 TBSP freshly grated grapefruit zest (1-2 large grapefruits)
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup raw sugar (you can use granulated sugar if you do not have raw- I used all granulated)
• ½ cup olive oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp table salt
• 2 TBSP grapefruit juice
• 1/3 cup buttermilk or yogurt (I used yogurt)

Syrup

• 2 TBSP granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup grapefruit juice

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 TBSP grapefruit juice
• pinch of table salt 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9x5 loaf pan.

In a large bowl, rub grapefruit zest into the sugars with your fingertips.  This helps to release the grapefruit essence.  Whisk in the oil until smooth.  Add the eggs one at a time, and whisk until combined.  Scrape down the bowl.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and slat in a second bowl.  In a liquid measuring cup, combine grapefruit juice and buttermilk.  Add the flour and the buttermilk mixtures, alternating between them, to the oil and sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour.

Spread the batter in a pan, smooth the top, and rap the pan on the counter to remove air bubbles.  Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. 

Make grapefruit syrup.  Combine sugar with the juice in a small saucepan, and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves.  When the cake is finished, let it cool for 10 minutes in the pan before inverting it onto a rack or plate.  Poke holes in cake with a skewer or toothpick, then spoon the syrup over the cake.  Let the cake cool completely while it absorbs the syrup.

Make glaze.  Combine the powdered sugar, juice and salt in a bowl, whisking until smooth.  Pour the glaze over the top of the cooled cake and allow it to drizzle decoratively down the sides. 

The Boy and I ate a slice together, declared it delicious, and I wouldn’t change a thing.  Fresh grapefruit zest and juice is key, I bet.  The Boy drank half a cup of leftover grapefruit juice and wanted more. 

After a successful cake-baking day and when all was quiet in the house, it was back to manual labor... I am painting the bathrooms in our home here.  The previous renters decided to paint the bathrooms shiny dark blue and extreme dark brown.  I think they laughed gleefully when they imagined the next people having to paint over it.  I think maybe they had it out for me, which is kind of rude considering they don’t even know me. 

So, as I prime the bathrooms with their millionth coat, because that awful color just won’t go away, I remember that this place will only be as good as our attitudes towards it.  With each coat of primer, we are making it our home and learning to like it more and more each day.  Maybe I’ll leave it bright white to look like snow? 

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.  Proverbs 17:22

Time to fly,

Liz