Recipe: Grapefruit Cake with Grapefruit Buttercream

I made this delightfully fresh cake on Mother's Day this past Sunday and, although it was completely delicious and quite an original flavor, my finished product did not look anywhere near as nice as I wanted (which is why I dislike baking. Cooking is so much simpler). So I borrowed the above photo from The Pastry Affair, the blog where I found this recipe.If you've never checked this blog out, you should. Everything I've tried from it has been scrumptious. Plus the pictures on the blog are gorgeous.


Anyways, the cake itself couldn't have been easier to make. Took about half an hour to make. My problem came with the icing. Maybe the cake was still too warm or I didn't reduce the grapefruit juice enough or whatever, but it basically slid off the cake in a bit of a thick soup. Still tasted delicious, but it looked rather like the cake from The Cat in the Hat after the Cat drops it.  Oh well.

The cake has an almost pound cake like consistency, and I think it would be amazing with pretty much any type of icing. Or dipped in fondue. Mmmm fondue.

Here's the recipe:

Grapefruit Cake

Ingredients:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1 grapefruit
2 large eggs
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
2 cups cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease two 8-inch cake pans.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together sugar and grapefruit zest until fragrant. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in yogurt, oil, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of grapefruit juice. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. Evenly divide the the cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Using a pastry brush, brush remaining 1/3 cup of grapefruit juice on top of the cake layers, allowing the juice to sink into the cake. Allow the cake to cool to room temperature before icing.


Grapefruit Icing

Ingredients:
3/4 cups grapefruit juice
8 tbsp butter, room temperature
Zest of 1 grapefruit
4 cups powdered sugar
Heavy cream

Directions:
1. In a small saucepan, bring the grapefruit juice to a boil. Simmer until it is reduced to about 1/4 cup. Cool to room temperature.

2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and grapefruit zest until smooth. Mix in the thickened grapefruit juice. Gradually add powdered sugar until incorporated and smooth. Add the heavy cream one tablespoon at a time until the icing reaches the desired consistency.