Go Back
Grapefruit Pound Cake
Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Grapefruit Pound Cake

This grapefruit pound cake is based on a recipe from David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert. I've made his orange or passion fruit pound cake many times, but I like it even better with grapefruit. I also swap out the butter for a light olive oil. It is a wonderful rich flavor, but also creates a soft, moist crumb that lasts well for several days.
Author: Zoë François

Ingredients

Cake

  • 1 1/2 cups (210g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup (170g) olive oil I used a light flavored oil, not a super fruity one
  • 1 cup (200g) light brown sugar
  • Grated zest of 2 grapefruits preferably organic and washed well
  • 2 tbsp fresh grapefruit juice
  • 3 large eggs at room temperature (if they are cold, just put them in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract (homemade vanilla extract)

Glaze

  • 2/3 cup fresh grapefruit juice
  • 1/3 cup sugar

Instructions

Prepare the Cake

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9″ loaf pan with butter, line with parchment and grease the parchment with more butter.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and olive oil.
  • Add the zest, eggs, grapefruit juice and vanilla, mix until well incorporated. Fold the flour in just until there are no streaks of flour, but be careful not to over mix or the cake will be tough. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. The batter should come up no higher than 2/3 of the way up the pan.
  • Bake grapefruit pound cake for about 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Try not to over bake the cake. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes.

Glaze

  • While the cake cools, heat the juice and sugar for the glaze. David suggests just stirring them together, not letting the sugar dissolve. I have always cooked them together making a syrup that will run through the cake. His way will create a crunchy top and mine gives a softer crust. Try both and see which way you prefer.
  • Poke the cake with lots of holes with a skewer all over the cake and all the way through. You want many holes, so the glaze will go through them to moisten the interior crumb. Using a pastry brush, coat the top of the loaf with half the glaze.
  • Remove the cake from the pan and repeat the soaking on the sides and bottom until you’ve used all the glaze. Allow the grapefruit pound cake to cool and absorb the glaze.
  • It is wonderful all on its own or served with Greek style yogurt with a drop of rose water. I got this idea from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem cookbook.