I am glad it is over but this week coming will be just as action packed as the last.
January is always busy. We celebrate anniversaries, and birthdays. July and August is just as busy.
So, we celebrated my husband's birthday this past weekend and this is where I decided to bake the Grapefruit Cake. I know, it is an odd choice. Whoever heard of Grapefruit Cake? I hadn't.
With that said, how did this cake come about?
I had feeling for grapefruits and I purchased a bunch of them. Now there's only so much grapefruits one can eat and no one else in my family likes them. I wanted to make grapefruit muffins and when I typed in grapefruit in the search engine...grapefruit cake popped up! It looked pretty good.
I found 2-sites. One was an original recipe from a chef, Brown Derby who invented the cake
http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2010/03/03/grapefruit-cake-recipe-from-the-hollywood-brown-derby/
and another chef, Valerie Gordon who is also know for making the cake.
http://www.latimesmagazine.com/2010/06/historic-appeal.html
I wanted to give this cake a try.
I followed Valerie's recipe until I ran into a problem; regarding the eggs. The instructions say one thing and the directions say another.
When I reverted back to the original recipe, the recipe was slightly different.
This is when I did a little of both.
Cake ended up tasting amazing! You can taste the grapefruit but it is not overpowering.
*This cake makes 1 round cake (8-inches).
The cream cheese frosting, we were not sold on it.
*I would recomend to double the frosting because I made one-batch and I barely had enough.
**Valerie's recipe state to make the Candied-Grapefruit Garnish. I did not do this. Please see her site for that info.
**Brown Derby's recipe state to use canned grapefruit sections for the topping and some of the filling. I did not do this either.
I don't know if I'll make this again because of all the work, and problems.
Grapefruit Cake
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 large eggs (separate)
1/2 tsp cream of tarter
3 Tbsps water
1/4 cup canola oil
1 Tbsp and 1 tsp of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
1 Tbsp freshly grated grapefruit zest
1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
*Preheat oven to 350F.
*Butter two 8-inch cake pans.
(one recipe states to grease pans and the other states not to grease. I found greasing the pan worked better).
*Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
*Make a well in center of dry ingredients.
*Separate eggs.
*Beat egg whites and cream of tarter to a stiff peaks; set aside.
*Beat yolks (I did by hand with a fork).
*Add egg yolks, water, canola oil, grapefruit juice, and zests to the center of the dry ingredients.
*Beat all together until smooth.
*Add the egg whites to mixture.
*Stir egg whites using a rubber spatula gently; just until blended. Do Not Overmix.
*Pour mixed batter into cake pans.
*Bake for 20 minutes approx. or until cake springs back gently when touched.
*Let cool (approx. 10 minutes) and then invert to a wire-rack to let cool longer.
Cream Cheese Frosting: 1/3 cup butter, room temperature (I used salted butter)
1 1/4 cups (400 grams) cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tsp freshly grated grapefruit zest
1 3/4 tsp freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
*Beat softened butter and cream cheese until blended and smooth.
*Add confectioners' sugar (1/4-cup at at time).
*Add zest, juice and vanilla extract.
*Beat until smooth.
Assembly:
*Spread the frosting on the bottom half of the cake.
*Top with several grapefruit sections (I forgot to do this step).
*Cover with 2nd-layer.
*Frost top and sides.
*Garnish with remaining grapefruit sections. (didn't do this either. I served it with just the frosting).
:)
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