I had a very special friend’s birthday approaching, and I wanted to make her a cake. I wanted to surprise her, but I also wanted to make sure she would like it! I sent her a list of “flavors” of cake recipes I had been wanting to try and let her pick a flavor. She chose grapefruit from a list that included rum, banana, chocolate, caramel, among other flavors.

I was excited because the recipe she had chosen was one I had bookmarked for quite a while. And, it was one I had already decided I was going to bake in my Pampered Chef mini bundt stoneware pan. I saw this pan on their outlet a long time ago and knew I couldn’t pass it up! (Did you know Pampered Chef had an outlet? You can score great deals. Ask your PC rep about it, or if you don’t have one, my cousin can help you, kaceymc at gmail dot com). I can’t believe I’ve had the pan for so long, without using it.

When I made this cake, I had a really hard time tracking down whole milk yogurt. I know that sounds crazy right? It’s just… I could find it in the HUGE tub, but I didn’t need 32oz of plain whole milk yogurt. I thought surely to goodness I could find it in a single serve cup at Kroger Publix Trader Joe’s Whole Foods. I considered just using the plain greek yogurt I had on hand, but decided that might be too tart, especially because of the tartness of the grapefruit. Finally, I settled on using 6oz of whole milk vanilla, and 2oz of plain low fat greek yogurt.

I followed Joy the Baker’s instructions on rubbing the zest into the sugar really well. And wow, what an amazing fragrance that created. The wonderful thing is, that sweet/tart aroma lingered in the cake!

This cake was delicious, but I must warn you, I think it should be reserved for adult palates. It’s not the kind of cake most kids are used to, and the birthday girl’s 4 1/2 year old niece wasn’t a fan. But the adults seemed to like it! We ate ours with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I think the cool, creaminess of the ice cream really compliments the tart cake.

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Pink Grapefruit Yogurt Cake

makes one 10-inch cake, about 12 servings
As seen on Joy the Baker, originally from The Greyston Bakery Cookbook

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup plain whole milk yogurt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
Juice and zest of 1 pink grapefruit. This ends up being about 1/2 cup of juice and 1 Tablespoon of zest.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 Tablespoons powdered sugar

Directions:

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 10-inch round springform pan and line the pan bottom with a parchment paper round and set aside. (I used a stoneware mini-bundt pan, and sprayed it well with non-stick baking spray.)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt to blend.

On a clean surface, or in a large bowl, combine the granulated sugar and zest. With the back of a spoon or a flexible bench knife, rub the grapefruit zest into the sugar. The essential oils will release into the sugar creating a beautifully fragrant sugar.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and grapefruit sugar until the eggs are thick and pale yellow. Add the yogurt, oil, 1 Tablespoon of grapefruit juice and vanilla extract. Stir well to combine. Add the flour mixture and stir to combine.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a wooden skewer comes out clean when inserted near the center. Place the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes to cool. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake Release and remove the pan sides. Cool completely on the wire rack.

In a small saucepan, combine the powdered sugar and the remaining grapefruit juice and bring to a boil Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, stirring, for 10 minutes, or until the glaze is slightly thickened. Remove from heat.

To finish the cake, invert the cooled cake and remove the pan bottom. Carefully peel away the parchment paper if you used it. Reinvert the cake onto a serving plate. Pierce the cake all over the top with a skewer and pour the warm grapefruit slowly over the cake. If desired, use a pastry brush to help spread the syrup.

Store at room temperature, wrapped well for 2 days.