We had an avocado tree in our backyard growing up, in one of the more concrete-y neighborhoods of central Los Angeles. It was the humble avocado tree behind the kinda-rusted, maybe a little dangerous, still totally playable swing set in our patchygrass, mangy dog wandering, backyard.
I think of the relentless to-do list my parents upheld while my sister and I were kids… things like: go to work, survive work, have food in the house, pay the light bill, raise not asshole children… having a fluffy-grassed backyard wasn’t a huge priority. But this avocado tree in the corner of backyard was a little oasis! I should tell you now that it had no avocados. Never did. Not even one time… I know because I would check ALL THE TIME. It did however, provide a small ring of shade at most points in the afternoon and it was a fine tree with upstanding morals and values.
At some point in my 18 years of living in that house and tip toeing around that backyard, someone mentioned that we had a male avocado tree which… well, it seemed rather strange that this tree would have a gender. I often wondered (once I was old enough to wonder such things), if there was a female avocado tree in a neighboring backyard that was just bursting with fruit because of our humble, unassuming, un-avocado-ing male avocado tree.
Likely not. It’s not that we had a male avocado tree, it’s that avocado trees have this very delicate fruit bearing system. I know you’re curious so I’ll explain it to you before we talk about grapefruit cake. We’re definitely going to talk about cake. See… avocado tree flowers have both male and female parts but they don’t release those parts at the same time. A flower opens and releases its female parts first. Closes. Then the male parts open, and then close. All the while waiting for the right bee at the right time to take the right pollen to the right flower. AKA: Earth is amazing… and we probably just needed a buddy tree for our avocado tree for them to both pollinate and flourish and provide more than greenery and shade.
I say all of this to say that big beautiful fruit (we’re talking about grapefruit now) that emerges from small flowers is, if you think about it and we’re thinking about it, AMAZING… and should be turned to curd and into cake (and if you’re an avocado, definitely guacamole). If you’re lucky enough to have a grapefruit (or avocado) tree in your backyard… or in your neighbor’s yard within stealing distance… you should hug it and thank all of the bees around you.
And now we’re going to make a cake.
Curd and cake. Both with grapefruit. Both from scratch.
First the curd. Citrus curd, which we should be making my the pint-full right now, is a rich, slow stove top custard with grapefruit juice and a pinch of ground cloves.
To start the curd, grapefruit juice (fresh squeezed is preferable) is simmered on the stoptop to reduce the juice and intensify the flavor. While the juice simmers, butter and sugar are whipped together in a heat-proof metal bowl. This bowl will turn into a double boiler, so we need it to conduct heat.
Egg yolks are whisked into the butter and sugar mixture. Egg yolks and whole eggs will work to thicken the curd.
How long before we’re weirded out by the word ‘curd’? Is it already happening? (Yes.)
The reduced grapefruit juice is cooled slightly and whisked into the butter, sugar and egg mixture. Whisked well, it becomes a bit frothy on top. We’re on the right track.
In a small pot, bring a few inches of water to a boil and place the metal bowl over the simmering water. It’s a double boiler, and it’s a gentle way to coax our eggs into slowly thickening into a spreadable curd.
With constant whisking (which means no multi-tasking) the mixture will thicken to a warm pudding consistency after 8 to 10 minutes.
We’ve got our curd and now it’s time for cake.
Easy cake times thanks to Food52. We’re not going to over-complicate things here.
Softened butter and sugar are creamed together with grapefruit zest until very pale and fluffy. Hand mixer or stand mixer, but really fluff the butter.
The grapefruit curd is cooled slightly and 3/4 cup of our tangy grapefruit curd is added to the butter and sugar mixture.
Eggs are then beaten into the mixture, one by one.
Self-rising flour (flour + baking powder + salt) is added to the fluffy curd batter, making this recipe. No fuss.
If you don’t have self-rising flour on hand, make your own self-rising flour just like this!
The batter is spooned into an 8-inch pan and another 3/4 cup of grapefruit curd is lightly swirled into the batter.
We’re great. Now is a good time to acknowledge that.
Baked to golden brown, the curd caramelizes a bit while the cake is tremendously tender.
It’s the prefect afternoon tea cake, or morning coffee cake, or midnight snack with milk cake. It’s cake. Whenever and however. This is the kind of cake you hope to casually have on hand when your neighbors casually drop by unexpected on a weekend afternoon. You hope hope hope that the stars align and you have this cake to offer them. I say bake the cake, open the windows, and see if you can lure them over.
Grapefruit Curd Grapefruit Cake
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 45
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Ingredients
For the Grapefruit Curd
- 1 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, seeds strained
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, strained
For the Grapefruit Cake
- 6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon fresh grapefruit zest
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups grapefruit curd
- 3 large eggs
- 1 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon self-rising flour
Instructions
- To make the grapefruit curd, in a small saucepan, simmer grapefruit juice. Simmer and reduce from 1 cup to 1/2 cup. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
- In a medium heatproof bowl (a metal bowl is best), stir together butter and granulated sugar until well incorporated and fluffy. I used a wooden spoon and some elbow grease. Using a whisk, add the egg yolks and whisk to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute between each addition. Whisk in the salt and cloves and lemon juice. The mixture will seem slightly curdled. That’s ok. Slowly stream in and whisk the slightly cooled grapefruit juice until evenly combined.
- In a small or medium saucepan (I used the same saucepan I used to reduce the grapefruit juice), bring a few inches of water to a simmer. Place the heatproof bowl over the simmering water , making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the simmering water.
- Whisk constantly. The sugar will begin to dissolve and the mixture will begin to thicken. This take between 8 and 10 minutes of near constant whisking. If you stop whisking, the eggs in the mixture may create lumps so keeeeeep whisking.
- Once thickened to the texture of warm pudding, remove the bowl from the simmering water and transfer to a small bowl. Allow to rest in the refrigerator while you make the cake.
- Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of an 8-inch round baking pan with parchment paper, grease the pan and set aside.
- To make the cake, in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a set of hand beaters, beat together butter, sugar, and grapefruit zest until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add half of the grapefruit curd and beat to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute between each addition. Add the flour and use a wooden spoon to fold together until thoroughly combined.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Top with the remaining grapefruit curd and use a butterknife swirl the curd just slightly into the cake. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs.
- Allow to cool for 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve in big wedges with warm tea.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 8
48 Responses
Tasty and Healthy cake recipe
I had grapefruits laying around and decided to make this. It turned out delicious! The work to make the curd was totally worth it! I wish I had taken it out if the oven at 35 mins instead of 45. I was worried it wouldn’t set in the middle but I think it would have been moister with the lower baking time.
I also cannot have grapefruit because of medication. If anyone tries orange instead, please post it here. I would love to know, but am not adventurous in changing recipes! Thanks so much.
I was searching for a grapefruit curd recipe after seeing one on Pinterest. I had only 1 grapefruit so I settled on yours. I thought I may need to try several to find a perfect one but I don’t think so! OMG it’s really great! I’m going to have to triple or quadruple this recipe for homemade gifts… plus extra for my curd habit! Amazing! And it still has the zing! Thank you! (Yes I said curd habit! )haha!
Oh boy. You guys. This cake tastes incredible. I could eat the grapefruit curd all by itself. So, so tasty. I’m thinking about taking the curd and making a grapefruit meringue pie. The cake came out so moist and with buckets of flavor. A great recipe that I’ll definitely make again!
The cake was very good – but when I used an 8″ x 3″ pan, it overflowed and made an awful mess!
Next time I will try a 9″ ssquare pan.
Yes, same here! I’m an experienced baker and should’ve known this cake would certainly overflow an 8″ pan. Perhaps everyone else baked theirs in a 9 inch? 8″ is quite small!!
Just made this for my sister’s birthday. It was very well received by the family. :) Will definitely make this again. Thank you!
Joy, I actually am going to make grapefruit curd for some tea cakes and wondered your thoughts on number of days stable in the fridge? Freezing?
Oh and I hope to run into you one day over baked goods in NOLA!
– Another California to Louisiana transplant
Yum! I just pulled this out of the oven and cut my first slice. Amazing, light, moist, and the grapefruit flavor is definitely present! I accidentally left out the two full eggs in the curd (just used the two yolks) and I did have to whisk it closer to 20 minutes, but it still thickened up eventually and is perfect in this cake. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
I just got around to making this, but I always like to say thanks for a fantastic recipe, and this is seriously wonderful–especially warm right out of the oven!
I forgot to add… I’d be intrigued by the idea of adding the second portion of curd slight later in the baking process to see if it doesn’t sit on top of the loaf a bit better.
Delicious! I had some lemon curd in the freezer (freezes beautifully!) and used Cara Cara orange for the zest. Loved it. I used the full tablespoon even though I know grapefruit zest is usually more mild. The curd sunk into the cake more than I would have hoped.. but, still a winner for me. Finally, I adore grapefruit flavored desserts.. but I had to use what I had.
I had made this cake yesterday, Feb20/16 hmmm… Following the recipe I only got 1 cup of curd and its dry
Sounds like it might have been cooked for too long
Wow! This cake sounds amazing. I love citrus desserts and this one sounds especially appealing!
I just made it using cara cara oranges and meyer lemon for the curd because that is the citrus I had on hand. YUM. I adore these kinds of cakes.
Just made the cake today! Served it for dessert with some frozen yogurt on the side. Super delicous! A keeper.
I made the cake this weekend and it was great! I had to get used to the zingy grapefruit taste in a cake, as I normally make sweets with nuts or chocolate, but it was light and fresh. It was shared with family and everyone was quite surprised that the grapefruit flavor survived the oven. I wonder if the curd can be made with other fruit juices like berries.
It seems so easy to make it, right?
I just made this cake. Wow! I did end up having to bake it an extra 10 minutes. Totally worth it.
I enjoy your narrative, Joy! The pictures and delicious food are bonus.
Made and eating now as we watch the Super Bowl. A hit with the fam. And it came out exactly like in the photos. A keeper.
I am absolutely going to make this. (Hiding the necessary grapefruit now!) I will never have an avocado or a grapefruit tree, but a person can dream of such things when there is two feet of snow between her and her garden :)
This looks so delicious! What a great way to include grapefruit!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
My parent’s backyard in LA has a huge avocado tree that fruits like crazy (so many that we leave a portion out for the squirrels). It’s one of the things I miss the most about living in SoCal – it was so painful to see avocados going for $3 each when I first moved to Seattle! Now I leave space in my suitcase for them when I go home :)
Butter measurement is wrong, 1 stick is 8 oz
1 stick is 4 ounces or 8 tablespoons.
This is such an interesting and – I’m POSITIVE – delicious cake! I just adore lemon curd and love the idea of making grapefruit curd from scratch. I award you the BIG GOLD METAL for this cake!! ; o )
OOPS – Gold ‘Medal’ !! LOL
These are my favorite types of cakes, the everyday ones that feel at home both as a rustic-ish desert and an indulgent-ish breakfast. If I had a grapefruit tree my fridge would constantly be full of grapefruit curd. Alas, I’m an apartment dweller in Minnesota, and it’s not in the cards.
Thanks for the lesson on avocado reproduction, btw. It’s kind of astonishing they’re as ubiquitous as they are with such a finicky system.
So how do I adapt this to using meyer lemons, if that’s possible. My Meyer lemon tree is exploding
I’m not sure. Let me know if you do it and how it turns out.
Beautiful looking cake Joy!! I’m thinking blood oranges would be a scream in here.
My friend’s dad has an avocado tree that makes the most amazing, perfect avocados…it’s prolific. He also has a file in his office titled ‘Avocado Irrigation.’ They’re needy trees. If they don’t have friends and proper care, they shit the bed. Ain’t nobody got time for that. xoxo
Oh man. I’m going to make this for my Galentines Day party!! :D
I have a grapefruit tree!! It fruits heavily year round, but the produce is only edible for maybe a month of the year when the weather is sufficiently cold for them to sweeten up a bit. I suppose now is as good a time as ever to pluck a few and see if I can’t make a curd.
You are amazing. Plant biology is the way to my heart :)
I want this cake!
This looks delicious!
Looks delicious. And now I want guacamole too! Exquisite plates :)
This looks so refreshing! Citrus fruits go so well with cakes :)
Awesome! I love curds (even the word) and I love grapefruit and I just know I’m going to love this cake. I’ll be in your city this weekend celebrating le carnaval, with big plans to make this as soon as I get back (and sleep off the inevitable hangover). Pumped!
I am still laughing over “Raise not asshole children.” Joy, I believe you have succinctly summed up the key to excellent parenting.
Oh, and the cake looks amazing, even though I love curd, I too am weirded out by the word curd!! I love curd variations. I once made a rhubarb curd tart that was stellar.
My sister-in-law is sending us two huge boxes of her delicious lemons — could I make this with lemon?? I love grapefruit but I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to use two boxes of fresh lemons . I’m saving and pinning the recipe.
That looks gorgeous,it’s a shame my partner cannot have grapefruit with his medication, dare I make it for myself
I had the exact same thought. I have this awesome recipe for fish with grapefruit relish and it said to replace grapefruit with mandarin oranges . I think i am going to do that with this recipe. Hopefully it will turn out just as good.
Love this recipe and thanks for the reminder to make citrus curd now. Will get onto that this weekend. :)
This cake sounds incredible — I’ve never thought of swirling curd into cake, but it’s such a great idea!
That cake looks amazing! I LOVE grapefruit (and avocado!), so this is definitely top of my list to bake for when I get my new oven installed in my flat. xxx