Grapefruit Olive Oil Cake | Image: Laura Messersmith — **Grapefruit Olive Oil Cake** | Image: *Laura Messersmith*

Happy day after Mother’s Day! I hope you had a wonderful weekend celebrating the mamas figures in your life, preferably with brunch... I love going out to restaurants, but there are three high holidays in the brunch game that I avoid like the plague: Easter, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. The lines are long, the reservations hard to come by, not really conducive to relaxing and enjoyable meal. Hence, brunch at home.

Mike’s parents were in town this weekend and with both Mother’s Day and my mother-in-law, Lucy’s birthday coming up on Tuesday I had an excellent excuse to go a little bananas with our brunch menu. Spinach frittata, crispy thyme potatoes, bacon (obviously), OJ, fresh fruit salad and the literal icing on the cake: Grapefruit Olive Oil Muffins.

I’ve been wanting to make a citrus olive oil cake for months now, but never really had an occasion, not that you really need one for this delicious cake as it turns out. I came across this recipe by Ashley Rodriguez who writes the beautiful blog Not Without Salt and I was intrigued by using grapefruit. I played around with the recipe a little until I got what I wanted – intense grapefruit flavor, a moist muffin, and just a little sweetness from the glaze.

Grapefruit Olive Oil Cake (yield 1 loaf or 1 dozen muffins)

Ingredients:
3⁄4 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, divided
2 tablespoons grapefruit zest, divided
1⁄2 cup Chobani 4% plain yogurt
3 large eggs
2⁄3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3⁄4 cup granulated sugar
1 3⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
1⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1⁄4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1⁄2 cups confectioners’ sugar
Crème fraîche, for serving (optional)
Non-stick spray or muffin liners

Ingredients:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat a loaf pan with non-stick spray or place paper liners in the muffin tins.

Add 1⁄2 cup grapefruit juice to a small saucepan set over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and reduce the juice by half. Cool slightly.

In a small bowl, combine 1 tablespoon grapefruit zest, yogurt, eggs, olive oil, vanilla extract, and reduced grapefruit juice and whisk to mix well.

In a separate medium bowl, add the granulated sugar, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt. Whisk to combine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix until everything is well blended.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place in the hot oven. Bake until the cake is deeply brown and set and springs back gently when pressed, 50 to 55 minutes for cake or 25-30 minutes for muffins.

Let the cake or muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out to cool on a wire rack.

While the cake comes to room temperature, prepare the glaze. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 1⁄2 tablespoon grapefruit zest with 5 teaspoons grapefruit juice and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar until well mixed to create a thick, but still pourable glaze.

Place the cake on a serving platter and drizzle with the glaze, or swirl the tops of the muffins to coat with glaze. The cake can be made 1 day in advance.

Slightly adapted and rewritten from Ashley Rodriguez’s Grapefruit Olive Oil Cake with Bittersweet Chocolate via Not Without Salt.

Small Kitchen Friendly?
Yes! I used one medium bowl, one small bowl, a small sauce pan, and two muffin tins (or one loaf pan.) I also needed a microplane grater, utility knife, dry and liquid measuring cups, a wire whisk, and a rubber spatula. If you’re making muffins an ice cream scoop is really helpful for portioning the batter.

The Verdict:
This cake is the perfect way to round out a breakfast table with a sweet bread that doesn’t stray into cloyingly sugary territory. The flavors are light and refreshing, and personally I like the slightly bitter edge that grapefruit offers. This cake is simple to make and could easily be the basis for a sweeter version suitable for a summer dessert.