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Grapefruit Olive Oil Bundt Cake

This perfect springtime cake is packed with grapefruit flavor, including zest, juice and extract in the cake itself, soaked with a flavor-packed grapefruit cordial and drizzled with a grapefruit glaze to top it all off. Made with olive oil and greek yogurt for flavor, moisture and tang and a plush, pound cake-like texture.

Prep Time
30 mins
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
4 hrs
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

For Grapefruit Cordial:
  • ½ ½ cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice from 1 large grapefruit
  • ½ ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 2 tablespoons grapefruit zest from 1 large grapefruit
For Cake:
  • 2 ½ 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ ½ cup almond flour sifted
  • 2 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 2 tablespoons grapefruit zest from 1 large grapefruit
  • 4 4 large eggs at room temperature
  • ⅔ ⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 ½ 1 ½ cups whole Greek yogurt at room temperature
  • ¼ ¼ cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice from 1/2 large grapefruit
  • 2 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 1 teaspoon grapefruit extract optional
  • ¼ ¼ cup grapefruit cordial for brushing
For Glaze:
  • 1 ½ 1 ½ cups powdered sugar sifted
  • 4-5 4-5 tablespoons grapefruit cordial
  • pinch fine sea salt
  • pink food coloring optional

Instructions

    Cup of Yum
  1. To make grapefruit cordial, combine juice, sugar, and zest in a bowl. Cover and let steep for at least a few hours or ideally overnight. The sugar should be completely dissolved. (If making more than a day ahead of time, let sit for 24 hours then refrigerate where it will keep for up to a week.) Let come to room temperature before using (it will also need to be strained before you use it to remove the bits of zest).
  2. To make the cake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a standard 12-cup bundt pan (I used baking spray, but you can use butter/flour or cake pan grease too).
  3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt until evenly incorporated; set aside.
  4. In another bowl, combine sugar and grapefruit zest. Rub the zest and sugar between your fingers to release the oils and break up the clumps of zest.
  5. Add eggs and whisk vigorously until completely smooth (there should be no slimy streaks of egg white visible anymore), then whisk in olive oil, yogurt, grapefruit juice, and vanilla and grapefruit extract until fully incorporated.
  6. Make a well in the center of the dry flour mixture. Add wet ingredients and whisk until just combined and no streaks of dry flour remain (there may be some small lumps, just make sure there aren't any large ones or pockets of dry flour left).
  7. Pour batter into prepared bundt pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or edges are golden brown and a skewer inserted at the thickest point comes out mostly clean with just a few moist crumbs attached (no gooey batter).
  8. Let cake cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes (just until it's cool enough to handle), then invert onto a wire rack; it should release cleanly. Set the wire rack inside a baking sheet to catch any overflow.
  9. At this point your cordial should have been sitting for at least a few hours, if not overnight. Strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove any remaining bits of zest. You should have a little over ½ a cup.
  10. Poke all over the surface of the still-warm cake using a thin skewer or long toothpick. Using a pastry brush, brush ¼ cup of the cordial over entire outside of the cake, including inside the center hole. It should soak in with much overflow being caught in the baking sheet underneath (if you have a lot of drips, feel free to scrape it up and brush it back on the cake).
  11. Let cake cool completely, or, if making ahead of time, wrap the cooled cake in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or until ready to glaze.
  12. For glaze, sift powdered sugar into a bowl. Add 4 tablespoons of cordial and whisk until smooth. Continue adding cordial, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, until the glaze reaches a nice pourable consistency (if you lift up your whisk and drizzle a bit back into the bowl, it should absorb back into itself in about 5-6 seconds). Conversely, if the glaze is too thin, you can sift in more sugar as needed.
  13. Pour glaze over top of cake, letting it drip down the sides on its own. Let sit for 15 to 30 minutes until glaze is set before slicing and serving.
  14. Cake will keep, wrapped in plastic wrap in the refrigerator, for up to 1 week.