Grapefruit Olive Oil Cake

     Last year during Mother's Day, I was pregnant with my first kid so this year really felt like my first. Along with that, this was also the first time I didn't spend Mother's day with any of the other mothers in my life (they were on vacation or working or just busy) and it was weird! The day was really for me and so my husband and I had to try to figure out a way to make the day special. It ended up being so fun with a day full of gardening and my husband making steak and potatoes. However, I knew I couldn't really feel the day was complete without a special dessert. My husband is hopeless at taking so he promised to wash the dishes so I could knock of something I was most excited about, off of my "baking bucket list". 

    The decision of what to check off of my list was honestly very easy. I have been wanting to try making grapefruit olive oil cake for a pretty long time but I just keep putting it off because citrus flavors don't tend to go over very well with my family and I never had a good excuse to bake a whole cake just for myself. So, of course, Mother's day presented the perfect opportunity!

    Olive oil cake has become a huge trend online and often is paired with a citrus or herb flavor, such as lemon rosemary, or even just plain. I have wanted to do a grapefruit olive oil cake for a while because I absolutely love grapefruit and have been wanting to include it in my baking for a while but just haven't quite figured it out. I think a grapefruit rosemary would be heavenly also but I didn't have any fresh rosemary on hand and it would work the best with fresh. If you like the rosemary idea I'll add that option into my final recipe. 

    My olive oil cake starts by combining sugar and grapefruit zest. If you want, this is also where you would add finely chopped rosemary. I use a fork to combine everything to make sure there aren't any big sugar or zest clumps but you can also use your hands or a mixer. Once that is well combined, I add in my eggs once at a time and beat them into my sugar to make sure they're well combined. After that, I add in my olive oil, milk, sour cream, juice from half your grapefruit, and salt. I make sure to mix everything between each ingredient to make sure it's all well combined. 

    When all of my "wet" ingredients are mixed together, I put my flour, baking powder, and baking soda into a sifter and sifted it into my bowl. Then, I used a rubber spatula to fold everything together just until there were no more dry streaks. This is the part where you have to be careful not to over mix your batter or it can end up flat and dense. 

    

    I greased a 9 inch cake pan and poured in all of my batter before I baked it at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. While I was waiting for my cake to bake, I made a simple syrup out of 1/2 cup of sugar and a 1/2 cup of water. I simmered the mixture until it thickened slightly. At this point you can either just set the syrup aside to pour over the finished cake to keep it moist or you can use it to also "candy" a few thin slices of grapefruit as a garnish. I do this by dipping my thin slices in slightly cooled simple syrup and letting them dry for about 20-30 minutes until they are slightly tacky to the touch. Once they are tacky, I coat them in a thin layer of granulated sugar and shake them off so its not clumpy. That's it! Sometimes if I don't make my simple syrup thick enough, then I might have to dip my slices a second time so that the sugar really sticks. Another way to make sure these turn out is to use a paper towel to dry off your grapefruit slices before dipping them into the simple syrup... something about the juice and water will make the syrup just run off if you don't.

    Once my cake is done baking, I pull it out of the oven and use a toothpick to poke small holes in the top all the way to the bottom. This will help the simple syrup disperse and better and absorb into the cake. I leave the cake in the pan while I pour my simple syrup over it and let it sit there for at least 10-20 minutes to cool and let everything soak in. As its cooling, I like to make some whipped cream to serve with the cake but the cake is also amazing without it, I just love any excuse to have whipped cream! 

I rushed my candied grapefruit so yours would probably look better!

    With a side of whipped cream and candied grapefruit slices this cake is GORGEOUS and there is no piping skills required! To my shock this is also my husband's new favorite cake and he hates just about anything citrus flavored! The final cake is amazingly moist because of the sour cream and olive oil and the grapefruit and olive oil flavors pair extremely well. If you add rosemary, it adds an entirely new aspect to the flavor profile that is to die for! This is definitely a quick and easy cake that I will be making every time I have an excuse to!

What did you think of this recipe? Questions? Comments? Concerns? Use the comment section below!