Grapefruit Olive Oil Cake...

Earlier this week, I had a hankering to bake. I love eating (duh!) and I especially love warn fresh from the oven baked goods. Maybe it was the bitter chills from the weather this week but I imagined eating something cake-y with a nice cup of tea as the perfect wind down, but those same bitter chills that inspired that thought [made it so] I didn't want to leave the house...soooo I went to the fridge and checked out what ingredients I had on hand, then checked out Pinterest and came up with a based off a recipe from For the Love of the South...


Grapefruit Olive Oil Cake with Lavender Coconut Syrup...
2 tbsp grapefruit zest (I didn't measure just added two grapefruits worth of zest)
1 c. sugar (true recipe called for 1/2 raw [turbinado] sugar...but I went without)
1/2 c. olive oil
2 tbsp grapefruit juice
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/3 c. buttermilk (again I didn't have so I used some 2% milk with 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar)

In a large bowl, add the sugar and grapefruit zest, use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar (the warmth of your hands will encourage the oils to infuse with the sugar)

Add the olive oil and grapefruit juice and whisk until smooth.

In a separate bowl, add all of the dry ingredients. (I added them to a sifter and sifted them together)

Using a spatula, add a third of the flour to the olive oil/sugar mixture, mix until combined add the buttermilk stir until combined and repeat until all of the ingredients are mixed.

Place batter in buttered and floured loaf pan. Bake at 350 until an inserted tooth pick comes out kinda clean...not liquid batter but crumbs are ok. I think this was about 40 minutes for me.

WHile the cake is baking, I made the syrup...

In a saucepan, I added 2 tbsp sugar and 1/3 c. grapefruit juice. Over medium heat I heated  and consistently stirred the sugar until it boiled. I added some dried lavender and mint and a bit of white rum to the pan and took it all of the heat...

Once the cake came out of the oven I let it cool for a few minutes before poking holes in the cake (in retrospect, I wish I'd poked the holes sooner so the cake could absorb more of the syrup but ah..well next time) and pouring the warm syrup on top.

Why the Rum?? Because I drizzled some of that on top too...this can be omitted :-p

While the syrup absorbed into the cake I went to make the glaze for the cake...but I was out of powdered sugar...womP WomP WOMP!! So I wondered if I made a syrup and added coconut milk to it to give it the white appearance I was looking for would suffice...and though it didn't give me what I wanted....It made sort of a coconut caramel.that was good too.

Mix 3/4 c. sugar with 2 tbsp grapefruit juice and a pinch of salt in a pan. Heat until sugar dissolves and boils. Add about 1-2 tbsp of coconut milk and stir consistently. Pour over the cake ad let cool...VoiLa!