Pink grapefruit drizzle cake – a light and fluffy cake with a zesty pink grapefruit drizzle! If you’re a fan of citrus cakes you will love it!
I’ve been meaning to do some with grapefruits for a while. They tend to be reserved just for breakfast time, which is a bit of a shame because their tart, fresh, zesty flavour is perfect for desserts.
I was dreaming of either a pink grapefruit curd filled, fluffy meringue topped tart or a zesty, syrup drenched drizzle cake. The drizzle won this time only because it was the easier option. But that tart is so on my bake list…
Back to the drizzle though. This cake is delicious. Light, fluffy and sticky with syrup.
A little semolina lightens up the texture a little and brings a slight yellow sunshine colour. It’s a nice addition but by no means essential, so if you don’t have any semolina in your cupboard you could just add another 50g of flour.
It’s crucial that the syrup is cool when your pour it over the cake. If it’s hot, it will pour right through your cake and make it soggy. Not a huge disaster, but you won’t get that gorgeous sticky, sugary top that is so desirable.
want to see more simple cake recipes? Check these out…
Lemon, Elderflower and Strawberry Cake
Pink Grapefruit drizzle cake
Zesty pink grapefruit replaces lemons in a variation of the classic drizzle cake.Ā The perfect balance ofĀ sweet and sharp.
Ingredients
- 200 g caster sugar
- Finely grated zest of 2 pink grapefruits
- 200 g soft butter
- 4 medium eggs, beaten
- 150 g self raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 50 g fine semolina
For the syrup:
- 80g granulated sugar
- Juice of one pink grapefruit
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160Fan/350F/Gas mark 4. Grease and base line a 20cm round cake tin.
- Place the sugar and grapefruit zest in a large bowl. Using your fingers, rub the zest into the sugar until the sugar is damp and fragrant from the zest oils. Add the butter and cream the mixture until very light and fluffy.
- Add the beaten eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Sieve the flour, baking powder and semolina together and fold into the mixture.
- Pour into the cake tin and bake for 40-45 minutes or until the cake is golden and springs back when the top is lightly pressed. A skewer inserted into the middle of the cake should emerge clean. If the skewer emerges with raw cake batter stuck to it, return the cake to the oven, checking every few minutes.
- While the cake is in the oven, make the drizzle by heating the sugar and grapefruit juice in a small pan over a low heat. Once the sugar has melted, increase the heat to a gentle simmer and let it bubble gently for a few minutes until slightly reduced and syrupy. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- When the cake is done, leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack with a plate underneath to catch any drips from the glaze.
- Using a skewer, poke holes all over the surface of the cake. Evenly pour the syrup all over the top.
- For the glaze, mix together 75g icing sugar and about 1 tablespoon of grapefruit juice until you have an icing that coats the back of spoon. If the glaze is too thick, add a little more juice or water. Pour the glaze all over the top of the cold cake.
Notes
You could of course omit the glaze and serve the cake as it is. I got a little fancy here and decorated it with a dusting of icing sugar and candied grapefruit slices. Absolutely non-essential, but pretty to look at.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 392Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 108mgSodium: 396mgCarbohydrates: 54gFiber: 2gSugar: 36gProtein: 5g
I’m drooling at this recipe! I love pink grapefruit and can imagine it’s awesome in a drizzle cake. This is definitely going on my baking list. Thanks for sharing
I love this idea! Grapefruit cake, it sounds amazing š
I’m a sucker for drizzle cakes but usually it’s good old lemon. š Using pink grapefruit makes for such a nice twist! Definitely one to try. Hope your lurgy is gone for good now!
That looks so lovely! I love lemon drizzle cake, but I’m not sure I’ve ever had pink grapefruit lemon cake….but I really want to try it now! Sorry to hear you’ve been so ill – hope you are feeling better now. Sadly, it doesn’t look like winter is going to end just yet though š Eb x
I know what you mean about the never-ending winter. When will it end! Your pink grapefruit cake is the ideal way to bring a bit of bright colour and zingy flavour and make us hope Spring is on the way. Iād love to make this cake for my family!
What a lovely variation of the Lemon Drizzle. I’m quite partial to deep citrus flavours and this has got my taste buds going berserk! I will have to give this a go but try to adapt it to a free from version, I know my daughter would love it too, fingers crossed I manage it #cookblogshare #recipeoftheweek
I love the fact that you have used a grapefruit for a drizzle cake. I admit I am not a fan of grapefruit ,but I would be willing to give this a try š it looks very striking too. Thank you for linking to #Bakeoftheweek x
Thank you ? Thereās certainly no sign of Spring yet, is there? Itās so cold ? I love drizzle cakes and the grapefruit just made a nice change from the usual lemon/orange. Hope youāre having a great week. Nickki x
Thank you so much! I really hope you like it ?
Thank you! It made a nice change from the usual lemon drizzle. Not that thereās anything wrong with lemon – I love it – but sometimes itās nice to have a little twist on tradition ?
Thank you! Using the grapefruit makes a nice change. Iām thinking I need to make it again soon! The lurgy is still hanging onto me unfortunately. Hopefully it will be gone soon!
Thank you so much Lucy! Iām definitely drawn to the bright colours in Winter. I guess it makes us all feel better! Itās been a very long, cold Winter hasnāt it ?āļø Iām so ready for Spring now!
Thank you so much ? Good luck! Please let me know how you get on ?
Thank you Jenny ? I have to admit Iām not usually big on grapefruit either (I donāt eat them on their own) but I just love them for baking! x
I’ve never had grapefruit cake, sounds and looks really appealing! Thank you for bringing it to #CookBlogShare:)
Ya lemon is pretty awesome too!
Couple of issues with this recipe. It doesn’t appear to tell you the oven temperature. In the end I put mine in on gas mark 5 for 45 mins and the skewer didn’t come out clean. I put it in for a bit more but the top was already looking close to burned. Did you level out your cake by cutting off the top layer? The syrup instructions are quite vague. I’m not sure how bubbly, how syrupy or how many minutes. In the end mine didn’t look or feel syrupy but I had it reducing for close to 10… Read more »