Grapefruit Cake... since love is in the air :)

It's something about baking as a process that makes me want to do it again and again....
Everything about baking is exciting - the wait for the batter to prove itself..
Simple everyday ingredients doing all their magic...

Finally, its the aroma of that freshly bakes cake and the bite to a somewhat 'still warm cake'... now that is Pure Bliss!

The cake needs no special occasion. But yesterday being Valentine's day was meant to be uber special... Post Valentine's Day though; love still lingers in the air.  

Honestly, I was never big on baking. Perhaps because until a few years ago, I never seem to get it right. There was always some or the other complication... no matter how religiously I followed the recipe. But then I never really gave up. Perhaps, its the nostalgia and the enthusiasm of baking and eating one's own home-made-'as fresh as it can get' cake that made me stick on. 

'Oh the dreaded process'- has now become a love affair. Once I got it, I never stopped. And once I got going, I got a little adventurous with ingredients too.

Now, let me tell you this: don't be afraid of the pretentious instructions. Go by the basics. A simple, robust, delicious cake is nothing but the way you measure the ingredients, mix or fold and the way you bake. It's not robot science and yes, everyone can bake...

Selection of citrus fruits

Last week, I did this really simple Grapefruit cake with grapefruit filling. Not a sponge cake but a real easy one. Why grapefruit? Well, I could have done with anything else. So, if you can't lay your hands on these gems; go for lemon, orange... any citrus fruit. 

To get cracking with this cake; lets get the ingredients and weigh them:

For the cake mix:

200 gms      Butter (@ room temperature)
200 gms      Caster sugar
1                 Grapefruit (Zest plus the juice; to be used separately)
3                 Eggs
200 gms      Plain flour (plus 2 tablespoon extra).
1/4 tsp        Baking powder

For the grapefruit butter cream:

50  gms      Butter (@room temperature)
75  gms      Sugar, powdered
                  Grapefruit juice

• Tip in the baking powder to your flour (I have used whole wheat flour in my cake... for health's sake. You can do too :)). Mix and sieve the dry ingredients. I sieve thrice... just to get some air into the flour. I only started appreciating this step after I started doing it. Trust me it's worth it. 
• In a non-reactive mixing bowl, measure the butter (at room temperature) and the sugar. Bang them in, mix with a fork and then start whisking... like there is no tomorrow. What you should be looking at: is fluffy silky matter and should be smooth. It takes me around 5-7 mins of whisking (You see some of my mates would just use the electric whisk... however, I dread that thing; as it's so easy to over do when the machine takes control). 
• After a much patronising speech about the ills of electric whisks :P we get on with adding the zest of a grape fruit. We mix again and just leave it for a minute or so.
• In another mixing bowl, slightly whisk the eggs. The reason we are doing this is because we want to add a little of the egg mixture at a time to the butter mix. I have to admit; I often went wrong at this stage earlier while doing the same cake. 
• Back to our buttery mix; we add the egg while we continue whisking... rem'er a little at a time. The trick here is to amalgamate the egg mix to the butter. If you do find the butter curdling a bit at this stage... worry not. Rem'er we had 2 tablespoon of extra flour...well, the tad bit of flour has a larger purpose in our scheme of things.  Tip in some flour into the mix as you whisk. The flour will stop the butter from curdling. Once the two mixes are amalgamated well. Give away the whisk and say hello to your wooden mixing spoon. No more harsh whisking; from now on..all we do is fold. Meanwhile, lets get the oven buzzing at 180 degree C.
• Let's get the sieved flour out now. Take a little flour at a time; tip into the egg mix and fold the flour in. 
• Spray the baking tin (or if you are buttering and dusting the tin with flour then do it ahead-saves time really); pour the cake mix. Allow it to sit for about 2 mins and then whack it into the pre-heated oven for 30-40 mins (in the centre rack please). The thing with the timing is that what's good with me may never be good for you... so, go by your experience... ovens heat differently. The only thing that is sure as the good old rock is that: you will have to pop in the tin in the middle rack so that its evenly baked and most importantly never never ever open the oven door... what it does is alter the temperature and that's when the cake rises and then falls back again. Leave the cake to prove itself for around 25 mins. 
• Meanwhile lets crack the butter cream filling: Again whisk together the powdered sugar and the butter untill smooth. Then slowly, a little at a time, tip in the grape fruit juice and mix using a wooden spoon. Keep it aside. 
• At the end of the 20-25 min, check the cake once. Insert a clean wooden skewer or a knife into the denser part of the cake (say the centre). If the skewer or the knife comes out clean; the cake's done. If the skewers comes out sticky then it needs some more baking time. Besides this method of checking; there's one more that you can try if you are feeling all confident. Touch the centre of the cake. If you gently push it with your fingers, it should feel spongy; as if almost springing back a little. Besides, if you see the edge of the cake separating from the tin wall or the lining paper in your tin then, its almost certain that the cake is done. Sometimes, cakes can fill wobbly in the centre even if the top crust seems hard. My bet in such a situation is that the cake needs a little extra time. However, you wouldn't want to taste a burnt top crust. For this all you do is  tear a parchment or butter paper to fit the cake tin and cover the tin with it. Continue baking till it's done. The parchment paper prevents the crust from burning. 



Baked: Fresh out of the oven

• That was just a tip... for our cake though 35 mins is what it took for me. I then take it off the oven. Leave it in the tin to cool for 10 mins. Take it off the tin and let it rest on a grill. 

• To fill the cake with the grapefruit butter mix. Take a bread knife (a sharp one) and slice cake into two halves. Tip the grapefruit mix onto one layer and then cover with the other. If you don't fancy slicing the cake... go for a simple icing on the top. It tastes great any ways. The only thing to really rem'er is that the cake has to cool down completely or else the butter melts. 

It's all done now. Baking done... the cake is all yours now! Enjoy...

.................................................................................. Much love to all

Maverick Cook :)