Olive Oil Citrus Cake

I just love these olive oil cakes. This one, again, comes from "Rustic Fruit Desserts". I think I'm going to eventually make everything in this cookbook! All the recipes sound so good and this cake? Delicious!

It's easy to make, moist from the olive oil and the combination of grapefruit, orange and lemon zest give it a wonderful almost refreshing citrus flavor.

This time I made the grapefruit juice glaze which just makes it so much more delicious. It's actually a dessert under  the season of "Winter" but any time is perfect for this one.

The cake uses cake flour and you have to sift the flour twice along with the baking powder and salt.

The hardest part of making the cake is zesting the grapefruit. It's so big and tricky to hold and zest!

There's a lot of citrus zest that goes into the batter, which makes it so darned good.

Prepare your pan by coating with olive oil and then sprinkling with sugar.

The cake gets a nice golden brown color and is light and moist.

Olive Oil Citrus Cake ( from "Rustic Fruit Desserts")
The book says to: "Choose a fruity olive oil with a medium density and lasting thickness on the tongue."

Cake:

1 1/4 cups ( 5 oz.)unsifted cake flour (you will sift later)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
3 eggs, room temp.
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Zest of one grapefruit
Zest of one orange
Zest of one lemon
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. lemon oil ( I used 1/2 tsp. lemon extract)
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. sugar (for coating the pan)

Glaze:
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
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Preheat oven to 350. Using a paper towel, coat a 9" by 2" round baking pan with olive oil, then sprinkle it with the tablespoon of sugar.

Cake:
1. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together twice.
2. Using a hand held beater or stand mixer with the whisk attachment ( I  used the paddle attachment and it still came out fine...oops!), beat eggs, sugar and zests on high speed for 5 minutes, til eggs are thick and lighter in color.
3. Add the vanilla and lemon oil ( or lemon extract).
4. Turn the mixer to medium low speed and slowly drizzle the olive oil into the batter, pouring slowly along the edge and down the side of the bowl.
5. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed til just incorporated.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake 25 to 30 minutes, or til cake is golden and has domed slightly in the center. Cool to room temp.
Glaze: Whisk the sifted confectioners' sugar with the grapefruit juice til smooth and a thin consistency, adding more juice if too thick. Pour over the cooled cake.
Wrapped in plastic, the cake will keep at room temp. for 2 to 3 days.