Grapefruit Pound Cake

 Hooo, boy!  Here we are, back in Kate's kitchen for another round of Kitchen Kapers / Kate-astrophes. This month, Cooking Light is extolling the virtues of grapefruit and its cousin, the pummelo.  I have always been curious about pummelos, so I picked one up at the store, to my kids' excitement.  Nate declared it, "as big as my head!"  I was just grateful that he didn't say, "as big as my fucking head!"  He has been "f-word" free for a solid 36 hours at this point.  Long may it last.  I started peeling the pumello, while Sara told me that one of her friends' mom had cut it in half.  "Hey, lay off.  I'm exploring my world." I finished peeling it, pondered the pithy ball in my hand, and cut it in half.

I digress.  Where was I?  Grapefruit, and making it into cake.  Right. 

As always, let's start with the picture from the magazine.  Nom, nom!

 Ingredients: (My new kitchen is far less aesthetically pleasing than my old one.  Here, you can see the ingredients, my clapped out cookbooks, papers towel roll, nicked Depression glass and wall socket.)

Cooking spray with flour.  (Shit, I don't have that.  Screw it, I know how to dust a pan.)
2 C all-purpose flour
1 t baking powder
salt
6 T butter, softened (Yes, I softened the butter in advance.  I'm learning...)
6 oz cream cheese (The low-fat kind is fine)
2 lg eggs
1/4 cup oil
2 T grated grapefruit rind
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 C 2% milk
1/2 C fresh grapefruit juice
1 1/4 C powdered sugar

 Getting the grated rind off the grapefruit will soften it up a bit inside and make it really easy to juice.  Half a cup is about half of a grapefruit.  I juiced two whole grapefruits, though, because I was unable to resist drinking it.  I love grapefruit.

 1.  Preheat oven to 325 F.  Ah!  BUSTED!  HAHAHAHAHA!  I see now, looking at my photo, that I preheated to 350 F...which maaaaaaay explain a thing or two....

 2.  Coat a 10-inch tube pan (new!  just purchased from the thrift store yesterday!) with cooking spray and dust lightly with flour.

 3.  Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.

4.  Combine flour, baking powder and 1/2 t salt, stirring well. 

5.  Place granulated sugar, butter and cream cheese in a large bowl.

 6.  Beat with a mixer at high speed until light and fluffy.  Realize that this blog is going to feature a lot of pictures of bland, yellow batter in a steel bowl.  Feel sad about the lack of colorful "pop" in grapefruit pound cake batter, but decide to persevere.

 7.  Add eggs, one at a time.

 8.  Beat in oil, rind and vanilla.  The dark shadow across the batter is me, taking the picture.  Can you see my outline?  My apartment just has one light; my old place was like a fucking veritable photo studio in comparison.

9.  Add the flour mixture and the milk alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour.

 10.  Spoon batter into the pan.  Go outside and fly kites with Chuck and the kids.  Simultaneously bake at 325 F for one hour and ten minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs clinging.  Remember to stop flying kites in time to rescue the cake.

 11.  Not realizing that the oven temperature SHOULD BE 325 F, NOT 350 F, feel slightly surprised by the brownness of the cake, but pleased nonetheless.    It's pretty!  Cool in its pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Invert cake.  Cool on rack.

 12.  Place juice in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Wonder if you are supposed to remove the pulp.  The recipe doesn't say.  Figure that, since you like pulp, the pulp will stay.  Bring the pulpy juice to a boil.  Cook until reduced to three tablespoons, or until you get sick of waiting.  Cool slightly.  Stir in powdered sugar and tiny pinch of salt.

 13.  Drizzle over cake.

14.  Realize that your career as a food stylist is going NOWHERE.  Shrug.  Eat cake.