High-Altitude Grapefruit Pound Cake

A wintry cake to match Colorado January snow and frigid temperatures. Image by Gwynne Middleton.

The cold-weather grace period usually ends for my late January. With the end of the winter holidays and the persistence of days with temperatures below freezing and snowy, I start longing for spring bulbs to pop above soil level and trees to start leafing out.

In Colorado, we're just ramping up for snow season, though, so I temper my expectations and find ways to relish the wintry winter and spring weather on offer in the region. While the only citrus I've seen grow successfully in Colorado has been at the Orangerie at the Denver Botanic Gardens, I appreciate the citrus haul that comes in from U.S. and Mexico farms each winter and find ways to incorporate all kinds of citrus into recipes.

One of my favorite winter baking recipes is a citrus-infused pound cake, and this one not only features the sweet and sour notes of grapefruit but includes a few tricks for baking a cake at high altitude without the ubiquitous sunken center that can result from attempting a sea-level recipe above 3,000 feet elevation.

Unlike some high-altitude recipe tweaks, you won't need to adjust the baking temperature or time here, but you will see a few adjustments in the oven rack placement as well as the flour, sugar, and yogurt amounts.

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High-Altitude Grapefruit Pound Cake

Make 12 slices

Ingredients

Cake

• Butter for greasing pan and some parchment paper

• 1 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon table salt

• 1 cup + 1 tablespoon plain whole-milk yogurt

• 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon of granulated cane sugar

• 3 large eggs, room temperature

• grated zest from 1 large grapefruit (I recommend you use a microplane for a fine consistency.)

• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/2 cup grape seed oil

Syrup

• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

• 1 tablespoon granulated cane sugar

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
  

Directions

1. Move an oven rack to the bottom third of your oven for baking. Heat your oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Grab a 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 -inch loaf pan. Create a liner sling with parchment paper in the pan, leaving parchment paper edges to hang over the long sides of the pan. Butter the short sides of the pan, making sure to get butter into the corners.

3. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In a larger bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, combine granulated cane sugar, zest, yogurt, eggs, and vanilla, whisking to combine. Whisk the flour mixture into the yogurt mixture, and then whisk in the oil.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, tapping the pan gently against the counter to smooth the top and remove air bubbles. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

5. Meanwhile, combine 1/3 cup grapefruit juice with 1 tablespoon granulated cane sugar in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat.

6. When cake is ready, remove from oven. Use a knife to gently separate the cake from the short sides of the pan, and then, using the parchment paper edges, gently move the cake from its pan to a cooling rack. Don't remove the parchment paper quite yet.

7. Grab a toothpick and pierce the cake several times, and then brush brush the grapefruit-sugar mixture over the whole cake. Let the cake cool for about 3o minutes.

8. While the cake cools, combine the powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of grapefruit juice in a small bowl. Using a spoon, drizzle the glaze over the cake.

9. Enjoy immediately, and store leftovers in a tightly sealed container or with plastic wrap for up to 3 days.