Grapefruit and molasses loaf cake

  

Yep, I’m really failing at this healthy eating malarkey.  I bought a load of lovely red grapefruit with all the best of intentions of eating a healthy breakfast every day before work, rather than skipping it completely and then needing a chocolate fix mid-morning. Sigh!  The grapefruit have been sitting uneaten as I dash past them every day, until today I decided to rescue them from their decidedly sad plight and… turn them into cake of course!  I have to say though, once you’ve tasted this you’ll wonder why you’d ever eat grapefruit any other way. Rich yet clean, tangy yet elegant, everyone who has tasted this has fallen in love with it.  Sorry healthy eating, cake wins again!

Ingredients

8 oz butter

8 oz molasses sugar

4 eggs

6 oz self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 oz ground almonds

Zest of 1 red grapefruit

2 tsbp grapefruit juice

For the syrup

Juice of 1 red grapefruit

4 tsbp molasses sugar

For the glaze

5 tbsp icing sugar

Method 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line a 9x5 inch loaf tin.  
2. In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and molasses together until fluffy and lighter in colour.
3. Measure out the flour and set aside.
4. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, followed by a large spoonful of flour between each egg.  Beat well after each addition.
5. Finely grate the zest of the grapefruit into the cake batter, and add 2 spoonfuls of the juice, and beat to combine.
6. Sift in the remaining flour, baking powder and ground almonds and fold together with a large metal spoon until well combined.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for about 40 mins until a cake tester comes out clean.
8. While the cake is baking, make a syrup by combining the remaining juice of the grapefruit and 4 spoonfuls of molasses sugar in a small saucepan over a medium heat.  Once the sugar is melted and it begins to bubble, turn the heat down and continue stirring for a minute or two until nicely thickened.  Set aside.
9. Remove the cake from the oven and piece all over with a cocktail stick. Spoon over three quarters of the syrup and leave to cool in the tin.  Once cool, place a piece of greaseproof paper on top of the tin and invert the cake onto a wire rack. Transfer to a serving plate.
10. Sift icing sugar into the remaining syrup and mix well to create a glaze. Drizzle this over the cake before serving.