Today is a good day.

It’s Friday! It’s almost Mother’s Day! Aaaand… Sugar, Spice, & Bacon is the featured blog on Yummly! Head over to Yummly and check it out! It is so exciting for me-I love sharing my food adventures with all you guys!

Now, back to Mother’s Day. Want a sure fire way to make absolutely certain that your mom will like you better than any of your siblings this Mother’s Day?? (that IS what we are all after, anyways, right??? ;) )

MAKE.THIS.CAKE.

Can I make a confession? When I photograph food for the blog, I usually don’t eat it all. Food just photographs better in bigger portions. I mean, can you imagine if I ate all of these?!? So, when I cut a giant hunk of this cake to photograph for this post, I had no intention of eating it all. Then I took a bite. Holy Moley! I proceeded to stop, standing in my kitchen and eat the entire piece. There was nothing stopping me, it was just too good.

So, as I said, need some huge mom points?? Look no further.

Another great part about this cake? It is a lightened-up version of a pound cake (so I didn’t feel SO bad about my dinosaur sized portion!). Did you guys know that the name pound cake came from the original recipe? Pound of butter, pound of sugar, pound of flour. While I’m sure that version is outta this world, this version is considerably less artery clogging. Instead of all that butter, we use reduced-fat cream cheese, non-fat milk, vegetable oil, and just a bit of butter.

And lots of grapefruit zest!

I love the flavor of grapefruit. Tangy, sweet, slightly sour. Yum. When the zest is added to this cake you get tons of fresh, citrusy flavor. It makes the cake really light. Perfect for dessert, or with coffee for brunch!

You get another dose of grapefruit flavor by adding fresh squeezed grapefruit to the glaze. You reduce the juice on the stove top to really concentrate the flavor. Then add powdered sugar and it turns into sugary, silky, deliciousness.

Don’t fret about pulp in your juice! It adds more flavor AND gives the glaze sprinkles of color – who doesn’t like that?

After letting the cake cool, drizzle this over the top and let it run down the sides. Pretty and so tasty! The cake is light, fresh, super moist because of the cream cheese, and not at all heavy like you might expect a pound cake to be.

Make this for your mom and Mother’s Day is sure to be a huge success! Or make it for yourself and cut off a giant hunk! Hey, mom wouldn’t have mother’s day if it weren’t for you right??? :)

 

Love you Mom! Have a fantastic Mother’s Day everyone!

Enjoy!

 

Grapefruit Pound Cake
Recipe adapted from Cooking Light
Ingredients
  • 9 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 5/8 teaspoon salt, divided
  • 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
  • 6 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 6 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons grated grapefruit rind
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup fat free milk
  • 1/2 cup fresh grapefruit juice
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 325°
  2. Coat a 10-inch tube pan with baking spray. Combine flour, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, stirring well. Place granulated sugar, butter, and cream cheese in a stand mixer; beat with a mixer at high speed until light and fluffy. Add milk. Add eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in oil, rind, and vanilla.
  3. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to batter, beginning and ending with flour. Spoon batter into pan; bake at 325° for 55-70 minutes (begin checking at 55 min) or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs clinging. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Remove cake. Cool on rack.
  4. Place juice in a saucepan over medium-high heat; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 3 tablespoons (about 4 minutes). Cool slightly. Stir in powdered sugar and remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt. Drizzle over cooled cake.