My husband and I have been really into grapefruits lately.  Whole Foods has been getting these big Harbor Island grapefruits that are just incredible.  They are so amazingly sweet, and oh so juicy!  I swear I could easily squeeze a cup of juice from each one.  We have been waiting for the girls to go to sleep, and then we dig in.  You would think we were doing something scandalous, but no, just eating perfect grapefruits.  Since I am not a big fruit person, this is a really big deal for me.  I can basically go weeks without fruit and not miss it one bit, but these grapefruits are something else.

I saw this recipe in Cooking Light the other month, before we went on our grapefruit bingeing – and because we were enjoying them so much, I decided to make this cake.  Boy was I glad I did – I knew when I saw the ingredients that it was going to be good – adding cream cheese to just about anything makes it creamy and delicious, and the cake was no exception.  If you are not a big grapefruit fan, you will probably still love this – it is not an overpowering flavor, it comes out mostly in the glaze.  The cake was very moist, especially for a light cake, and had some dearth to it, like a good pound cake should.  I will definitely be making this again – as soon as I have an extra grapefruit lying around…

Ingredients

•   Baking spray with flour
• 9 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 5/8 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 6 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
• 2  large eggs
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 tablespoons grated grapefruit rind
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
• 1/2 cup fresh grapefruit juice
• 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325°.

Coat a 10-inch tube pan with baking spray. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, stirring well. Place granulated sugar, butter, and cream cheese in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in oil, rind, and vanilla.

Add flour mixture and milk alternately to batter, beginning and ending with flour. Spoon batter into pan; bake at 325° for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs clinging. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Invert cake. Cool on rack.

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 cake.

For a printer-friendly version of this recipe, please click here:  Grapefruit Pound Cake