Ina Garten's Grapefruit Yogurt cake with a twist

Hey everyone,

To most cooks and bakers, Ina Garten is the queen. Her food is ridiculously amazing and she always puts forth the most delectable, flavorful, and beautiful dishes. She is a person I look up to (apart from Julia Child of course) and so when Thanksgiving came around, I wanted to do something different and unique and so I turned to Smitten Kitchen's adaptation of Ina's recipe for a Grapefruit Yogurt cake. 

Now typically, this cake uses a neutral vegetable oil, but I felt that the olive oil would also not overpower things too much - in addition because, I was going to soak the cake in a grapefruit syrup, the flavor of grapefruit would still shine through.

The recipe is wonderful an fantastically easy to make - and it has a very clean flavor - the tartness of the grapefruit cuts through the cake and gives it a fresh taste.

All in all, I call this one a success and Ina still remains the queen.

Grapefruit Yogurt Olive Oil cake 

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen who adapted it from Ina Garten

Yield: one loaf

1.5 cups all-purpose flour


2 teaspoons baking powder


1/2 teaspoon kosher salt


1 cup (plain whole-milk yogurt or non-fat yogurt (fat will keep this moist)

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar


3 extra-large eggs


1 tablespoon grated grapefruit zest

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


1/2 cup olive oil


1/3 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

For the glaze:


1 cup confectioners’ sugar


2 tablespoons freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a regular loaf pan with parchment paper.

2. Sift the dry ingredients together (left) and in the other bowl mix the wet ingredients with the grapefruit zest and vanilla. (right)

3.Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold the olive oil into the batter. 

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

5. Heat the grapefruit juice with 1 tablespoon sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

6. When the cake is done, let it cool completely. Pour the grapefruit syrup over the cake and allow it to soak in. 

7. For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and grapefruit juice and pour over the cake - make the icing thick so it looks pretty. (I forgot to take a picture of this - My bad lol)

Have fun!

Kartik