California Winter Cake—White Chocolate + Grapefruit

California was a treat, my dudes. Comprised of the usual spate of woodworking, welding, and face-stuffing with tacos, it was a completely undeserved and welcome respite from Baltimore’s too-long winter. Obviously there were gobs of citrus too, and after a long while spent pining for the lemon cream that Yossy loves, I went grapefruit on it and figured it was cake-worthy. The results totally ruled, and little needs to be said about this excellent thing, except perhaps that it was born of a winter vacation to a summery place—and it shows. A standard white cake recipe from the best baking dudes, sandwiched with a perfectly bitter, citrusy cream, dressed in a white chocolate ermine frosting that might supersede all previous frosting allegiances, and topped with my favorite roasted white chocolate garnish. Make it if you’re seeking celebration or a big fat slice of end-of-winter Hell-Yes. 

For cake layers

Cake and frosting adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

Yield: Three 7- or 8-inch cake layers

2 1/2 cups of cake flour

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups ice cold water

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1.  Preheat the over the 325 degrees F. Butter and flour three 7- or 8-inch round cake pans with removable bottoms. Sift the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.

2.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and shortening on medium speed until creamy, three to four minutes. Add the sugar, and beat on medium speed until fluffy, about three minutes. Scrape down the bowl, add the vanilla and whole egg, and beat until just combined. Turn the mixer to low. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the ice water, in three separate additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down the bowl, then mix on low speed for a few more seconds.

3.  In a medium bowl, whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Do not overbeat. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter. Divide the batter among the prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack and let cool for ten minutes, then carefully remove cakes from pans and let cool completely. Remove the parchment.

4.  A tip for assembly: Have frosting and filling prepared when ready to assemble cake. The most important part of the whole she-bang? Pipe a generous, tall border of frosting around the edges of each layer, and fill the well with about a half-cup of grapefruit cream. The border will keep the cream from sandwiching out between the layers.

For white chocolate ermine frosting

6 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups milk

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, soft but cool, cut into small pieces

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1.  Using either a double boiler or a microwave, melt the white chocolate and set it aside to cool.

2.  In a medium heavy-bottom saucepan, whisk the sugar and flour together. Add the milk and cream to cook over high heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Allow to boil for one minute, whisking quickly the whole time and being very careful not to scorch; all told this takes about ten minutes.

3.  Transfer the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed until cool; the goal is to have the mixture be cool enough to emulsify rather than melt the butter. Reduce the speed to medium and add the butter; mix until thoroughly incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy.

Add the vanilla and white chocolate and continue mixing until combined; it should thicken immediately. Use right away or, if frosting is too thin, thicken it up in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes until it reaches desired consistency.

For the grapefruit cream filling

Adapted from Tartine Bakery, via Food52

Yield: 2 ½ cups, about twice what you'll need for a cake

1 cup grapefruit juice, reduced to ½ cup  

2 tablespoons lemon juice

3 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

6 tablespoons granulated sugar

Pinch salt

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces

1. Pour water to a depth of about 2 inches into a saucepan, place over medium heat, and bring to a simmer. Combine the juice, whole eggs, yolk, sugar, and salt in a stainless steel bowl that will rest securely in the rim of a saucepan over, not touching, the water. (Never let the egg yolks and sugar sit together for more than a moment without stirring; the sugar will cure the yolks and turn them granular.)

2.  Place the bowl over the saucepan and continue to whisk until the mixture becomes very thick and registers 180 degrees F on a thermometer—ten to 12 minutes. Remove the bowl from over the water and let cool to 140 degrees F, stirring from time to time to release the heat.

3.  When the base is cool, pour it into a countertop blender. With the blender running, add the butter one tablespoon at a time, blending after each addition until incorporated before adding the next piece. The cream will be pale yellow and thick. It can be used immediately, but I had better results letting it thicken up in the fridge more. The cream will keep covered in the fridge for five days; do not store in a metal bowl.

Grapefruit Olive Oil Snacking Cake

Just a few months after graduating from university, I high-tailed it for the east coast along with one of my best college buddies. My reasons were lousy—I was blinded by love!—but they ended up being a fortuitous mistake. Courtney and I replied to a Craigslist housing ad titled, "Ahoy, Future Housemateys," from which we met Bobbie and Katie J., and I ended up making some of my life's greatest friends. DC has been so strangely magnetic the past few years, in fact, that California was difficult to miss unless my folks sent a box of avocados my way or the weather at Christmas was shorty shorts–appropriate.

To be totally fair though, my going to California was a rarity—a strictly holiday occasion. And then, in my ranging young adulthood, I've found myself at home in San Diego for an entire three weeks and going on the final fourth. It was high-time to spend some valuable moments with my folks, both of whom have so much to teach that's impossible to learn on the other side of the country. So here I am: welding and soldering with Dad, getting jewelry-making feedback and sewing help from Mom, learning the long-term relationship virtues of nitpicking and pretending not to know your partner in public. It's been great! The totally unexpected added bonus on being home has been the pounds upon pounds of citrus foisted upon us by neighbors. White grapefruit, California Key limes, regular ol' limes, Meyer lemons, oranges galore—basically all the fixings to finally make this—are overflowing from the fruit basket on our counter. Since my folks don't themselves eat a lot of plain citrus, I've been baking a bunch of fruity desserts to hand right back to the neighbors. And for the first time in a long time, California actually feels like home and I'm not looking an iota forward to leaving again. Ceaseless citrus can have that effect.

Grapefruit Olive Oil Cake
Adapted from Melissa Clark

Melissa Clark's original recipe is for a blood orange cake, but our neighbors don't grow those! As you'll read in the instructions below, I topped our cake with a layer of pithless grapefruit slices, which is why it looks custardy in the center; they sank and were delicious that way. Our grapefruit was also pretty bitter, and we all enjoyed that about the cake, but you can leave out the chunks of fruit if you're concerned about the bitterness, or just be sure to use sweeter grapefruit.

Zest from two large grapefruits, white or pink or ruby red
Scant 1 cup granulated sugar
Juice of one-half grapefruit
About 1/2 cup plain yogurt
3 large eggs
2/3 cup olive oil, the fruitier the better
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
3 tablespoons granulated sugar, for top

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10-inch cake round with olive oil. Grate zest from both grapefruits and place in a bowl with sugar. Using your fingers, rub ingredients together until zest is evenly distributed in sugar and the oils are released.

2.  Halve a grapefruit and squeeze one-half of it into a measuring cup to yield about one-quarter cup juice. Set aside. If your grapefruit is sweet, slice the pith and peel off of the second grapefruit, following the curve of the fruit, so that nothing but grapefruit flesh is visible; cut the ends off and slice grapefruit into quarter-inch rounds. Set aside. Keep in mind that bitter fruit will yield bitter bites, which is a-okay by my family, but not be your audience’s fave. You can skip the fruit altogether if you’re so inclined, but those juicy fruit pockets are nice. Beauty of being the baker? It’s your prerogative.

3.  Back to the grapefruit juice: fill rest of measuring cup with yogurt until you have two-thirds cup of liquid altogether. Pour mixture into bowl with sugar and whisk well. Whisk in eggs. Whisk in oil well.

4.  In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gently whisk dry ingredients into wet ones. Scrape batter into pan and smooth top, then sprinkle with a tablespoon of sugar. Top with a single layer of grapefruit slices, followed by the remaining two tablespoons of sugar.

5.  Bake cake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until it is golden and a toothpick inserted into center comes out free of batter (note that some fruit may cling to cake tester). Cool on a rack for ten minutes, then unmold and cool to room temperature right-side up. Dust with powdered sugar or top with some whipped cream if that’s your thang. Cake will keep covered at room temperature for a few days!

Tourteau de Chevre with Grapefruit Honey Sorbet

I'm packin' it in, y'all. After nearly four years at my job as the senior editor for an awesome and essential civil rights group, and after being in DC for the same most excellent, challenging, and straight-up real period of time, I'm headed up to Maine to learn how to make goat cheese and acquire some serious business skills. I have two months left at my job -- very advanced notice, I know -- before putting myself out to pasture at a 100-acre goat farm in central Maine, a little bit north of Bangor. I'll be there until the end of the season, milking goats, making cheese, doing untold numbers of farm chores, and helping manage a farmers market or two, all in the name of learning about business and putting my food and field chops to the test.

Maybe I'll come back to DC with a little more forward momentum toward starting a business, or maybe I'll stay up there or go somewhere else to continue learning about farming and the like for a second season. I've had thoughts of making the most of some of my work connections to get into screenwriting and deeper into production, I still think about going to library school, and I also dream about doing public engagement work for a museum or arts organization. I also have no idea whether this stint will lead me back, long sigh, to the predictability of my cubicle -- yes, the path is clear for this one. All the same, I am very pumped!

I guess this is a little contrived, but bear with me and pretend it's sorta cute that I'm sharing this tourteau de chevre in honor of my goat cheesy celebration. Joey nailed it when he called this a cross between a cheese cake and an angel food cake. It's lighter than it looks -- a drier cheese cake with a pretty light goat cheese taste all within a sweetened pastry crust. Lottie + Doof served his with grape sorbet, but after Joey and I had a killer goat cheese panna cotta with grapefruit in North Carolina the other day, we had to try it with this grapefruit honey sorbet. The combination might seem like a mismatch, but it's totally delicious. Even so, Bobbie ate this with caramel, Joey topped it with maple syrup, I had it drizzled with honey, and we all agreed that spicy blackberry syrup would have been a nice topper too.

Besides, if your farmers markets are anything like ours right now -- that is to say, barely open -- then you could consider this a great, nonfussy dessert for the transition to spring. It will pair well with whatever fruit you have available, plus it's equally good with wine, beer, or coffee. Joey had it for breakfast too, but that's more a quality of his than a quality of the cake's. I hope you enjoy!

Tourteau de Chevre

Adapted from Lottie + Doof

I had to make this in a 9-inch pan because I couldn't find my 8-inch, so it's not as tall and glorious as Tim's was. The instructions below are for an 8-inch pan, but if yours is missing too, just roll the crust out to about 1.5 inches larger than called for and start checking to see if it's finished between 25 and 30 minutes into the second round of baking.

Tart Dough (see below)
5 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
9 ounces soft goat cheese
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Generously butter an 8-inch springform pan.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a circle that’s about 10 1/2 inches in diameter. Fit the dough into the springform pan, pressing it against the bottom and about halfway up the sides. Don't worry if dough pleats and folds on itself; do your best to smooth it out and don't worry about being perfect. Put the springform in the fridge while you make the filling.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, whip the egg whites with the salt until they start to form soft peaks. Still whipping, gradually add 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and beat until the whites hold firm, but still glossy peaks. If the whites are in the bowl of your stand mixer, transfer them gently to another bowl.

4. With the mixer—use the paddle attachment now—beat the egg yolks, goat cheese, the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, the cornstarch, and vanilla until very smooth and creamy, about a minute or two. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir one quarter of the whites into the mixture to lighten it, then gently fold in the rest of the whites. Scrape the batter into the crust and put the springform on the lined baking sheet.

5. Bake for 15 minutes, then turn the oven temperature down to 350 degrees F. Continue to bake for about 30 to 35 minutes more, or until the top, which will have cracked, is dark brown and firm; a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let the tourteau rest for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the sides of the springform. Cool the cake completely to room temperature before serving. It will deflate as it cools. Cake will keep covered in the fridge for about one week. I actually thought it tasted better the second day after a night in the fridge, but I leave that up to you!

Tart Dough
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 large egg
1 teaspoon ice water

1. Put the flour, sugar, and salt in the processor and whir a few times to blend. Scatter the butter over the flour and pulse several times to blend. Then pulse until the butter is coarsely mixed into the flour, with texture ranging from small peas to oatmeal flakes. Beat the egg with the ice water and pour it into the bowl in 3 small additions, whirring after each one. The food process will change its sound a little, grumbling at you and getting deeper. The dough should be moist and malleable, and com together when pinched. Turn the it out onto a work surface, gather into a ball, and flatten dough into a disk.

2. Chill the dough for at least three hours.

Grapefruit Honey Sorbet

Makes about three cups

2 cups fresh-pressed grapefruit juice

1 teaspoon grapefruit zest

1/4 cup cup + 2 tablespoons mild honey, or to taste

1. Whir the juice, zest, and honey in a food processor or blender until all evenly mixed and honey is dissolved, about one minute. Taste for balance; sorbet will taste pretty much how it does as juice. Chill for a few hours until mixture is very cold. Process according to ice cream manufacturer's instructions. Sorbet will keep covered for about a week. After that it gets pretty hard and icy, but won't lose flavor!