Grapefruit Cakes with Lemon & Orange Zest

Last week I was submitting my photos to Foodgawker (in hopes that they will accept them and increase my blog traffic), when I saw a photograph of adorable little cakes they posted from another food blogger.

I clicked on the photograph to find a beautiful blog called the little kitchen and a recipe for Mini Meyer Lemon Bundt Cakes, inspired by a recipe for Tangerine Cake from Everyday Food.

I decided I just had to make these cakes. Why?  I've had a mini Bundt cake pan for at least three years and can't remember if I've ever used it. Plus, I love anything and everything miniature and also enjoy citrus flavored desserts.

Of course, when I went to my grocery store they didn't have Meyer lemons. I decided to use the juice of a grapefruit and the zest from an orange and lemon and change the little kitchen's recipe into Grapefruit Cakes with Lemon & Orange Zest.

Grapefruit Cakes with Lemon & Orange Zest

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons zest from an orange and a lemon
1/4 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
1/3 cup fat-free plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a 12-cup mini Bundt cake pan with baking spray {I of course just used regular spray and my cakes STUCK. My mom said I should have just used butter.}(note from my editor Dana: baking spray is just regular spray with fine flour/starch added.  If you spray the pans then flour them, banging out excess flour, they will work perfectly.)

2. In a large bowl using a hand mixer {if you have one} cream butter and sugar for about 3-5 minutes. Add eggs and mix well. Add the orange and lemon zest and grapefruit juice and combine.

3. In another bowl combine the flour, baking soda and salt.
4. Add a third of the flour mixture and half of the yogurt into the butter/sugar mixture and mix. Repeat with the rest of the flour and yogurt. Make sure not to overmix.
5. Here's where I did not follow the directions from the little kitchen: She said to "using a medium or large cookie scoop, add 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons to each bundt cake cavity. Instead, I pretty much divided the dough amongst the 12 cups. If you use the original instructions, you'll definitely have some dough left over. If you use my directions, your mini cupcakes will spill over.
6. Tap the Bundt cake pan to release the bubbles and bake for 15-20 minutes until the cakes have turned golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
7. Invert the pan onto a parchment-lined cooling rack. Remove the pan and let the cakes rest for 15 minutes.

{Clearly, most of my cakes decided to stay inside the pan.}

8. Dust the cakes with powdered sugar.

So this was not a 100% successful outcome, but mostly it was my fault for not following directions. I take the blame. Still, the cakes that did manage to come out of the pan were moist, sweet, and light. And they looked really pretty!

I have one more recipe to share with you before 2011 is over, and that one was a 100% success!