Polly: Ready to order?
Danny: Er, yeah. What's a gralefrit?
Polly: Grapefruit.
Danny: And creme pot...pot rouge?
Polly: Portugaise. Tomato soup.
Danny: I'll have the gralefrit. Now - balm carousel. Lamb?
Polly: Casserole.
Danny: Sounds good. Does it come with a smile?
Polly: It comes with sprouts or carrots.
Danny: Oh, smile's extra, is it?
Polly: You'll get one if you eat up all your sprouts.
-- Fawlty Towers, "A Touch of Class"
As promised, dear friends, it is time to share the recipe for gralefrit grapefruit cake.
The original recipe is from The Brown Derby Restaurant Book, but I found it via Gale Gand, who offers the recipe in Butter Sugar Flour Eggs. Brown Derby Grapefruit Cake, according to The Brown Derby Restaurant Book, was created by the restaurant's owner, Robert Cobb (also the creator of the Cobb salad), after the Hearst gossip powerhouse Louella Parsons suggested to him that the menu needed more diet items. I agree with Chef Gand (and her co-authors, Rick Tramonto and Julia Moskin) that any diet that includes cream cheese icing is my idea of a good time. Actually, the whole cake is my idea of a good time. The crumb is slightly drier than that of the average butter cake; it reminds me of the sponge cakes we used for European tortes in culinary school. It is made much softer by the presence of the icing, and by fresh grapefruit sections in the middle layer and atop the cake. it tastes both sweet and sour, and it is soft, so soft, on the palate. The icing is gorgeous, too, creamy and tart and speckled with pink grapefruit vesicles that give the impression of confetti. Because I was unlucky enough to get a pair of grapefruit that would not section cleanly, I omitted the grapefruit sections for the top and middle, but had I added them, I think the cake would have been even better. As it is, it's delightful, and except for a bit of palaver involving the zesting of citrus and the squeezing of juice, it's as easy as blushing.
Brown Derby Grapefruit Cake
(makes 1 9-inch cake; serves 8-12, depending on the delicacy of your company)
For the cake:
3 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice
3 tablespoons freshly-grated grapefruit zest
1/2 teaspoon freshly-grated lemon zest
1 1/2 cups (6 oz.) sifted cake flour
3/4 cup (5 1/4 oz.) granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
For the icing:
2 grapefruit (I like pink or red varietals like Star Ruby, both for the icing and the cake)
12 ounces cream cheese, slightly softened but still cool
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon freshly-grated lemon zest
3/4 cup (4 3/4 oz.) confectioner's sugar
Preheat the oven to 350F degrees (Gas Mark 4). Butter a 9" cake pan and line with a parchment circle. Butter the parchment and dust the pan with flour.
In a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer), beat the egg yolks. Drizzle the oil in slowly; the mixture will look like a concentrated mayonnaise. With the motor running, drizzle in the grapefruit juice. Add the zests and mix. The mixture will look foamy and thick.
Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add to the egg mixture and mix until well-combined. The batter will be very thick.
In a clean dry bowl (I use a little copper bowl for this, but any bowl is fine as long as it is clean and absolutely grease-free), whip the egg whites until stiff but not dry; they should still look glossy. Stir about 1/4 of the egg whites into the batter to lighten, then fold the rest in until just combined. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until the center springs back when pressed with a fingertip. (I gave it 35 in my oven, which tends to run cool, and it was perfect. Be sure to test in the center, as the edges will test as done before the center does.) Let rest for 15 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack. Peel off the parchment, re-invert, and let cool completely.
For the icing, cut the tops and bottoms off the grapefruit, then slice off the peel and pith, following the curve of the fruit. Cut the grapefruit into sections (these are also known as "supremes", with a short "e"
and let them drain on paper towels; they will give up a lot of juice. As they drain, beat the cream cheese in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or in a medium bowl with a hand mixer, until fluffy. Mix in the lemon juice and zest. Add the sugar gradually and beat until the mixture is smooth, but slightly stiff. Chop one grapefruit section until you have two teaspoons of fruit. (You may need another section; feel free to use it.) Stir the chopped grapefruit into the icing.
To assemble, slice the cake in half horizontally with a serrated knife. Lift off the top layer and set aside; set the bottom layer on a cake plate. Ice the cut side, arrange half the grapefruit sections over the icing, and top with the top layer. Ice the sides, then the top, of the cake. Top with the remaining grapefruit sections.
A postscript: While googling about for more information on this cake, I discovered two things: 1. Although the original Brown Derby is long gone, a facsimile exists at Disney-MGM Grand Studios at Walt Disney World, where both Brown Derby Grapefruit Cake and Cobb Salad are on the menu. Whether this is a happy ending or a sign of the coming apocalypse is strictly a matter of opinion. 2. Long before I thought it would be a good idea to make this cake, both Anna at Cookie Madness and Nina at Sweet Napa had the same idea. Their cakes are beautiful and their essays are delightful to read. Go see.