I Can Get Celebrity Gossip and Recipe Recommendations from the Same Place: Grapefruit-Poppy Seed Loaf Cake with Yogurt Glaze

I am a proud Wholigan, i.e., a devoted fan of the podcast Who? Weekly. The podcast covers the lives of D-List celebrities and tells you "Everything you need to know about the celebrities you don't." While celebrity (using that term loosely) gossip is podcast's reason for being, the best thing about Who? Weekly is hosts Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger, including their random banter about things that have nothing to do with the podcast. Bobby is a big fan of Bon Appétit's YouTube channel, and after he raved about Claire Saffitz's Grapefruit-Poppy Seed Loaf Cake with Yogurt Glaze (which he had baked and shared with Lindsey, who also enthusiastically endorsed it) on a Patreon episode, I felt compelled to give the recipe a try.

I love grapefruit, but I generally find that when it's incorporated into baked goods, the flavor doesn't come through as clearly as lemon, orange, or lime. I was hoping that this cake would finally be the grapefruit-y dessert that I've been hoping for.

The recipe is easy. You work grapefruit zest into sugar until the sugar is damp and fragrant; add eggs, oil, and vanilla, and beat until light; alternately add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and kosher salt) and Greek yogurt; and mix in grapefruit juice and poppy seeds. You pour the batter into a loaf pan to bake, and while the cake is still hot, you poke holes all over the top of the cake and brush on more grapefruit juice.
After the cake is completely cooled, you add a glaze of powdered sugar, yogurt, water, and salt. My glaze was a little runny and I think I probably could have reduced the small amount of water in the glaze or omitted it altogether. I sprinkled poppy seeds on top and waited until the glaze was dry to slice the loaf; it did not set completely firm.
My loaves (I made two) had a very thick, dark brown crust all the way around, so I might have overbaked them a bit. This loaf had just the right amount of poppy seeds in the batter -- enough to give it some interesting crunch, but not so much that they were overpowering. While the flavor definitely had a citrus-y character, it wasn't clearly grapefruit. The best part of each slice was the top third, because it has the most flavor both from the grapefruit juice brushed on after baking and the glaze. I think the glaze is a necessity for this cake.

I did not like this cake as much as Bobby and Lindsey. I thought this loaf was perfectly fine and I can't point to it having any technical defects, but it didn't knock my socks off and I probably wouldn't make it again. I'm still on the search for a super grapefruity baked grapefruit dessert!

Recipe: "Grapefruit-Poppy Seed Loaf Cake with Yogurt Glaze" by Claire Saffitz, available at bonappetit.com.

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