‘Le Weekend’ loaf aka French-style pound cake with pink grapefruit
“Le Weekend” is a kind of French pound cake with a dense crumb that keeps and travels well, making it perfect for picnics. With autumn well under way, picnics might not be foremost on your mind, but this is a lovely cake to bake for snacking over a weekend. Any citrus works well here, though the pink grapefruit, with its sweet and slightly herbal note, is particularly lovely.
Ingredients
200g unsalted butter, cut into about 6 pieces
150g caster sugar
finely grated zest of 1 large pink grapefruit
150g plain flour
70g ground almonds
70g icing sugar
1¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp fine sea salt
4 eggs, at room temperature
FOR THE GLAZE
120g icing sugar
30ml juice from the pink grapefruit
Method
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 170C fan-forced (190C conventional) and line the base and sides of a standard loaf tin (about 1kg capacity and roughly 23cm x 13cm) with baking paper. Allow a generous overhang on all sides to make it easier to lift the cake out later.
Step 2
Put the butter in a small saucepan and place over low heat. When the butter has melted, remove from the heat and set aside to cool to tepid.
Step 3
Place the sugar and grapefruit zest in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix with the paddle attachment on medium speed until the sugar is fragrant and tinged pink. Remove the bowl from the mixer and sift into the bowl the flour, ground almonds, icing sugar, baking powder and salt. Return the bowl to the mixer, then, still using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed for a few seconds to combine.
Step 4
Beat the eggs lightly in a jug, then, with the mixer on low speed, add the eggs to the mixing bowl in a slow and steady stream. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl, then, on low speed, stream in the tepid melted butter. Mix until the batter is smooth and fully combined, then scrape the batter into the prepared loaf tin.
Step 5
Bake for about 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 15 minutes before pouring over the glaze.
Step 6
While the cake is in the oven, prepare the glaze. Sift the icing sugar into a medium bowl, then add the grapefruit juice. Stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.
Step 7
When the cake has been out of the oven for about 15 minutes, pour the glaze on top and allow the cake to cool completely before removing it from the tin and placing on a plate.
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Helen Goh is a chef and regular Good Weekend columnist.
