Grapefruit Poppy Seed Cake with Bay Leaf Glaze: Bundt-Muffins and a Loaf!

I don’t know about you, but it has a been a week over here! Last week, I went to plug my external hard drive into my computer and it started making a very suspect clicking noise. It refused to show up on my computer and when I tell you that my heart dropped into my stomach, I am not exaggerating. I spent the next few hours unsuccessfully trying to get my computer to read my hard drive, followed by a few days of anxious hand-wringing and lots of tears. Friends, it’s gone. My pictures from the last three years. All of the typed copies of my recipes. Invoices and business information. It’s all gone. (I’m still planning on sending my hard drive away to a magical technologically-advanced person in hopes that they can recover all of my data, but that’s a pricey expense, so at least for now, it’s all gone.) It’s been a lot to wrap my head around and part of me feels a little like I’m starting over completely, which is a very scary thing. I’m very thankful that I run this here blog, where all of my recipes are saved on the internet. I’m also thankful that I have a plethora of notebooks full of scribbled recipes. I’m extra thankful that I’d already uploaded a bunch of images for the freelance projects I was working on and that I use a design website for a lot of my invoicing. All of that being said, losing all that you’ve created over the past three years is very emotionally-taxing and calls for cake.

So I’ve been trying to focus on things I can control, prying my eyes away from my computer and getting back to baking new things. These cute little bundt-muffins have been the perfect distraction this week. I set out to make little bundt cakes, but slightly over-filled my molds. When I took the cakes out of the oven, they had risen into perfect little muffin tops that I couldn’t bear to get rid of, so here we have bundt-muffins—the newest breakfast cake you didn’t know you needed. This cake recipe is also the most versatile I’ve ever made. In addition to 12 little bundt-muffins, it makes an entire loaf cake. Or you can make a bunch of bundt-muffins and no loaf cake. Or you can make two loaf cakes! Or you can make just plain muffins, no bundt. Or you can even try baking it in a 9x13 pan! SO MANY OPTIONS. Whatever combination brings you the most joy, I’m here for it.

A few practical notes: You can sub the grapefruit for any citrus you have on hand and the bay leaves for another hearty herb or flower. While I love the grapefruit-bay leaf flavor combo, a lemon rosemary pairing would be delightful, as would an orange-bay leaf or lime-coconut duo. As always with my recipes, I encourage you to play around a bit.

grapefruit, loaf cake, bundt, citrus, cake, baking

cakes and pies

Yield: Makes 12 miniature bundt-muffins + 1 loaf

Author: Anna Ramiz

Print

With ImageWithout Image

Grapefruit and Poppy Seed Baby Bundt-Muffins (+ Loaf) with Bay Leaf Glaze

Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 20 M

Ingredients

for the cake

• 1 cup +2 tbsp (250 g) buttermilk
• 1/2 cup (130 g) whole-milk greek yogurt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cup (280 g) granulated sugar
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• Juice of 1/2 of a large grapefruit
• Zest of a whole large grapefruit
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 2/3 cup + 1 tbsp (460 g) all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tbsp poppy seeds

for the glaze

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 bay leaves (dried)
• 1 1/2 cups (180 g) powdered sugar
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Grease 12 miniature bundt pans with butter and dust with flour. Grease a loaf pan and line with parchment paper.
2. In a large measuring cup, stir together buttermilk and yogurt. Add baking soda and set aside while you prepare the rest of the batter. (The mixture will get foamy, it’s just the acid reacting with the baking soda.)
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter and sugar. Beat for 1-2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the grapefruit zest and vanilla and mix again to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
5. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, followed by the grapefruit juice.
6. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and buttermilk in 3:2 increments- 1/3 dry, 1/2 buttermilk, 1/3 dry, 1/2 buttermilk, 1/3 dry. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and fold batter a few times with a rubber spatula to ensure that the mixture is combined and homogenous.
7. Place just under 1/2 of the batter into a piping bag and pipe into the prepared bundt pans, filling 2/3 full. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown, and then cool for 5 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a cooling rack.
8. While the miniature bundts are baking, pour the remaining batter into the loaf pan and smooth with an offset spatula.
9. Turn the oven temperature down to 350°F and bake the loaf for 45-50 minutes until golden brown and a knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 20-30 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack.

to make the glaze

1. Combine heavy cream and bay leaves in a small saucepan. Turn heat to medium low and bring cream to a simmer. When hot and just starting to bubble, remove the cream from the stove and cover. Let steep for 30 minutes, then strain out bay leaves.
2. Place powdered sugar and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in 6-8 tablespoons of the steeped cream, adding more by the tablespoon to reach your desired consistency. Drizzle over muffins and loaf immediately.

Notes:

You can sub the grapefruit for any citrus you have on hand and the bay leaves for another hearty herb or flower. While I love the grapefruit-bay leaf flavor combo, a lemon rosemary pairing would be delightful, as would an orange-bay leaf or lime-coconut duo. As always with my recipes, I encourage you to play around a bit.

https://www.gatheredatmytable.com/main/2021/1/28/grapefruit-poppy-seed-cake-with-bay-leaf-glaze-bundt-muffins-and-a-loaf

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @gatheredatmytable on instagram and hashtag it #gatheredatmytable

Created using The Recipes Generator

more recipes like this

Lemon Olive Oil Loaf with Pluot Basil Jam

Browned Butter and Nectarine Upside Down Cake with Honey Whipped Cream

Lavender Wild Berry Muffins

Cardamom, Orange, and Ricotta Buche De Noel

Merry Christmas Eve, friends! I hope you are still in your pajamas, sipping coffee, baking cookies and watching Christmas movies. I took on one last freelance recipe development project for the year, which I finished up late last night so as soon as I click “publish” on this blog post, I’m on vacation! Since I’ve been working all week, I haven’t baked one single Christmas-y treat so today, I’ll be deep in cinnamon roll dough and banana bread. I cannot wait.

But first, no Christmas dessert collection is complete without a Buche De Noel (or a Yule log cake). These are far simpler than they look. A Buche de Noel aka roulade aka jelly roll is simply a sponge cake, filled with some sort of cream or jelly, rolled and frosted to look like a Yule log. My rendition features a cardamom and orange flavored sponge, an orange ricotta cream reminiscent of cannoli filling, and a chocolate cardamom buttercream. There are so many different ways to decorate your cakes, do a simple google search for ideas and make it your own!

After 12 days of brand new recipes here on the blog, I’ll be taking a few weeks off. I have a new baby niece that I’m dying to snuggle and we are right in the middle of buying our first home so I’ll be packing and unpacking like a mad woman. It’s been a wild year, but I’ve been so blessed to be able to share it with you all in my little baby internet food community. See you in 2021!

buche de noel, yule log cake, cake, christmas, holiday baking, christmas recipes, sponge cake

Yield: makes one yule log cake

Author: Anna Ramiz

Print

With ImageWithout Image

Cardamom, Orange, and Ricotta Buche de Noel

Prep time: 1 H & 30 MCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 1 H & 45 M

A traditional Christmas cake featuring an orange cardamom sponge, filled with orange ricotta cream and frosted with a fudge-y cardamom frosting. Sponge recipe adapted from Helen Goh and Yotam Ottolenghi.

Ingredients

for the cardamom sponge cake

• 8 eggs, separated
• 2/3 cup + 2 tbsp (140 g) granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp orange juice
• 1/2 tsp orange zest
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp (80 g) all purpose flour
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt
• powdered sugar, for dusting

for the orange ricotta cream

• 1/2 cup (115 g) heavy cream
• 1/4 cup (30 g) powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup (110 g) whole milk ricotta cheese
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt

for the chocolate cardamom buttercream

• 1 stick (226 g) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 1/2 cup (70 g) powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 6 oz dark chocolate

Instructions

to make the sponge cake

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Line a rimmed half-sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, begin whipping the egg whites on medium speed. Once the whites become frothy, add the 1 1/2 tsp sugar and increase speed to medium-high. Whip until medium peaks form, then transfer to a large bowl and set aside.
3. In that same mixing bowl, combine egg yolks, remaining 140 g of sugar, orange juice, and orange zest. Whip on medium-high speed for about 4 minutes, until the mixture is thick and pale.
4. Meanwhile, whisk together flour, cardamom, and salt in a small bowl.
5. When the egg yolks are voluminous, remove the bowl from the stand mixer. Sprinkle half of the flour over the top of the yolks and gently fold in using a rubber spatula. Repeat with the remaining flour and mix carefully, just until no flour streaks remain.
6. Add 1/3 of the whipped egg whites to the mixture and gently fold them in. Repeat in two more additions with the remaining whites. When everything is folded in, the batter should be smooth and no streaks of egg whites should remain.
7. Pour into your prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan.
8. After the cake has been cooling for about 10 minutes, dust the top of the cake with a thin layer of powdered sugar. Turn the cake out onto a large clean dish towel and use a sharp knife to trim the edges.
9. Then working on a longer end and using the towel, gently roll the cake into a log. Let cool for at least 20 minutes before unrolling.

to make the orange ricotta cream

1. In a medium bowl, stir together ricotta, orange zest, vanilla, and salt.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip heavy cream on medium speed until soft peaks begin to form. Add the powdered sugar, and continue whipping until combined and thickened.
3. Gently fold whipped cream into the ricotta mixture and smooth in an even layer over the surface of your unrolled cake.
4. Chill the cake for about 30 minutes, or until you are ready to frost.

to make the buttercream

1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a bowl over a double-boiler. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, cardamom, salt, and vanilla. Beat for 1-2 minutes until butter is soft and smooth.
3. Add the powdered sugar and continue beating until frosting is thick and all of the powdered sugar has been combined.
4. With the mixer on low speed, gradually stream in chocolate, mixing until homogenized. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then mix for another minute or so, to ensure that everything is completely combined.

to assemble

1. Use a small offset spatula to coat the cake log in a layer of chocolate frosting.
2. Use a serrated knife to trim the edges, just so that they are straight and even. Cut a piece about 4” long from the end of the log and then cut that piece in half on a diagonal.
3. Place each diagonal piece on the edge of the log, to look like a yule log. Fill in the gaps with frosting and then use the spatula to create waves in the log to look like bark. Decorated with pomegranate arils, rosemary springs, cranberries, or any over desired foresty-decorations.

https://www.gatheredatmytable.com/main/2020/12/8/buche-de-noel

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @gatheredatmytable on instagram and hashtag it #gatheredatmytable

Created using The Recipes Generator

Cafe Con Leche Cheesecake

Inspired by my favorite Latin drink, cafe con leche, this fluffy, layered cheesecake recipe is spiked with strong espresso and kahlua. A decadent, coffee cheesecake topped with a tart sour cream whipped cream.

I didn’t know what home tasted like until I went away to college. There are so many flavors and smells that we associate with different people and places in our life. The smell of Boursin cheese makes me think of my Aunt’s house in North Carolina and her many many area rugs (which are beautiful and I would love for my house now). The smell of bread and sausage reminds me of my grandmother cooking in her kitchen in Pensacola, making big batches of briolata. But home, with all of it’s flavors and smells, alluded me until fall of my freshman year of college.

I grew up in South Florida and moved a few hours north to Orlando to attend UCF many (but not too many) years ago. The first few months, my roommate and I were pretty homesick and utterly baffled at the lack of Latin pastries available to us. In South Florida, there are Latin bakeries on every corner. There is a Colombian bakery, a Venezuelan Bakery, at least two Cuban bakeries, and one catch-all Hispanic food spot within a five minute drive of my parent’s house. You can even. get empanadas and croquettes at your local Publix, so imagine our surprise when we discovered that not even Publix in this new, empanada-free land of Orlando was able to come to our rescue.

That winter, when I came home for Christmas break, empanadas and cafe con leches were number one on my list. The first morning home, my sister and I got up early and drove (across the street) to Panna, our favorite local gas station/car wash/Latin-pastry heaven. We loaded up with brown paper bags full of basically everything on the shelf and 4 giant cafe con leches balanced precariously in a flimsy beverage carrier. It was Christmas, I was home, and everything was right with the world. Even now, Panna is the first stop when we exit I-75 for my little taste of home.

About the recipe:

Cafe con Leche is coffee from the gods. It is strong espresso with lots of milk and usually a little sweetened condensed milk. This cheesecake is a super-fun two-tone guy, with an espresso paste stirred into a third of the batter and spooned on top. The cheesecake base itself uses whipped egg whites to make it extra light and creamy and the whole thing is topped with a sweetened whipped cream/sour cream mixture. The crust is made from Maria cookies, a very Hispanic treat similar to a graham cracker. If you can’t find Maria cookies, you can definitely sub in graham crackers or gingersnaps or any other cookie you love. It’s a beautiful cheesecake and has cemented itself as a favorite in our family.

Yield

8-10

Author

Anna Ramiz

Prep time

30 Min

Cook time

1 Hour

Inactive time

5 Hour

Total time

6 H & 30 M

Print

With ImageWithout Image

Cafe Con Leche Cheesecake

Inspired by my favorite Latin drink, cafe con leche, this fluffy, layered cheesecake recipe is spiked with strong espresso and kahlua. A decadent, coffee cheesecake topped with a tart sour cream whipped cream.

Ingredients

for the crust

• 7 oz Maria Cookies *
• 1 tsp instant espresso
• 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, melted

for the cheesecake

• 2 lb cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups (150 g) granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1/4 cup (57 g) heavy cream
• 2 tbsp instant espresso
• 2 tbsp Kahlua

for the topping

• 3/4 cup (170 g) sour cream
• 1/4 cup (57 g) heavy cream
• 3 tbsp powdered sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

to make the crust

1. Preheat oven to 325° F and line the bottom of a 9” springform pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the cookies until finely ground. Add the espresso, sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt. Pulse a few more times, just to combine. Transfer the cookie mixture to a medium bowl and add the melted butter. Stir everything together until the mixture is moistened and no dry spots remain. Press the cookie crumbs into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan.

to make the cheesecake

1. In the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the whisk, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Transfer the whipped whites to another bowl and set aside.
2. Dissolve the instant espresso in heavy cream and set aside.
3. Return the mixing bowl to the stand mixer and switch to the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese until very smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together sugar and cornstarch until there are no clumps. Add the sugar and cornstarch to the mixer with the cream cheese and mix for 1-2 minutes until combined.
5. With the mixer on low speed, add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again and continue to mix until the batter is smooth and homogenous.
6. Remove In two additions, fold whipped egg whites into cheesecake batter until no streaks remain.
7. Pour two-thirds of the batter into the prepared pan. Add the espresso/heavy cream mixture to the remaining third of the batter, along with the Kahlua. Mix well to combine, and then pour in a layer on top of the cheesecake.
8. Place cheesecake in a water bath and bake for one hour. After an hour, turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in with the oven door closed for another hour. After two hours, remove the cheesecake from the oven, wrap in plastic wrap, and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

to make the topping

1. In the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the whisk, whip sour cream and heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and continue whipping until thick. Spoon whipped cream over the top of your chilled cheesecake and serve immediately.

Similar Recipes

La Vina Cheesecake

Espresso Chiffon Layer Cake with Chocolate Ganache Buttercream and Salted Caramel

Guava and Cheese Pastelitos

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @gatheredatmytable on instagram and hashtag it #gatheredatmytable