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

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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.

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Lavender Wild Berry Muffins

Lavender Wild Berry Muffins

Growing up, some weekday mornings were far more special than the others. My mom is a teacher, and somehow in her mad rush to get my sister and I up, dressed, fed, and out the door, she occasionally found the time to bake muffins for breakfast and those were the very best mornings. You knew it was muffin day right when you opened your eyes because that freshly baked smell wafted through the house, greeting you as you rolled out of the bed. My absolute favorite muffins were these little wild berry muffins, the dry ingredients coming in a little pouch tucked in next to the cornbread mix on the bottom row of the grocery store shelves. I’ve also always wondered how likely it was that a packaged muffin mix actually used wild-grown berries, they probably should have been named mixed berry muffins, but the word wild made them feel even cooler. Regardless, we would split open the warm muffins, slather them with butter, and then wrap them in paper towels to eat in the car on the way to school. What a great way to start the day.

These are the muffins I make when I want to pretend I’m back in elementary school, eating muffins in the backseat. You can mix in any berries you want, wild or otherwise, frozen or fresh, just make sure that you go heavy on the berries. My ideal muffin is just a scoop of berries, barely bound together by batter. Most muffins are made using a liquid fat and the blending method, with the primary focus being moisture and tenderness. These muffins, however, are made using room temperature butter and the creaming method, like a cake, making them a tall and fluffy bakery-style muffin. I like to sprinkle them with just a bit of crunchy demerara sugar, but they would also be great with a crumb topping or even no topping at all. Don’t forget to finish them with a big pat of butter and a sprinkle of flaky salt.

Lavender Wild Berry Muffins 

Yield: 15 muffins

Ingredients

1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature 

1/2 cup (110 g) granulated sugar

1/2 cup (95 g) brown sugar

1 tbsp dried lavender

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt

2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour

1/4 cup (60 g) whole milk

2 tbsp whole milk yogurt 

1 1/3 cup (about 200 g) mixed berries, frozen or fresh

demerara sugar for sprinkling, optional

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners. 

2. In a small bowl, combine granulated sugar and lavender and rub with your fingers until fragrant and set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. Add a tablespoon of the flour mixture to the berries and toss to coat. In a glass measuring cup, combine milk and yogurt. Set all of this aside for now. 

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, brown sugar, and sugar and lavender mixture. Cream on medium speed until light and fluffy and no chunks of butter remain. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 

5. With the mixer on low speed, add eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract and mix until smooth and homogenous. 

6. With the mixer on low speed, alternate between adding the dry ingredients and the milk/yogurt mixture, starting and ending with dry ingredients (dry-wet-dry-wet-dry). 

7. When the last of the dry ingredients have been added, remove the bowl from the mixer and scrape down the sides to ensure everything is well-combined. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold in the berries until they are evenly distributed. 

8. Use a large cookie scoop to portion batter into your prepared muffin cups, sprinkle with demerara sugar and bake for 20-25 minutes until muffins are tall and golden brown, and a knife or toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Cool slightly and then enjoy warm, split open and slathered with lots of butter and flaky salt. 

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Banana Muffins with Cinnamon Oat Crumble

My aunt makes the best banana bread. When I was a kid, every year after Christmas, all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins would squeeze into a condo on Pensacola beach for three or four days for the New Year’s holiday. The highlight of this trip was always banana bread. When we got to the condo, there would be petite-sized loaves wrapped in red and green cellophane sitting atop the small, beige-colored countertop and it was all my sister and I could do not to consume all of them in the first afternoon. As I got older and started puttering around in the kitchen, I asked my aunt for her recipe and began making my own banana breads. I had a very elaborate system for how to cool, rest, and wrap these little dark, speckle-y loaves in order to maximize that gooey top layer synonymous with banana bread and I would always save that little top ridge for my last, most savored bites.

But sometimes you get tired of making banana bread, especially if you’re anything like me and seems you always have a never-ending supply of too ripe bananas. My husband loves muffins and always requests them when we have a surplus of bananas rapidly browning on the counter, but I have never been able to master that sticky, soft top layer on the muffin. But, alas, I have come up with a solution to the problem. This cinnamon oat topping is not a traditional bakery-style muffin topping. I actually developed it from a cobbler recipe, so this is the real-deal crunch topping. Oats and brown sugar are bound together by a hefty amount of softened butter and you are really going to lay it on thick so that you get some of that crunchy goodness in each bite. Who knows, maybe this year I’ll wrap them in red and green cellophane and send them to my nieces and nephews to carry on the aunt who makes the best banana baked goods tradition.

Banana Muffins with Cinnamon Oat Crumble

Yield: 12 large muffins

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 large, ripe bananas

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled 

for the crumble: 

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

2 tbsp + 2 tsp light brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt 

4 tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cubed 

Procedure: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 12 muffin cups, or line with cupcake liners, and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In medium sized bowl, combine sugar, mashed bananas, egg, and coconut oil. Use a whisk to mix well, until combined and homogenous. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth and no dry spots remain. Use a large cookie scoop to divide among prepared muffin tin and set aside.

4. To make the crumble: In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer), combine flour, oats, cinnamon, salt, and brown sugar. Stir together. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the butter. When all the butter has been added, increase speed to medium and beat until fully incorporated and no dry spots remain.

5. Use your fingers to scatter oat topping evenly over the muffin batter. Bake for 18-22 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until muffins are golden brown and the tops spring back slightly when touched. Let muffins cool for 5 minutes in pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.