Triple Citrus Cake

I don't know about you, but I am loving the variety of citrus fruits that is available right now.  It kind of makes up for the fact that it is winter...well, not really.  But at least the beautiful lemons, grapefruits and oranges inspire me to want to use them in creative ways.  It is funny because when I was a kid I did not care for citrus fruits.  My exposure to grapefruit was my Dad cutting one in half, then covering it in a half inch thick layer of sugar to eat it.  Not the tastiest.  Then there were the boring conventional oranges that I would find on my school lunch plate...that always ended up being pushed to the side.  Now that I am an adult, at least I have exposed myself to good fresh citrus in different varieties and my views have changed. 

It makes me happy to see all the rows of meyer lemons, satsuma mandarins, and Rio Star grapefruits in the stores in their beautiful sunny warm colors.  The possibilities with these are endless!  I love a good Rio Star simply combined with bourbon for a refreshing winter drink, and this is citrus at its simplest, but I thought this weekend I would create something a little more elaborate.  I didn't just want to use one type of citrus, but 3, grapefruits, lemons and oranges! 

So I baked some citrus cake using all of them, as well as made a nice tart citrus curd to balance out the sweet cake.  I finished it off with a vegan cream cheese frosting, and the result was a beautiful sunny looking cake that would make anyone glad to be in the middle of citrus season. 

The different types of citrus combined made for a flavor unlike any other citrus cake I have made...tart and sweet, happiness in a cake!  here is the recipe if you would like to enjoy citrus the way I have!

Triple Citrus Cake

Makes 1 6 inch 4 layer cake

2 6 inch cake pans

Cake:

1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp sea salt

1 cup maple sugar or granulated sugar

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/3 cup fresh grapefruit juice

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup fresh orange juice
1 tsp organic lemon zest
1 tsp organic orange zest
1 tsp organic grapefruit zest
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 Tbsp cider vinegar

Citrus Curd:

1/2 cup fresh grapefruit juice
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh orange juice

1 Tbsp organic lemon zest

1 cup maple sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
pinch of sea salt

1/4 cup full fat coconut milk

1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

2 Tbsp earth balance vegan butter

Frosting:

2 pkgs tofutti cream cheese

1/2 cup reserved curd

6 Tbsp maple sugar
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
plant based red and yellow food coloring (if desired)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and position rack in center of oven. Line two six-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides with parchment paper. Coat parchment paper and pan sides with nonstick spray. Whisk flour, baking soda, sea salt, and sugar in a large bowl to blend well. Whisk oil, juice, vanilla extract together in small bowl to blend well, then whisk into the flour mixture until well blended. Whisk in cider vinegar and stir quickly (pale swirls will be in the batter, which is the baking soda reacting with the vinegar, which allows the cake to rise since there are no eggs). Transfer cake batter to prepared pan and bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Cool cake completely in pan on rack, about 1 hour. Cut around sides of pan to loosen. Turn cake out onto platter; peel off parchment paper. Let cool completely, then place in the fridge to chill until very cold to make slicing easier (since cakes with no eggs crumble easier). When chilled, slice cakes horizontally in half so that you have 4 layers.

To make the curd, combine maple sugar, cornstarch, and sea salt in a medium pot, and whisk until combined. Add the juice and zest and whisk until smooth. Heat over medium high heat whisking constantly until thickened to a curd or pudding like consistency, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in coconut milk, earth balance, vanilla and food coloring. Pour into a bowl, and let chill in the fridge until cold before using to fill cake.

To make frosting, whip cream cheese until smooth, then add half a cup of the citrus curd, maple sugar, vanilla and beat until smooth. Set aside in the fridge while you fill the cake.

To assemble cake, place one layer on a plate, and top with about a heaping 1/2 cup curd mixture. Spread out on layer but not all the way to the edge, because you don't want it to ooze. Top with another layer and repeat, then the next 2 layers ending with a top layer of cake. To frost cake, spread frosting over top and sides, smothing out as you go. Divide the remaining frosting into 2 bowls, and place a few drops of yellow food coloring into one and a few drops of both red and yellow into the other to create orange.  Blend each well, and pipe decoratively onto cake using a pastry bag or plastic ziplock with a hole in the corner. I piped the frosting around the top and bottom edges of the cake, but feel free to be creative!

*if you would like a 4 layer 9 inch cake, double this entire recipe and bake in two 9 inch cake pans.