This perfectly tender and incredibly flavorful Vegan Grapefruit Olive Oil Cake may just be the best cake I have made yet! It doesn't get much better than a soft, fluffy, & eggless grapefruit cake with grapefruit glaze on top.
The best grapefruit cake recipe
The inspiration for this vegan grapefruit cake recipe came from two places.
First, way back when I went to a cooking based study abroad program in Italy and we made the most incredible Olive Oil Cake. This recipe was one of my favorites because it was so simple, yet the flavors were so distinct and the cake was so moist and fluffy. I knew I needed to create a vegan version someday!
Second, I had been really looking for a way to incorporate Grapefruit into my baking. Given that most olive oil cakes are paired with lemon or orange, grapefruit felt like the perfect way to spruce up a traditional Italian olive oil cake. Even if you aren't Grapefruit's biggest fan, I promise you will love the way it pairs with the olive oil in this delicious cake!
Can I really make a cake without butter and eggs?
The short answer is... YES!! But first, let's dive into what makes a vegan olive oil cake so difficult in the first place.
First, is the lack of butter. When you are baking a traditional cake you usually beat the sugar and butter together to start, a process called creaming. This process helps incorporate air pockets into the batter. These air pockets work hand in hand with the leavening agent during the baking process to create that perfectly fluffy and tender cake we all love. While vegan butter can definitely lead to a similar effect, this cake relies on olive oil which is denser and cannot be creamed.
The second hurdle with baking a vegan olive oil cake? No eggs! Eggs provide structure for cakes while they rise and also help to provide that golden brown color that is so desirable.
How to make a vegan olive oil cake
When it comes to a vegan cake you have to rely on chemical agents like baking powder and baking soda for rising and enough flour for structure. Now, that may sound easy, but finding the right combination of these ingredients together takes some experimenting.
At first, I tried using baking powder without any baking soda, but my cakes hardly rose and were dense and gummy. Next, I tried a mix of both agents, but there wasn't enough acidity in the cake batter, so the baking soda left behind an undesirable metallic taste. If you're a baking science geek like me, baking soda needs liquid AND an acid to produce gas to help your cake rise. Baking powder already has a powdered acid called cream of tartar in it already, so it only needs a liquid to activate.
It was only when I tripled the amount of baking soda, reduced the baking powder, and doubled the amount of grapefruit juice in the recipe that I achieved the perfect cake! The grapefruit juice served as the acid to activate the baking soda and doubling the amount of grapefruit juice perfected matched the amount of baking soda I was using to get rid of any bad taste. Plus, baking soda helps to brown your cake, so more baking soda meant a nicer color after baking.
I'm still learning as I go, but I hope these vegan baking discoveries help you in your own kitchen.
The Final Step? Grapefruit Glaze, Of Course!
To give this grapefruit cake the perfect final touch, pour on this super dreamy Grapefruit Glaze. It's so good that, frankly, you might end up doubling this part of the recipe!
PS. If you are hoping to decorate your cake with some beautiful dried grapefruit, I followed this recipe by Rachel Ray! All you need is an extra grapefruit, an oven, and about 4-5 hours of time to get the beautiful dried grapefruit topping for this cake.
I hope you have fun making this Vegan Grapefruit Olive Oil Cake and eating it too!
-TSG
Looking for more Vegan Citrus Desserts? Check out these SGTO favorites:
Orange & Raspberry Jam Muffins
Blood Orange Chocolate Olive Oil Cake
Vegan Grapefruit Olive Oil Cake
This Vegan Grapefruit Olive Oil Cake is so flavorful and sweet that it will turn the harshest grapefruit skeptics into grapefruit lovers!
Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
- ¾ cup almond milk
- ¾ cup sugar
- ½ cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, strained (about 1 grapefruit, freshly squeezed and strained to exclude flesh/seeds)
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste/extract
- 2 tsp grapefruit zest
- 2 cups white pastry/ cake flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp baking powder
Grapefruit Glaze
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp grapefruit juice
- 1 tsp grapefruit zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease an 8 or 9 inch springform pan and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl whisk together your almond milk, sugar, grapefruit juice, olive oil, vanilla bean paste/extract and grapefruit zest.
- Next, sift together your pastry flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Once evenly mixed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the large mixing bowl until a smooth cake batter is formed.
- Add the batter to the greased springform pan. Before putting the pan into the oven, tap the cake pan on the counter to release any large bubbles. Bake for 48 minutes-60 minutes until the cake is browning on top and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle.
- Remove the cake from the oven and let cool to room temperature.
- While the cake is cooling, make the glaze by adding the powdered sugar, grapefruit juice, and grapefruit zest to a small bowl and whisking until a thick but smooth glaze forms. If you want a thinner glaze, you can add additional grapefruit juice.
- Apply the glaze once the cake has reached room temperature so that it does not melt. Slice into 8 even pieces and enjoy!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 537Total Fat: 27gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 34mgCarbohydrates: 69gFiber: 2gSugar: 36gProtein: 6g
ShortGirlTallOrder occasionally offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although shortgirltallorder.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
Hannah says
Do you have any suggestions on how to substitute a gluten free flour (such as Bob's Red Mill)?
Megan says
I haven't personally tried it, but others have tried this recipe with that flour subbed 1:1 and had success. If you try it, definitely let me know how it goes!
Pavi says
This turned out so good and the texture was spot on! One of the best cakes I've ever made! I baked it in a loaf pan (same ingredient measurements that you used) at 350 degrees for 50 minutes and out came a picture perfect loaf! My only critique is next time, I would use less salt, but that is my preference.
I can't wait to try other flavor combinations with this...I'm thinking lemon and basil next!
Megan Horowitch says
Thank you so much for the feedback Pavi!
Andrea Holt says
I was so happy with how this recipe turned out! I followed recipe exactly using pastry flour. When cake was cooled, I poked tiny holes all over the top, dumped and spread the glaze, and let it seep into the cake. Then I covered the cake in vanilla vegan frosting and vegan sprinkles, because it was for a birthday! 🙂 So yummy with both the glaze and frosting, and non-vegans were astounded and asking for more. Will be making again.
Just curious, do you think this recipe could be used for cupcakes or other molds?
Thanks for sharing!
Megan Horowitch says
So glad you liked it! I bet this would work great as cupcakes, probably would make around 10-12 cupcakes and you'd want to bake 20-25 minutes (haven't tested it but that's how long cupcakes normally take). If you try it let me know!
Meg says
I made this cake for Easter brunch - I used blood oranges instead of grapefruit. Absolutely delicious! So moist and lovely flavor. And I now have a plethora of grapefruit from my farm box - so will be making this as written.
Megan Horowitch says
So glad! I love it with orange too 🙂
Andy says
Great recipe! I did it with an ORANGE instead of Grapefruit and also added ROSEMARY which was a lovely combo along with the olive oil.
AP flour worked for me, nice and spongy!
For the glaze I heated orange juice + rosemary + brown sugar + water + olive oil until it melted and thickened a little. I then poked holes into the cake and glazed the cake!
Everyone loved it, all the non-vegans couldn’t believe it was vegan!!
Megan Horowitch says
Oh I love that flavor combo and the glaze you added- thanks for the kind words and sharing your substitutions!
mariah says
This cake is SO GOOD!! I adapted the recipe slightly - used lemons and a little tangerine instead of grapefruit, and used coconut milk instead of almond.
I used 2 scant cups AP flour, and baked it in a bread tin rather than round. Baked 52 mins and it turned out beautifully!! It is so moist and just the right balance of fluffy and dense. Can't wait to share this one with my friends! Thank you!
ShortGirlTallOrder says
Yay I'm so happy you loved it! The mix of tangerine and lemon sounds amazing too- I will definitely have to try that 🙂
Christine says
This is one of the best olive oil cakes I have ever made - vegan or not - you will not be disappointed. I followed the directions to a tee - but substituted maple syrup instead of vanilla extract - as we were out and used sifted spelt flour. It came our perfectly and the family had no idea it was vegan. #momwins
ShortGirlTallOrder says
So glad everyone loved it- such a win! I love hearing that it worked well with spelt flour too 🙂
Anna says
We loved this cake! Thanks so much for recipe. We were looking for something to use up a less than optimal looking grapefruit and this came to the rescue. We used AP flour and didn't do anything fancy, just the same amounts as the pastry flour, and for the glaze I didn't have powdered sugar, so I ended up using the zest, 2 Tbsp. juice, and some granulated sugar - heated up in the microwave to melt the sugar - making a syrup instead. I poked holes in the top of the cake with a fork once it was cool and poured that on top. Definitely recommend!
ShortGirlTallOrder says
Wow adding that syrup sounds SO good! I'm so glad this recipe allowed you to put that last grapefruit to good use 🙂
Anne says
This cake is exceptional. Thank you for the recipe!
ShortGirlTallOrder says
So glad you liked it!
Jacob says
This cake was so moist and delicious. I didn’t think I would like a grapefruit cake but this was really good!
ShortGirlTallOrder says
Thank you! It's definitely surprisingly good 🙂
Erin says
Hi! thanks for sharing your recipe. i may try with fresh orange juice but am.wondering how you measure/scoop your flour? also have you tried half AP flour and half cake flour? does the cake flour provide enough structure? thanks again!
ShortGirlTallOrder says
Orange Juice sounds great! For this recipe I measured my flour by scooping the flour up with the measuring cup from a container I keep of flour and then leveling it off before adding to the bowl. I've only made this recipe with cake flour and it has had enough structure. I use cake flour for every cake and cupcake recipe on my site so they are light and fluffy :)! It's definitely key to use the correct amount of baking powder/ baking soda so it rises enough as this gives the cake a lot of structure. If you are going to use AP flour, you may want to use 2 Tbsp less flour per 1 cup as all-purpose flour tends to weigh more than cake flour. You can replace those 2 Tbsp with cornstarch to make homemade cake flour as well. I hope that helps! If you do try this recipe with all-purpose flour, let me know how it goes as I'd love to hear. Let me know if you have any additional questions!
FYI! I also have a Vegan Orange Blossom Fig Cake recipe that uses olive oil & orange juice if that's interesting to you: https://shortgirltallorder.com/vegan-orange-blossom-fig-olive-oil-cake
Audrey H says
This looks AMAZING and I can't wait to try this recipe at home. Is there any nutrition information calculated for this?
mhorowitch8 says
Thank you Audrey! I don't include nutritional information on my recipes, but you can use MyFitnessPal or other similar apps to enter in the ingredients and get nutritional info 🙂
Libby says
This cake is excellent! I came to this recipe from an Imperfect Produce e-mail, and I had a grapefruit from them that I wanted to use. My husband, who isn't a huge fan of cake, said it was one of the best he's had. I don't have a springform pan, so I used a 9" round cake pan that I oiled well. It turned out in one piece after about 5 minutes of cooling. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you for the recipe.
mhorowitch8 says
Thank you so much for sharing Libby! I'm so happy you enjoyed the cake and were even able to convince your husband grapefruit can be good too 🙂