Grapefruit Olive Oil Bundt Cake (with Greek Yogurt)

How much grapefruit is too much grapefruit? Asking for a friend (hi, it’s me, I’m the friend). Because this flavor-packed bundt uses two entire grapefruits, including the zest and the juice as well as grapefruit extract in the cake itself, which is then soaked with a flavor-packed grapefruit cordial and drizzled with a grapefruit glaze to top it all off.

Made with olive oil and greek yogurt for flavor, moisture and tang, with a plush, pound cake-like texture and subtle notes of extra virgin olive oil that perfectly compliment the bright grapefruit flavor, it’s the perfect springtime bake to mark the transition from winter to spring! And did I mention that since it’s an oil-based cake, you don’t even need an electric mixer to make it? That’s what I call winning.

Let’s pack as much grapefruit flavor as humanly possible into a bundt pan (not an easy undertaking, as grapefruit is a tricky flavor to get to come through in baked goods). To achieve maximum grapefruit flavor, I ended up using grapefruit zest, fresh-squeezed juice, and grapefruit extract in the cake itself, then soaked the warm cake with a bright and tangy grapefruit cordial (which is basically like a sugar syrup, just uncooked so the grapefruit flavor stays super bright), and finally glazed it with an elegant drizzle of pastel pink grapefruit glaze.

That’s two whole grapefruits in there in one form or another.

Even with what seems like an excessive amount of grapefruit, the flavor is actually quite mellow (it’s not going to punch you in the face), but still prominently and pleasantly grapefruit from the very first bite.

By the second bite, you’ll begin tasting the the grassy, peppery notes of the olive oil, which plays beautifully with the almost floral grapefruit, and just the right amount of sugar to offset any bitterness that might result from having so much grapefruit packed in to a single cake.

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Homemade Pistachio Drink Syrup (that actually tastes like pistachios!)

This bright green syrup tastes just like pistachios, with a bright green color and bold, nutty flavor that’s perfect in caffeinated beverages, cocktails and mocktails, or drizzled over ice cream, waffles or pancakes.

Most pistachio syrup recipes out there call for simply steeping pistachios in a sugar syrup, but that just gives you a faintly nutty sugar syrup that barely tastes like pistachio at all. Instead, my recipe calls for blending the nuts with the sugar syrup and then straining it, resulting in a luscious, thick green syrup that actually tastes like real pistachios (no extract needed!)

I know, I know. I’ve gone a little pistachio crazy lately, it’s bordering on obsession (at what point do I need to change the blog name to Love & Pistachios?)

Since we’ve already tackled homemade pistachio butter, I really wanted to figure out a homemade pistachio syrup next. Because, let’s face it, most commercially available brands of pistachio syrup just aren’t very good. I thought finding a good pistachio extract was hard, but pistachio syrup is even more elusive. Most of the ones I’ve tried taste too chemically, even bordering on cherry cough syrup-like flavor more than pistachio. It’s really disappointing if we’re being honest here.

I figured, how hard could it be to make my own?

I tested a number of different versions of this recipe, with the ultimate aim to maximize the natural pistachio flavor as much as possible, and a secondary goal of a gorgeous green color.

When I compared a steeped and blended syrup to a syrup that was just steeped with pistachios, the difference was like night and day. The blended syrup actually tastes like pistachios. The steeped syrup… doesn’t. Like, at all. It tastes like a plain old sugar syrup that briefly dated a pistachio in their teenage years (lol).

Anyway. Blending the syrup is the key here, and you really can’t get away with skipping this step (though see my note at the very bottom for a blender-free version in a pinch).

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