This is a great standby recipe when you have some grapefruit (also lemons & oranges) laying around that need using up. It is also a wonderful treat for a Sunday afternoon (in my house they won’t lat much longer anyway). The recipe is divided into 2 with the base bakes first and then a second time with the topping. Sounds more complicated than it actually is. You might need to add more sugar if using lemons but grapefruit and oranges should be sweet enough for the amounts given below. As always, please let me know if you tried it and what you thought.
- 225g plain flour
- 50g icing sugar
- 175g butter
- 4 eggs (medium)
- 400g caster sugar
- 25g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- zest of 1 large grapefruit (more if you like more citrus flavour)
- 50ml fresh grapefruit juice
- Icing sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 160c (fan)/180c/gas4
Sift the flour and icing sugar into a bowl and rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. This step is very important to ensure a good base for the slices. If you leave large knobs of butter in the mix, you will end up with a crumbly base. Stir in 1tsp water and mix well with a fork or knife. Form a ball. Press the mixture evenly into a 33x23cm baking tin (I used baking paper on the base of the tin).
Bake for 15-20 mins until lightly browned (you want a pale golden colour). Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
In the meantime, make the grapefruit mix by beating together eggs, caster sugar, flour, baking powder, juice and rind in a bowl until well combined. Make sure that the zest is evenly distributed through the mix. Pour the mix over the baked base. Return to the oven and bake for about 25 mins until set.
Place the baking tin on a wired rack and leave to cool. Once cooled, remove from the tin and cut into square and dust with icing sugar.
Bon Appetit