Question: Could you secure the recipe for grapefruit cake, the signature dessert at the Hollywood Brown Derby Restaurant at Disney MGM Studios in Walt Disney World in Florida? The dessert was the highlight of a pleasant meal enjoyed with friends a year ago.
- Lois Laskowski,Greensburg, Ind.
Answer: History was made in California in 1926, and it was all because of a hat! Hollywood movie entrepreneur Herbert K. Somborn opened a coffee shop in Los Angeles and called it the Brown Derby because New York Gov. Al Smith was in town and was wearing his signature hat, a brown derby. Brown Derby's location changed over the years, but the restaurant remained the place to be seen and to see glamorous women such as Mary Pickford, Louella Parsons, Hedda Hopper and Loretta Young. Clark Gable proposed to Carole Lombard in the Brown Derby, and Lucille Ball and Jack Haley pummeled each other with dinner rolls during a food fight.
Disney keeps the Hollywood Brown Derby legend alive, re-creating the atmosphere of the original restaurant in the MGM Studios Theme Park in Florida, where reproductions of caricatures of famous guests cover the walls. The unique and delicately flavored Grapefruit Cake is a recipe from the original Brown Derby.
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RECIPE
WALT DISNEY GRAPEFRUIT CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE AND GRAPEFRUIT ICING CAKE
2 (16-ounce) cans grapefruit sections
1 1/4 cups unsifted cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup water
6 eggs, separated
3 tablespoons grapefruit juice (see recipe)
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
1/3 teaspoon cream of tartar
ICING
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup crushed dry grapefruit (prepare as described below)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 ungreased 8-inch springform cake pans with waxed paper and set aside. Drain and reserve canned grapefruit juice. Dry grapefruit by placing sections between paper towels and patting gently to absorb juice until completely dry.
Sift together cake flour, baking powder, salt and 1 cup sugar into large bowl of mixer. Place oil, water and egg yolks in a bowl and whisk lightly to blend. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until smooth. Add grapefruit juice and lemon zest and mix until just blended. Set aside. Place egg whites in small bowl of mixer and whip. Add cream of tartar and 2 tablespoons sugar to egg whites and continue whipping until whites form stiff peaks. Gently fold egg whites into cake batter without flattening whites.
Divide cake batter evenly between prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove cakes from oven and place on rack until completely cool.
Place cream cheese in large bowl of mixer and cream until smooth. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, powdered sugar and 1/4 cup crushed dry grapefruit and beat just to blend. Remove cake layers from pans and peel off waxed paper. Ice each layer, placing dry grapefruit sections on top of each iced layer. Save best grapefruit sections for top of cake if desired. Makes 8-10 servings.