Grape Cake

While I was feeling a bit poorly over the weekend, Dan, knowing I'm a bit of a grape monster, brought some grapes home. Now, because I wasn't feeling too well, I didn't really eat them and they started to turn a bit overly ripe.

I've never cooked or baked with grapes before, and because it would be a great shame for the grapes to go to waste, on the Tuesday, I decided to cook something with them... I was thinking either a crumble, pie, torte, something that seemed quite versatile. When I googled "grape recipes", this grape cake recipe from Recipe zaar showed up - and as I had all of the store cupboard ingredients on hand, I decided to give it a go.

The cake itself turned out very well - moist, and juicy around the grapes. The only problem I had with it was that it looked a bit dated, but the recipe was from the 1970s. I used a square cake tin (as that's all we have) which worked out completely fine.

Here's the recipe I used:

Grape Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened (I would suggest unsalted)
1/4 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon rind (I didn't have any lemon, so omitted this, and it was absolutely fine)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups sifted flour, sift before measuring (I just used 1 cup unsifted, as it was a bit finicky otherwise)
1 1/3 cups green seedless grapes, about 1 lb (or pretty much as many as I thought looked good)

Cream together the butter and the ¼ cup sugar until the mixture is pale in colour. Beat in egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in lemon rind and vanilla. In another bowl, beat egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Add the ½ cup sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls at a time and continue to beat until they hold stiff peaks. Stir one fourth of the whites into the yolk mixture and fold in the remaining whites. Sift the sifted flour over the mixture, folding it in gently. Transfer the batter to a buttered 8 inch round cake pan. Sprinkle the grapes over the top of the batter. Bake at 180 C (350 F) for 25 - 30 minutes or until it is lightly browned and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack until barely warm. Makes 6 to 8 servings depending on how you cut it.

We had it while it was still quite warm and the grapes were wonderful hot (who woulda thought?). It was great with an afternoon cup of fresh coffee or tea.