Velvety green and golden patchwork hillsides, cypress boulevards ribboning across the landscape, old ladies having a gossip in the shady corner of a piazza, the shril, incessant hum of crickets in the evening, the rustle of fleeing lizards, stone walls warmed from the heat of the sun, and amaranthine grapes with their matt bloom swaying on their vines….

…this cake is heady with the spirit of Tuscany. The grapes combined with the harmonious perfumed trio of orange, almond and vanilla is particularly luscious, and peculiar to Italian baking. The use of olive oil instead of butter, and the addition of ground almonds make it so moist and sumptuous. The flavour tends to develop after a day, so I’d advise making this a day or two in advance of eating (storing it an airtight container or covering the top of the cake tin until ready to serve).

It’s very easy and quick to make, too. If you can’t get hold of seedless grapes, you can use seeded ones and cut out the seeds (or not if you don’t mind crunching through them).

Grape Cake Recipe

Ingredients (serves 8-10)

225g plain flour 

75g ground almonds 

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 large eggs

180g caster sugar

190ml olive oil

125ml milk (non-dairy or dairy)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

grated zest from 1 medium orange

3 cups black and/or green grapes (ideally seedless) 

60g sliced almonds

24cm (9.5 inch) diameter round spring form cake tin, greased, and dusted with flour

Method

1)   Preheat oven to 180°C.

2)   In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together the eggs and sugar for about 2 minutes on a high speed until thick and pale yellow in colour. 

3)   Pour the olive oil, milk, vanilla, almond extract and orange zest into the bowl and mix for about 10 seconds until just combined.

4)   Take the bowl off the stand mixer and pour in the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt, and gently fold together until just combined. Pour in 2 cups of the grapes, and very gently fold them in. 

5)   Pour the mixture into the cake tin, and scatter the surface with the remaining 1 cup of grapes. Then sprinkle the flaked almonds evenly over the surface.

6)   Place in the oven to bake for 40-45 minutes (checking after 30 minutes) or until an inserted skewer/cake tester come out clean and the surface is golden brown. Place on a rack to cool before releasing from the pan and devouring. NB can be eaten up to 3 days after baking, if kept in an airtight container. 

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