Italian Grape Cake Recipe

An incredibly moist Italian Grape Cake Recipe made with olive oil and scented with orange zest, almond and a hint of thyme. It's an Italian-style harvest cake and a simple yet perfect way of baking with grapes.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Italian

Keyword Harvest Cake, Italian Grape Cake Recipe

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 40

Servings

Calories 343kcal

Equipment

9 inch spring form pan

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup almond milk or regular milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
orange zest from 1 medium orange
1 teaspoon thyme leaves optional
2 cups small seedless grapes such as Thomcord, Thompson or Concord divided (1 cup in cake batter and 1 cup to scatter over top)
1/2 cup sliced almonds
powdered sugar for dusting over the cake

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease and flour a 9 inch springform pan.
In a medium sized bowl, sift together the all purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer or hand held mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together the eggs and granulated sugar until thick and pale yellow in colour. About 3 minutes.
Mix in the olive oil, milk, vanilla and almond extracts, zest and thyme until well incorporated.
Switch to the paddle attachment and mix in the flour mixture until well combined.
Fold in 1 cup of the grapes with a rubber spatula.
Transfer the cake batter to the prepared pan and level off with the back of a spoon.
Scatter the remaining 1 cup of grapes evenly over the top of the cake.
Sprinkle the top of the cake with sliced almonds.
Bake the cake in a preheated oven for about 40 minutes.
When ready the cake will have a deep golden brown colour and springs back to the touch. Or, if a toothpick inserted inside comes out clean then it's ready.
Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack.
Run a knife alongside the edges of the pan and allow to cool for 30 minutes.
Release the cake from the springform pan and cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar.
Garnish with sugared grapes or fresh thyme leaves if desired. (see notes below on how to make sugared grapes)

Notes

Ingredients for sugared grapes:

3 small clusters of grapes on the vine or approximately 2/3 cups of plucked grapes.
1/3 granulated sugar plus 1/4 cup
1/3 water cup

Simple Syrup:

Place 1/3 cup of sugar and equal part water in a small stock pot.

Heat on medium low and stir together till the sugar has completely dissolved.

Remove from heat.

With a slotted spoon, dip the grapes in the simple sugar mixture, turning to coat all over.

Transfer to a wire rack and let the grapes dry for 1 hour.

Roll the grapes in the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar while taking care to cover the grapes all over with the sugar.

Return to the wire rack and let dry for another hour so that the sugar adheres to the grapes.

Enjoy as a garnish for decorating sweet treats.

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