Grape Cake

I can tell you how to prepare a delicious Grape Cake, an Italian autumn dessert that celebrates the sweetness of table grapes. Here are the ingredients and the method.

Ingredients

• 300 g of type 00 flour
• 200 g of granulated sugar
• 100 g of soft butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 packet of baking powder
• A pinch of salt
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 500 g of table grapes (preferably Italia or Palieri variety for their sweetness)
• Brown sugar to taste

Preparation

1. Start by preheating the oven to 180 °C.
2. Wash the grapes and dry them well, then drain them and remove the seeds if necessary.
3. In a bowl, cream the soft butter with granulated sugar until fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, incorporating them well into the mixture.
5. Now mix in the flour previously sifted with the baking powder, salt, and grated lemon zest.
6. Mix well until you get a homogeneous batter.
7. Butter and flour a cake tin, then pour the mixture in.
8. Evenly distribute the grape berries in the batter, pressing them down slightly. Some prefer to put half of the grapes in the batter and half on the surface.
9. Sprinkle the surface with a bit of brown sugar to get a crunchy crust after baking.
10. Bake the cake for about 40 minutes or until it is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
11. Let the grape cake cool before serving.

You can serve this cake either as a dessert accompanied perhaps by a glass of Vin Santo, or as a snack.

Curiosity

The grape cake is a dessert that in Italy is mainly found in the period of September and October, when the grapes are fully ripe and their sweetness is at its peak, making it perfect for this use in pastries.