Grape Cake (Almond Flour)

oliveoilredgrapecake An incredibly moist 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.

1 cup all-purpose flour, unbleached
½ cup almond flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 pinch sea salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
⅔ cups granulated sugar
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
⅓ cup almond or regular milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. pure almond extract
1 medium orange, freshly zested
1 tsp. thyme leaves (optional)
1 cup small seedless grapes, such as Thomcord, Thompson or Concord, for cake batter
1 cup small seedless grapes, such as Thomcord, Thompson or Concord, to scatter over top
½ cup sliced almonds

Garnish:
confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C/160°C fan, Gas Mark 4). Grease and flour a 9" 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.

Makes 10 servings.

Cook's Notes:

Sugared grapes:
3 small clusters of grapes on the vine or approximately ⅔ cups of plucked grapes.
⅓ granulated sugar + ¼ cup
⅓ cup water

Simple Syrup:
Place ⅓ 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 ¼ 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.