Grape Harvest Cake

I have fallen head-over-heels in love with grape desserts. They are relatively new to me, but I am making a determined effort to make up for years of lost time. A few months ago,  I featured a Vintner's Grape Cake that was made with olive oil. It was so good, that it had my socks going up and down. Shortly after sharing it with you, I came across another cake on the Whole Foods website. I was drawn to their cake because it  omitted the citrus flavors found in the cake that I had already published and I was curious to see if I would like it as well.  It, obviously, was time for some comparison testing and a definitive  selection of best of class was in order. As it turns out, I was unable to do that. The first cake was a clear winner in the dessert category, but this tender harvest cake took honors in the tea and breakfast category where the intensity of the citrus was deemed to be off putting  so early in the day. We'll have to leave the final judgment up to you.  I hope you will give both these recipes a try. In the great scheme of things, they are easy to make and I suspect you'll love them both. Here is how the Grape Harvest Cake is made.

Grape Harvest Cake

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for buttering the pan

2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon cane sugar

2 large eggs and 1 large egg yolk

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1-3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for flouring the pan

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk

2-1/4 cups (3/4 pound) red seedless grapes

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch metal cake pan and line bottom with a round of parchment paper. Butter paper and then coat pan with flour.

2) In bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and 2/3 cup sugar until light and fluffy, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl frequently. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in yolk, followed by olive oil.

3) Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in separate bowl.

4) On low speed, beat in flour mixture in three additions, alternating with additions of buttermilk and scraping down sides of the bowl frequently. Stir in half the grapes and pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle top with remaining grapes and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.

5) Bake until cake is browned on top and springs back when pressed lightly with your finger, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of pan, then invert, peel off paper and cool cake upright on a rack. Serve warm or room temperature. Yield: 12 servings.

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