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 procedure.

Ingredients

• 300 g 00 flour
• 200 g granulated sugar
• 100 g softened butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 packet baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 500 g table grapes (preferably Italia or Palieri varieties 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 and remove the seeds if necessary.
3. In a bowl, cream the softened butter with the granulated sugar until you get a fluffy mixture.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, incorporating them well into the batter.
5. Now add the flour previously sifted with the baking powder, salt, and grated lemon zest.
6. Mix well until you obtain a homogeneous batter.
7. Butter and flour a cake pan, then pour the mixture inside.
8. Distribute the grape berries evenly in the batter, pressing them in slightly. Some prefer half the grapes in the batter and half on the surface.
9. Sprinkle the surface with a little brown sugar to obtain a crunchy crust after baking.
10. Bake the cake for about 40 minutes or until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
11. Let the grape cake cool before serving.

You can serve this cake both as a dessert, perhaps accompanied by a glass of passito, and as a snack.

Trivia

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 pastry.