I couldn't have been more wrong, it seems that in cold damp England grape vines can thrive, mine has gone wild climbing up the wall, over the windows and along the washing line! What's made me really happy is that it's also produced a bumper crop of beautiful purple grapes.
Although the grapes were deliciously sweet enough to eat out of hand I'd seen a few recipes for grape cakes that sounded really interesting. We don't really cook with grapes in England so this idea was totally new to me.The recipe I settled on was from Epicurious.com called winemakers grape cake, what really drew me to this recipe was the use of olive oil rather than butter which not only gives the cake a wonderful texture but a delicious flavour too.
The lived up to all expectations being both perfectly soft and moist but full of flavour too, the little grapes were like bombs of flavour that exploded when you bit into them. A fantastic cake!You can find the recipe HERE.
13 comments:
Wow what a great idea! A lot of US cakes use veg oil, but olive oil has to be so much better.
Am thinking this might also be good with sloes left over from making sloe gin......
Congratulations on growing your own grapes! I've wanted to grow some for years, but I'm not sure what has been stopping me. I remember seeing a grape cake recipe some years ago and remembered how good it sounded. I like the olive oil in it too!
You grew grapes?! That's so cool. And what a great thing to do with them - that cake looks scrumptious. I don't think I've ever had a grape cake, and now I'm wondering why!
This is a great idea!The cake is perfect
Those grapes look stunning. Home grown grapes are worlds apart from the horrible ones supermarkets sell here. Love the sound of that cake - sounds like an interesting mix of flavours going on.
Very impressed that you've managed to grow such lovely grapes! Even more impressed that you saved some to use in a cake - they're so dark I'd have assumed they were cherries but I bet they make a far lighter cake than stoned fruit
What beautiful grapes you've grown! That's such a great feeling when something grows that one didn't expect to do well. The cake sounds lovely. I've never baked with grapes!
Hey Sam, that looks good. Looking forward to hearing about the winemaking next ;)
Joanna
Looks wonderful and very moist. I've never made a cake with olive oil or grapes but sounds delicious. Impressed by the home grown grapes
How wonderful growing grapes in Leicestershire - very impressive.
In London you can grow your own grapes and then magically have them transformed into your very own wine!
The cake looks delicious.
wow, you grew your own grapes! Gorgeous cake.
Nice work! I am impressed that your grapes were even sweet - mine weren't. Next year's crop can go into something like this instead of a pie.
Hey Sam, "nonpareil" is probably the pretentiously correct way of saying "tiny dot sprinkles". When I looked it up, one of the meanings of "nonpareil" is "without equal; peerless", and when I searched on Wiki, one of the descriptions said "The French name has been interpreted to mean they were "without equal" for intricate decoration of cakes, desserts, and other sweets...", however accurate that may be. It really is a pretty sprinkle!
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