Catalan Season Part 1: Grape Harvest Cake

The first of my favourite Catalan recipes is my Grape Harvest Cake which is inspired by a recipe from ‘Patricia Wells at Home in Provence’, a book which has had shelf-space in my library for many years. The grape harvest takes place throughout Septyember and October in the South of France, yielding tonnes of rich, sweet grapes, bursting with flavour. Almonds grow upon the sun-drenched lower hillsides of the Alberes as they meet the Mediterranean. The olive oils of this region are some of the best in France and those from just over the border in the fertile region of Emporda in Spanish Catalunya are without doubt the best in Spain. The oranges haven’t travelled far either; they are from down the road in Valencia.

The two ingredients that will make this cake superb are your choice of grape and almond. The best grapes, for this recipe, require lots of flavour; although this is often accompanied with lots of seeds! A flavoursome grape is well-worth the trouble of deseeding. In the absence of freshly-picked almonds, organic almonds will invariably have more flavour. I suggest buying them unskinned and grinding them yourself- this is the most cost effective route!

The cake is shallow and is delightful served with a glass of Amber Rivesaltes, or any good dessert wine or a cup of coffee.

It isn’t an overly sweet cake, I like to enjoy the flavours of the ingredients without them being over-powered by the sugar, so if you like your cake very sweet please increase the sugar to 150g.

125g Caster Sugar

2 large organic Eggs

2cm piece of a Vanilla Pod or a few drops of Vanilla Extract.

1 Orange (the zest only)

60g Unsalted Butter (melted, plus a little extra for greasing the tin)

60ml Fruity Extra Virgin Olive Oil at room temperature

Pinch of Sea Salt

200f Plain Flour

70g Whole Almonds (with skins) ground finely

3/4tsp Baking Powder

80ml Whole Milk (at room temperature)

200g Black or Green Grapes (de-seeded or cut in half if large and seedless)

Preheat the oven to 180C

Either line a 23cm cake tin with parchment paper, or butter and flour it instead.

Put the eggs, caster sugar, vanilla seeds, and the orange zest into a large bowl and whisk until pale yellow and mousse-like. This will take around 8 minutes with an electric whisk.

Beat-in the butter, olive oil and salt.

Sprinkle in the flour, almonds and baking powder and gently stir into the mixture. Slowly add the milk and 3/4 of the grapes.

Tip the mixture into the cake tin and spread evenly.

Sactter the remaining grapes over the top.

Bake the cake for 35-45 minutes, until the cake is just set in the centre and is golden brown. Remove it from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes.

This cake is best served warm.