Grape Cake

I found a recipe for Napa Valley Grape cake that was tempting me to no end. How exotic it sounded! A cake with luscious grapes and sweet wine. I finally concocted an excuse to make this cake - a very silly excuse! My friend asked me what cake I would (hypothetically) bake to tempt/lure a celebrity I would love to meet. J.K Rowling could be lured by a Lemon Cake, so why not adopt a similar strategy for other celebrities? ;)

I slightly adapted the recipe to bring in some orange flavor that I hoped would go well with the grapes. The cake didn't rise much because I added less baking soda, and a little extra baking powder (I didn't want the grapes to sink way down to the bottom; but they did sink nonetheless).

In all, this was an interesting cake! If you like the flavors of grape/wine, this will be to your liking. Mildly sweet, and different from most cake flavors.

Adapted from A Piece of Cake!
Ingredients:

1. 1.5 cups all purpose flour
2. 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
3. 3/4 cup sugar
4. 1 teaspoon baking powder
5. 1 teaspoon salt
6. 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
7. 2 eggs, at room temperature
8. 1 cup sweet white wine (I used Moscato)
9. 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
10. 1 teaspoon orange extract
11. 1.5 cups seedless red grapes, halved
12. 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Preparation:

1.  Butter and flour a 9 inch springform pan. Preheat oven to 400 F
2. Mix dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt
3. Cream butter until soft. 
4. Add sugar and beat until creamy
5. Add eggs and beat until mixed and fluffy (scrape bowl periodically as needed while beating/mixing)
6. Add orange zest, orange extract, and wine and beat gently until just mixed
7. Add the dry ingredients and mix gently with a spatula until just combined
8. Transfer to prepared pan and evenly distribute the grapes on top
9. Bake for 35-40 minutes until a tester comes out clean
10. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Then, run a knife around the edges and remove the springform attachment

Serve at room temperature with a dusting of confectioners' sugar