Grape Concord Cake
I was looking through the freezer to see what I still had left from last season and found a couple of bags of concord grapes that my friend Farmer John gave me. He intended to make wine but ran out of time. Maybe next year John? He rinsed the grapes, took them off the stem and put them in a freezer bag. I thawed a couple out and they tasted great! I thought a grape cake would be perfect for our Mother’s Day/My Birthday family celebration. I got my grandmother’s recipe box out and found the recipe. I don’t remember my grandmother making this cake but she made grape kuchen a lot and it was one of my favorites. Well, if she didn’t take out the seeds (we did not like the seeds – who does?) she would tell us to “Just chew them up”. I will ALWAYS take the time to take out the seeds. My Mom came over since I was the holder of the grapes and we seeded the grapes and cooked them. Mom took the cooked grapes home and finished the cake at home. We did make a couple of changes to the recipe. We cut down on the sugar in the grapes and in the cake. It also called for cake flour, which I never have on hand, so all purpose flour works just fine. It originally called for shortening and we use canola oil. It’s nice and grapey. Really grapey! I had to lick off the spoon, spatula and get every bit out of the pan. YUM.
Grape Concord Cake
2 pounds concord grapes
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Wash grapes, separate skins from pulp by gently squeezing the grapes into a medium saucepan, the pulp will come out and the skin will be left between your fingers. Put skins in a separate bowl. Yes, the pulp looks like eyeballs or fish eggs. This a great job for children to do, they will love squirting the eyeballs, I mean grapes.
Cook the pulp until soft and seeds begins to pull away from pulp. Put grape pulp in a food mill or rub through a sieve to remove seeds. Put the seeded grape pulp back into the saucepan, add grape skins and 1/2 cup sugar; stir. Cook until skins are tender, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. About 2 cups. *This can be done ahead of time and stored in the fridge. Just remember to bring them back to room temperature before adding to the cake.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray.
Place flour, baking powder, salt and 1 cup sugar in a large mixing bowl; whisk until combined. Add oil, 1/2 cup milk, eggs and vanilla; beat 2 minutes. Add remaining milk and beat an additional 30 seconds. Pour batter into prepared pan and spread grape pulp over top of batter.
Bake for 45 minutes, the grapes will sink to the bottom during baking. when cut, turn over.
Delicious served with whip cream, ice cream or just by itself.
