Citrus Grape Cake

I have been reading quite a few foodie magazines lately (courtesy of my mum) and dreaming of much more cooking than is practical. One cake in particular took my fancy because it had port in it as well as grapes.

The Citrus Grape Cake was the first baking I did after Sylvia was born so it gave me a lot of happiness to be back in the saddle. It took me a while to get my act together and bake it but it was well worthwhile. Finally, E was soothing the crying baby, and I was halfway through the preparations, when I discovered that the eggs were looking decidedly dodgy. Intent on my mission, I was determined to finish baking the cake. I consulted my Joy of Vegan Baking for ideas on egg-substitutes.

Fortunately I had a wealth of fruit because a friend (Junko) had generously given me a huge basket of fruit (it was so full I couldn’t even lift it to take it outside and photograph it). So I used some bananas instead of the 3 eggs and added a little soy flour and extra baking powder for added richness and rising.

The resulting cake was one of the nicest cakes I have made. The brown sugar and port gave it a soft golden caramel crumb with a slight bitterness from the citrus zest and bursts of sweetness from soft juicy grapes. E was even quite keen on it and thought it would taste lovely hot with custard. Surprisingly the bananas did not add much to the flavour. I couldn’t resist a piece when it came out of the oven and the piece collapsed into crumbs. It held together much better when cooled, although still a little crumbly, possibly because of the lack of eggs.

I was also pleased that evening to feel like I was almost cooking dinner again. A friend (Kathleen) had kindly looked out her copy of the Enchanted Broccoli Forest which we had loved as students and made me some of our favourite dishes. I served her tofu nut balls with soft polenta, tomato sauce and broccoli.

Citrus Grape Cake
(Adapted from BBC Australian Good Food March 2009)

100g butter, softened*
1 cup brown sugar
2 small bananas, mashed
finely grated rind of 1 orange
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
1/3 cup port (or orange juice)
2/3 cup olive oil
1¼ cups plain flour (can substitute some wholemeal)
¼ cup soy flour (or almond meal)
1½ tsp baking powder
175g Thomson seedless grapes, halved
¼ cup raw sugar

(* use margarine for a vegan cake)

Line and grease 22cm round cake tin. Preheat oven to 190 C.

Cream butter and sugar in large bowl. Stir in bananas and rind.

Place port and oil in a small bowl (or coffee mug) and whisk together with whisk or fork. Add flour and baking powder in lots alternatively with port mixture. Gently stir to combine.

Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake for 50-55 minutes or til a skewer comes out clean. Serve warm or cool.

UPDATE 5.9.2012 - I made this again and used almond meal instead of soy flour and orange juice instead of port.  It was fantastic.  I think the almond meal was even better than the soy flour.  I've uploaded a photo of this cake - with red grapes - at the top because the photos I took back in 2009 weren't that great!

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