Champagne Grape Upside-Downer
Friends, this week I had a stroke of TWD genius. The chosen recipe was Dorie’s Cranberry Upside-Downer, picked by Sabrina of Superfluous. I had a couple of cranberries in the freezer, but I wasn’t really feeling ready to break them out. Then I found some champagne grapes (at WalMart, of all places!) and it was love at first sight. Do you know about these little gems? They’re teeny-tiny, super sweet grapes, also called Black Corinth grapes. Adorable. They make me want to throw a wine-and-cheese soiree and drape them all over my house (and serve this cake, of course).
I’ve never baked with grapes before, but I’ve always been interested in doing so. I’ve often thought about trying to make a grape pie, which I didn’t think existed until I googled it. I thought this cake came out just beautifully for my first crack at the grape thing. The grapes look like juicy little jewels atop that cake, don’t they? It turned out as more of a spoon cake because of the extra moisture from the fruit and the loads of butter involved. It’s definitely not very WW friendly (I think 6 points for 1/12 of the cake.. yikes!), but it’s worth a little splurge. You people must wonder how I lose any weight with all of these decadent posts.
So, my changes to Dorie’s recipe were as follows:
-substitute 2 cups champagne grapes for 2 cups cranberries
-omit cinnamon
-use walnuts
-glaze with grape jelly or jam
I opted to keep the walnuts in because I thought it would be reminiscent of Waldorf salad and the like. It worked well- the crunch was welcome with such a soft and spongy cake. I’m serious about the wine-and-cheese party.. I’m going to have make this again when there are people around to eat it.
Thanks, Sabrina, for the great recipe pick that sparked this idea!
*Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) is a group of bloggers baking through Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours.
**Find the recipe here.
Delightful cake!!!!!!!!!! Can’t wait to see you!
Hmmmm…Well it kind of reminds me of a Christmas coffee cake I make some years – that’s the cranberry upside down thing though. I’m having a hard time imagining grape in a cake. I guess you’ll have to send a slice to PA for me. Ha! Hope it’s delish…
Looks great Nat, I’d like a slice too if you are sending any to PA
Looks GREAT! I will look for those tiny little grapes. Fun!
Wow. That’s so unique and looks wonderful! How fun!
I’m eating some of these delicious grapes as I write this. Beautiful cake.
Great choice! I’ve never had champagne grapes, but they sound delicious and your cake looks beautiful.
I used red grapes, but I love the champagne grapes you used! They do look like little jewels. Beautiful cake!
Grape pie is a household fav around here. We make it with green grapes and a sour cream topping. So genious! We make it about once a year but usually try to share. Sorry we missed sharing it with you.
Cool idea! Im glad you liked the recipe! I tried mine with cherries!
I’ve never tried champagne grapes before, but it looks good! I did a White Peach version.
i’ve seen these little gems around my stores but couldn’t justify the cost of them, they are a bit pricey here. and i’d just end up popping them in my mouth as is 😉
what an insightful variation. it looks simply devine!
Lovely!!!!
That’s a really nice variation for the cake. Champagne grapes have such a lovely flavor, so I bet it was delicious.
Did you use a springform? If so, what size? And how long did you bake it?
Also, glaze or no glaze?
I tried it and mine was a wet mess.
THANKS!!!
I have lots of champagne grapes in my yard ripe right now. This recipe looks delicious but I was unable to find the original cranberry upside-downer from Sabrina. Can you HELP?? Quickly??