Friday 22 March 2013

Grapes Upside Down Cake


The idea came to mind, when I suddenly came across heaps of bunches of black grapes, just sitting on the kitchen top. Must have been at least 2 kgs of them!! Having being bought in bulk, they came cheaper than usual. The problem - 'Nobody to eat them'. The grapes, turned out to be pretty sour, and as everybody is down with cold, nobody wished to pop them in their mouths, fearing the expected consequences. Somebody would wonder, why they were even bought in the first place. I did too. But if you go to see, the answer is, 'Grapes Upside Down Cake'. I have been wanting to bake this 'upside down' thingie, since, forever! Ever since I saw Bree baking a Pineapple Upside Down Cake, for Gaby, in the season 6 of Desperate Housewives, and also had the same urge when i saw Maggie Beer baking a 'Grapes Upside Down Cake' on Masterchef Australia. Of course hers was too exotic. Mine's a bit too simple. But Tasty. So here goes the recipe -

The Ingredients:

For the Sauce-

150 gms grapes
100 gms Sugar
1 1/2 cup Water

For the Cake-

2 cups White Flour
3/4th cup Milk
2 Eggs
100 gms Butter
1 1/2 cup Castor Sugar
A pinch of Baking Powder
A pinch of Salt
2-4 drops of Rose Pink Food Colour. (optional)
Approx  20 grapes

The Procedure:

For the Sauce-

Cut the grapes coarsely and add them to a cooking pan. Mix in the sugar and when it starts melting, pour the water. Bring it to a boil till consistency is syrupy. Put aside and let it cool.




For the Cake-


Preheat Oven at 180 C. for 20 minutes.

Beat two eggs in a mixing bowl. Add in the milk. Beat again. Then, add softened butter, and mix till smooth. Mix the castor sugar in the beaten egg, milk and butter, and keep mixing til the sugar melts. Sift the flour and fold it in this beaten mixture, along wit a pinch of baking powder and salt. Check the consistency and if too thick add some more milk.



Once mixed thoroughly, gently fold in the grape sauce and put two drops of rose pink food colour (literally 2 drops, not a single drop more).




Line the baking tin with butter paper and line it with whole grapes, until the bottom of the tin is completely covered. Then pour in the cake batter into the tin and place it in the oven, for about 30 minute.




Check if cooked evenly by inserting a toothpick. If it does not come out clean let it bake for some more time.Once ready, let it cool for a while before taking it out of the tin. Place a plate on top of the tine and invert it. the cake should come out along with butter paper. Peel it off, and you should have a lovely looking Grapes Upside Down Cake.




Cut a piece out and inside will be a beautiful purple cake that looks straight out of Fairy Tale.