Inspired by our lovely Heather over on Violets Pantry I decided to make (or should I say bake?) a Rachel Allen recipe: Cherry Crumble Cake, there was however a slight problem with this idea in that I didn’t have any cherries! Oh what to do? Well I had a hunt around my fruit bowl and decided on using grapes instead; to my mind any berry would also work well here, as would rhurbarb and I intend to try various varieties again very soon.
The grapes worked really well, some stayed whole and became meltingly soft juicy bites while others ‘exploded’ in the oven and allowed their sweetness to penetrate the sponge.
Even those who don’t like a true ‘crumble’ seem to love a crumble cake; for me it’s the contrasting buttery crunch against the soft belly of sponge. The interspersing of sweet, juicy fruit just makes for an even more delicious experience.
I doubled the quantity of crumble topping on Heather’s advice and to be honest I think next time I’d make double the sponge and four times the crumble topping to bake a larger cake; this one was devoured within two days, confession time here, I ate most of it. For a little extra crunch to the crumble I added a couple of handfuls of mixed oat and spelt flakes too.
Such an easy cake to make too, an easy sponge which relies on simply combining the dry ingredients and some whisked melted butter and eggs (in pretty much the same fashion as making muffins), no creaming, or folding to be worrying about.
The lovely plate and cake slice came from The Big Blue Sky in Norfolk, who I wrote about in more detail here. I’ll say it again, if you’re ever passing Wells Next The Sea do make sure you make a wee detour into this treasure trove of a store.
This cake was equally good served with a good cup of tea as it was served as a pudding with extra thick double cream and a scattering of icing sugar and fresh berries. I urge you all to make it. 
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It does look really delicious. I suppose grape will do if you don’t have cherry.
Really interesting idea using grapes instead of cherries hun, looks really good : ) xxx
Thanks both
Hayley lovely to ‘see’ you here!
Crumble cakes are my go to recipes when I am in a hurry to bake something for my guests. Saving this recipe for another such day:) Thank you!
What a lovely looking cake, what a wonderful idea to use grapes. I am a big crumble fan so I’m definitely going to have to give this recipe a go
P.S I am so in love with that gorgeous star plate!
A beautiful idea. Must try it.
Thanks Mary, hope you’ll enjoy.
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