Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Grease and line three 20 cm round cake tins, or use three 18 cm tins for a higher cake.

Place the grapes (leave them whole if they are small, halve them if they are large) and water in a saucepan and simmer over a low heat until the fruit becomes opaque. Strain and set aside.

Sift the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the olive oil and sugar together, then add the vanilla essence. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, until the mixture is smooth and thickens quite a bit.

Stir in the apple, grapes and lemon zest. Fold in the flour mixture. Don’t be alarmed, the batter should be odd-looking – lumpy and fruity.

In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form using an electric mixer. Gently fold the egg whites into the cake batter.

Scoop the batter into the prepared tins, smooth the tops and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before turning out.

Spread the maple syrup icing between the layers of cake, leaving the top un-iced. Dust the top with icing sugar and decorate with oven-dried grapes.

To make the maple syrup icing, use the paddle attachment of an electric mixer to beat together the butter and sugar until light in colour. Add the cream cheese and beat until the icing is smooth, then add the maple syrup and stir through.  

TASTE’s take:

“Once in a blue moon, you come across a recipe so perfect that changing much about it is inconceivable. Instead you just bow down to the baking gods and give thanks to the creator of said recipe, in this case it is from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook. They rocked our taste buds with this one! Forgive us for tweaking it to suit our methods.”