Italian Wine Cake

Easy and tasty…what more could you want from a cake. This recipe has been kickin’ around my family for years, not sure exactly where it came from, but thank you to whoever found it. The possible flavor combinations for this cake are limited only by your imagination…well, and cake mix and pudding flavors. I normally use wine (blackberry, chardonnay, white zinfandel, chocolate, whatever), but I’ve also used Sprite, 7UP, and Kahlua. Basically, if you have it on hand and you like the taste of it, it’s worth trying in this recipe. Warning, yellow cake mix and red wine makes a weird green colored cake. Still tastes good, but you might want to use a white cake with red wine, unless you need something for St. Paddy’s day or Halloween. I’m listing the ingredients I use most often, but substitute at will.

Ingredients

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 box instant vanilla pudding (5 or 3 oz, doesn’t seem to make a difference
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3/4 c vegetable oil
• 3/4 c wine
• 4 eggs
• Powdered sugar for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Liberally spray your fluted cake pan (commonly called a bundt pan, although Bundt is actually a brand of cake pans), with Bakers Joy spray. Bakers Joy is the only think I have found to use where the cake does not stick in the bundt pan. If you don’t have this spray, feel free to grease/flour thoroughly in every groove.
3. Put all ingredients in a bowl and give them a few stirs to mix together the dry and wet ingredients.
4. Beat with electric mixer on medium for 5-7 minutes. You want it to be thick and fluffy.
5. Pour into prepared pan.
6. Place in pre-heated oven for 45-60 minutes depending on your oven.
7. I take mine out when I can touch the top and my finger doesn’t plunge into a pool of batter but is solid (but soft) and springs back.
8. If you hit that pool of batter, put cake back in oven, checking every 5 minutes.
9. If you aren’t comfortable with the finger method, use a cake tester, skewer, butter knife, (whatever you have on hand) and insert into cake. When it comes out clean it’s done.
10. Let rest for 5-10 minutes.
11. Flip on to plate or server. Best accomplished by placing plate upside down over cake pan. Using two potholders, grasp plate and pan together on opposite sides. Quickly turn upside down so cake pan is resting on plate. Slide pan up off cake.
12. After cooled, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

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That’s the way I usually do it, but a couple weeks ago I make a chocolate Kahlua cake. Make the following substitutions: chocolate cake for yellow; chocolate pudding for vanilla; Kahlua for wine. Also, after pouring the cake into the pan, I sprinkled chopped pecans over the batter. When it came out, I put 2 tablespoons of canned frosting in a little dish and nuked it for about 20 seconds (you may need more or less), and drizzled it over the cake after it was flipped. It was wonderful with a big ol’ cup of coffee.

Next time you are at the store and the cake mix is on sale for 88 cents, stock up so you can make one any time the feeling hits.