Thursday, February 18, 2010

Red Wine Cake


This recipe has a story.
My stepmother makes this cake & after having it for the first time, the bozo's became obsessed. Now, she makes it nearly every time we visit. I had no idea what it was called, but I named it the "Cinnamon Toast Crunch" cake, because it reminded my of the way the cereal tasted.
Knowing how much my guys loved it, I asked for the recipe. She said she would get it to me, but never did. Time after time I asked & never got it. Finally, after asking & asking, for probably a year, she admitted that the reason she never gave it to me was because it was a cake from a box! Heavens forbid!
She wanted to come up with a "homemade" version before she let me have it & never got a chance. Eventually, she had to cave & just fess up.
I have to admit that I am not a fan of boxed cake. Mostly, because I love baking from scratch. But, this cake in no way tastes like anything from a box. I would have never known, had she not told me.
So, here it is...the cake. I am posting it in honor of my darling Bozo #1. My first born baby. Who is turning EIGHT tomorrow & who's favorite cake is this...

Begin by greasing a cake pan. I use a bundt pan, but you can use a regular round cake pan as well. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Into a mixing bowl, add one box of yellow cake mix & one box of instant vanilla pudding mix. To that, add 2 teaspoons of cinnamon,

a 1/2 cup red wine {you can also use white wine, but I like it better with red}, 4 eggs, 1/2 cup canola oil & 1/2 cup water.

Beat, using a hand mixer, until smooth {a stand mixer would work as well}.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan & bake for 45 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

While the cake bakes, make the glaze. In a small saucepan, combine 1 stick of butter, 1 cup of sugar & a 1/2 cup red wine. Heat until the sugar is dissolved & the butter is melted.

While the cake is still in the pan, pour most of the glaze on top...letting it slowly absorb into the cake. When completely cool, turn the cake out onto a serving dish. Drizzle the remaining glaze over the cake. Serve with some freshly whipped cream.

Red Wine Cake

A family recipe
Makes one Bundt Cake

1 box yellow cake mix
1 box instant vanilla pudding mix
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup red wine {divided}
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup canola oil
4 large eggs
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees & butter a bundt pan. In a mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, pudding mix, cinnamon, 1/2 cup red wine, water, canola oil & eggs. Beat with an electric mixer until well combined & smooth.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan & bake for 45 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. While the cake is baking, prepare the glaze. In a small saucepan, heat the butter, sugar & remaining 1/2 cup of red wine until the sugar is dissolved.
When the cake is done & while still in the pan, pour most of the glaze over the cake, letting it slowly absorb into it. When cool, invert the cake onto a serving plate & pour the remaining glaze over it.
Serve with freshly whipped cream.
Click here for the printable recipe.

26 comments:

Mother Rimmy said...

Love your story. This cake sounds intriguing. I can't wait to give it a try. I don't bake from scratch, so this is right up my alley!

cjvierow said...

Hi Kate
This sounds very interesting, but could you clarify something for me please. The recipe says "instant" pudding, but in your picture you show the "cook and serve" type. Which one do I use? Thanks. This is a really funny story!

katie said...

Thanks Ladies.
About the pudding. I should have clarified that...sorry. The original recipe calls for "instant" pudding mix. But, I had some cook & serve on hand. Either one will work for this.
Since cook & serve has a more "real" pudding taste & creaminess, I'd say I am more apt to use that in the future.

Karen said...

I'm a real cake snob... no boxed cakes for me! Until I tried a cake similar to this using sherry instead of red wine. When I asked for the recipe I was amazed that it used a boxed mix and it's been one of my favorites ever since. I'll have to give this one a try!

Rena said...

That sounds delicious. With the addition of pudding, how could it be bad? Yum.

carolyn said...

i am totally intrigued by this! it is so beautiful and sounds delicious!

Deana Sidney said...

I have heard of an olive oil version of this cake.. this recipe looks fabulous and easy too!!

Jennifer said...

Wonderful story. Now this cake.... very interesting!! Something I may just have to try!

Lynne@CookandBeMerry.com said...

Your cake looks absolutely scrumptious. The texture of the glazed top makes my mouth water. I make a similar pudding cake with port wine so I can imagine your cake as well. Yum.

Carol Egbert said...

The glaze is a great idea. I've made the sherry version of this cake but never thought of adding a glaze. Great post, thanks.

Anonymous said...

Oh... not cooking from scratch today, are we? Scratch is way way better, you know.

Cara said...

sounds delicious! I'd cave and use the boxed stuff too :)

katie said...

Thanks Anonymous.
I agree. But, until I come up with a "from scratch" version of this recipe {which, may never happen}, I'll stick with this!
To everyone else...Thanks for the comments! Hope you end up trying it & love it as much as I do!

The Ferber Family said...

hey there, this sounds AWESOME! i do have one question though. in the instructions next to the pictures you mention using 3/4 cup of canola oil, but the recipe at the bottom says 1/2 cup. could you clarify? thanks!!

katie said...

Oops! That was a typo. I'll go fix that.
Thanks for catching it for me :)
It's a 1/2 cup.

Rachel said...

I'm not a huge fan of boxed cake mixes, either, but this looks amazing! I've never heard of adding wine to a cake. Sounds great! I love your blog, btw.

Momof2xy2xx said...

I made the cake last night and it was a huge hit with my kids, husband, and even shared with the neighbors!

Thanks for posting!

Anonymous said...

Wow, I am completely intrigued by this recipe! It sounds like it would be a lot of fun to make-I am definitely going to have to give it a try!

Rashida Johnson said...

This cake looks really elegant- I will probably make it for my birthday- but I do have a question that I hope others won't find offensive. I see that your son is 8, and I am concerned about the alcohol consumption of a minor. My kids would probably love to eat this too, but I'm not sure if it's safe for lil' youngins to say- "mommy can I have just one more slice, it'll help me sleep?" LOLOL! Now that you mention it- my 1 year old could really use a slice during his tantrums!- thanks for sharing.

katie said...

Rashida~
You have a valid point & I too have wondered about that. But, seeing as both the cake & glaze are thoroughly heated, mostly all the alcohol is cooked off. If it concerns you, let the glaze come to a simmer & let it cook a bit longer. That will help insure that most of the alcohol is cooked off & really won't affect the end results.

With that being said, it's a personal decision, of course. I know studies show that while cooking with alcohol, even after heating very thoroughly, small traces of the alcohol can still remain. So, it's definitely something to consider.

Personally, I don't feel it poses a significant risk. Any more, than serving, let's say...chicken marsala, or any other meat dish cooked with wine.
It's also a very small amount of wine, when you consider the size of the cake & what will be ingested in one serving of it. So, it's up to you.

On the other hand, when it comes to recipes where the alcohol is unheated. For instance, in Tiramisu, or my holiday Rum Balls, they are strictly off limits to the little ones!

Thanks!
~k

Sarah! said...

I'm of the opinion that it doesn't really count as a box cake if you manipulate it significantly, like adding pudding and wine and such. A box cake follows the instructions on the box.

Though, it's not really from scratch, either, so I guess it's some sort of in-between category!

Mariana said...

Hi!
I know I'm joining this conversation a bit late, but I thought I'd share my experience.

I came across this blog and loved the recipe so I tried to get all the ingredients asap to give it a try. I'm also from a family of traditional and good cooking/baking (blame the italian blood) and yes, box cake is something that just NEVER happens here, it's almost shameful haha, but this recipe just looked killer (you had me at the Cinnamon Toast Crunch reference), so I wanted to try. Why not?

Now, the thing is... I'm abroad. I live in Chile. I went to the supermarket where I thought I'd find the box cake & pudding imported from the States, but the only American box cakes were chocolate, and there was no pudding... so I took a chance, and went for the chilean box cake and the chilean pudding. BIG FAT MISTAKE.
I know you used chilean wine, I noticed it on the picture ;) but let me tell you, don't you dare try this recipe with our box cake and pudding!!! It was the most disgusting, inedible and ugly cake I've ever seen.

What did I learn? Stick to the American ingredients! If you're abroad, just try to find them!
I'll go to the bigger supermarket to get the imported cake & pudding, hopefully, cause seriously? This cake *has* to be amazing, I know it. But with the original ingredients, not the local ones.

(speaking of ingredients, I printed out the recipe and noticed in that the cinnamon is missing on the list!).

I'll try again for sure. Thanks for sharing this recipe!

katie said...

Mariana-
So sorry that the ingredients you used didn't work for you! What a disappointment!
Yes, using boxed cake + pudding is a huge departure from what I would usually do. One of these days, I'd like to develop a homemade version of this cake!
Thank you for the heads up on my typo as well! That's a pretty big one, as the cinnamon is essential to this recipe. I fixed it! :)

OoLoLo said...

Hi ladies,

I'm probably the first guy reading and commenting on this! I was planning a birthday surprise cake for my girlfriend today and I stumbled upon your recipe. Am trying it out at this very moment, I wasnt able to find the vanilla pudding mix, instead I used some vanilla essence with pudding mix...I hope it works! To be really honest, this is my first time attempting anything of this sort...so wish me luck!

Anonymous said...

I made it for a holiday dessert...I used a Red Velvet Cake mix, chocolate pudding mix...omitted the cinnamon and for the wine I used CHOX, a sweet red wine infused with Dutch Chocolate......Other wise I followed the recipe....I served it with a HUGE Strawberry and a "star" of real whipped cream.....DECADENT!

Lynn @ The Actor's Diet said...

made this and it turned out great! thanks for the recipe!

http://theactorsdiet.com/2012/05/02/recipe-recap-red-wine-cake/

Post a Comment