Wine Cake
This is a moist, quick tea-bread style of cake that is lightly infused with the flavors of wine and olive oil, so you will naturally want to use good-quality, locally sourced wine and olive oil. The glaze gives it some pop, but it is essentially a simple cake that will shine when served with Strawberries in Pinot Noir.
Equipment
- 1 5 x 9-inch metal loaf pan
- Parchment Paper
- Stand Mixer
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups unbleached flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup unbleached organic cane sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup cup olive oil
- ⅔ to ¾ cup dessert wine late harvest or Moscato wine, use up to 3⁄4 cup for a moister cake
FOR THE GLAZE
- 2-3 tablespoons dessert wine
- ½ cup organic powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° and position the rack in the lower third of the oven. Lightly butter a 9- by 5-inch metal loaf pan. Line the bottom and the two longer sides with parchment paper.
- Sift to combine the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and set aside.
- Beat the eggs and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and then add the vanilla extract and the olive oil, continuing to beat for approximately 5 minutes. Add the mixture of dry ingredients alternating with the wine a little at a time while beating at low speed just mixing until everything is incorporated. Pour the batter into the loaf pan, and bake for 45–50 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
- While baking whisk 2–3 tablespoons of dessert wine into the powdered sugar until smooth and pour over the cake when it comes out of the oven. Cool the cake on a rack before taking it out of the pan. Slice and serve by itself or with Strawberries in Pinot Noir. The cake is even better the next day.
Notes
Creating a ‘sling’ of parchment paper in your loaf pan makes it very easy to get the cake out. Just lightly run a knife down the two sides that don't have the parchment paper and the cake should lift right out.