You can cook with wine!
And yes, you can eat wine.
Tonight I'm letting my inner Julia Child, or is it Bobby Flay, come out to talk about and share a recipe.
I made a trip Sunday to Huber and Turtle Run wineries in Southern Indiana. It's a crazy time of year for the southern Indiana folks who all seem to host fall festivals. The crowds at Hubers are fun, exciting and really big. As a matter of fact, Huber's restaurant just down the road from the winery and farm market was beyond packed. The fried chicken is so good the Colonel would blush.The dining room, which must seat several hundred, was full along with the two party barns with lines out the door.
But I digress. After the Hubers visit I headed over to Turtle Run which I discovered in late July on a two day driving vacation along the Ohio River. I've written newspaper columns and on this blog about Hubers and Jim Pfeiffer's Turtle Run based on those trips.
I wanted to buy some Dry Tortuga at Turtle Run. It's one of those interesting blends that self-described "blendaholic" Pfeiffer loves working on, playing with, and offering his customers as something different from most Indiana wines. Look for a future review on the Tortuga.
But while I was doing a little tasting my mother was checking out the Raspberry Wine Cake. I had a little bite and thought it was interesting then went back to the wine. But good ol' Mom picked up a copy of the recipe. She didn't tell me she had the recipe until we were 15-20 miles down the road."But Mom, you don't have any raspberry wine," I noted, (nothing gets past my sharp skills of observation!) But that didn't deter Mom who was thinking it was an interesting recipe.
We drove another mile or two and I realized I had brought Mom some cherry wine from Winzerwald Winery from that two-day river drive. So why not substitute cherry for raspberry?
We did just that Sunday night and the cake has been a huge hit. I've now shared it with three friends - all rave reviews!
I'm printing the recipe below. But the wine cake is different. In many ways it's like a wine - sweet at first but then tart. In the way of full disclosure, I'm not a big fruit wine fan. But the cake was darn good. And, Mom and I had a great time making it.
So here you go --- the good folks at Turtle Run Winery call it Raspberry Wine Cake. I'm going to call it Berry Wine Cake. All you need to do is match the jello flavor to whatever fruit wine you have handy!
Berry Cake
1 box white cake mix with pudding (only one I found was Pillsbury)
1 cup of berry wine
1 cup oil (Mom insisted on less than one cup - she was right!)
1 small box of jello (as noted above, matching the wine flavor. Mom and I used sugar free)
1 teaspoon of vanilla
4 eggs
Directions: Combine all ingredients. Bake in greased and lightly floured bundt pan at 325 degrees for 50-60 minutes.
Glaze
1 2/3 cup of powdered sugar
1/4 cut of wine (I actually reduced the wine over low heat to get to 1/4 cup to intensify the flavor in the glaze)
Drizzle GENEROUSLY over cake when cooled.
So dig out the baking pans, channel your inner chef/pastry chef and give this a try. I'm telling you "wine cake" rocks!
I also found a YouTube video (several actually) about Huber Winery. Check them out. I've embedded one here with Ted Huber talking about the wine making process.
Send comment or questions to: hewitthoward@gmail.com
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