My Mom’s Wine Cake Has Been a Favorite for Years and Years

My mom has always been a practical baker. She has a Rolodex of tried-and-tested recipes collected from family and friends, and she has a tightly curated rotation for school bake sales, events, and entertaining. One of my siblings and I’s favorite recipes is wine cake. It just happens to require just six ingredients and can be assembled in 10 minutes flat.

While this doesn’t sound like a particularly child-friendly dessert, don’t worry–the wine cooks off! Essentially, it’s a doctored yellow cake mix, thanks to instant vanilla pudding and dessert wine. The main appeal of wine cake is the incredibly plush, close-crumbed golden center with its thin ring of deep brown crust. 

Dusted with a shower of powdered sugar in lieu of frosting, this cake isn’t overly sweet. The generous amount of nutmeg lends the yellow cake a flavor reminiscent of a doughnut. It’s also equally easy to eat a hand-held slice as it is to chow down with a fork. My childhood routine was to carefully carve out the golden center before eating the caramelized crust.

How To Make My Mom’s Wine Cake

To make one bundt cake that serves about 12 people, you’ll need:

• 1 (15.25-ounce) box yellow cake mix
• 1 (3.4-ounce) package instant vanilla pudding
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup butter-flavored oil or neutral oil like canola
• 3/4 cup dessert wine (port or sherry)
• Powdered sugar, for dusting, optional

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 10- to 12-cup bundt pan.

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together until a smooth batter forms. Add the batter to the prepared pan and smooth out the top. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center of one side of the bundt cake comes out clean, 42 to 45 minutes.

Cool for about 10 minutes before turning the cake out onto a cooling rack and cooling completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving, if desired. The cake will keep at room temperature in an airtight container for up to three days.

Ingredient Tips

If you’d like to faithfully follow the recipe exactly as written, my mom uses the following ingredients:

• Orville Redenbacher’s Popping & Topping Buttery Flavor Popcorn Oil (often found near the cooking oils or popcorn): I think the buttery flavor popcorn oil is key to the buttery flavor of the cake, but that could be my nostalgia talking. As a substitute, you can use any neutral oil like canola or vegetable. Add 1/4 teaspoon of butter extract if you have it!
• Dessert wine (typically a $3 or $4 bottle of Gallo’s Tawny Port): Any darker sherry or port works nicely.
• Duncan Hines yellow cake mix: In truth, any brand of yellow cake mix will work.
• Nutmeg: Although I usually dislike excessive nutmeg, I think it’s key in this recipe to give the cake a gently spiced, fragrant note reminiscent of homemade doughnuts.