The wine cake I grew up with was a delicious concoction of boxed yellow cake mix, instant vanilla pudding, buttery popcorn-flavored oil and sweet port. This from-scratch version captures the same heady port flavoring with an even crisper crust and a plush crumb with simple pantry ingredients.
Prep time: PT20M
Cook time: PT50M
Total time: PT70M
Rating
5 stars (6 reviews)
Ingredients
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ¾ cups sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (cut into chunks and softened to room temperature)
4 eggs
¾ cup olive oil
¾ cup dessert wine (port or sherry--we use port)
Categories
Cake
Cuisine
American
Steps
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-12 cup bundt pan.
In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, sugar, cornstarch, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Using a paddle attachment (or your fingers), add the softened butter and mix until no large clumps remain and the mixture resembles slightly damp sand.
In a smaller bowl, whisk together eggs, oil and wine. Gently stir wet mixture into dry ingredients until just combined with no floury streaks.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes at 350 degrees, or until inserted tester comes out clean.
Reviews
Teel on 2025-12-08 (5 stars): made this exactly per recipe- quick and delicious!!
Karen on 2024-12-20 (5 stars): My mom used to make the cake mix and vanilla pudding version for Christmas, but I try to avoid food additives. I was so happy to find this from scratch version and made it for a holiday potluck. Everyone loved it! I used sherry and increased the nutmeg to 1teaspoon, consistent with my mom’s recipe. Delicious.
Dee on 2024-11-14 (5 stars): Thank you so much for this recipe! In my college days I used to bake a yellow wine cake using cake mix for my boyfriend. We loved it and I wanted to have wine cake again, but I left cake mixes behind many years ago. I looked and looked for a scratch recipe. Thanks again for this delicious cake!
Rena on 2023-04-22 (5 stars): My husband likes this than other cakes I made. Freezes great and very moist. I prefer a cake without frosting and this one is perfect.
Rachel on 2021-01-01 (5 stars): I made this for New Year's Eve and it was a hit! Will definitely make this one again!
Koushik on 2017-12-16 (5 stars): Great recipe indeed.As olive oil is too costly in India,I tried it with saffola oil. The end product was too good. I also used white wine instead. Thanks for the great recipe.
