Blackberry Wine Bundt Cake

For our crafting gathering this month, I didn't know what to make. But then I stumbled across this recipe and thought it sounded like a really good summer treat - berries, wine, cake - how can you go wrong?

I was nearly giddy to buy wine for the recipe - it has been so long since I've bought alcohol! I used frozen blackberries just because they were cheaper and more convenient for my grocery shopping purposes.

I didn't make much glaze because I didn't want to make it a sticky mess or overpower the cake with the wine flavor. The cake is really easy to make, really pretty and extremely flavorful. It is moist, sweet and fruity. It was a hit at craft party and at work, where I delivered the leftovers.

Ingredients for the cake:
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1 box white cake mix
1 box blackberry jello
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup blackberry wine (the blogger I got the recipe from used Arbor Mist, so I did, too.)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped blackberries (or more if you wish)

Ingredients for the glaze:
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup blackberry wine
2-3 cups confectioner's sugar

Directions:

Grease a bundt pan (I had to go out and buy one - they are round, with a bumpy top and a stick in the middle - the cake bakes upside down). I just rubbed a bit of butter all in the insides. If you grease another way, go for it.

Dump the 1/2 cup of pecans around the bottom of the pan

In a bowl, mix together the cake mix, wine, jello, vegetable oil, blackberries and eggs. Make sure all clumps are out.

Then pour on top of the pecans in the bundt pan.


Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

Take out of oven, but do not remove from pan. Take a long pronged fork, and poke holes all around the top (actually, the bottom of the cake once you flip it). Pour half of the glaze mixture onto the cake while it is still hot.

Allow the cake to cool for an hour. Take a decorative plate, and put it on top of the pan, flipping the pan gently to get the cake out.

Carefully drizzle the top of the cake with the remaining glaze mixture. If you are running low, add a bit more wine and sugar. If you really want the cake to look purple and have thick glaze, add more sugar.

Source: This blog

Nice to meet you, Italian Ricotta Cookies

Mike’s eyes lit up last week as a thought occurred to him.

“Have you ever made ricotta cookies?” he asked, wide-eyed.
“Ricotta cookies? That sounds weird,” I said.
“No, no, no. They’re soooo good.” He tried to explain the texture, the shape, the ingredients. All I could gather was that they have ricotta cheese in them, and they’re round or oval. And he used to eat them a lot as a kid.
I stored that info in the back of my brain to pull out at a later date. That later date came over the weekend, when my friend Kelly and I were discussing the finer points of baking.
“Oh, have you ever heard of ricotta cookies? Mike wants me to make them, but I have no idea what they are,” I said.
“Oh my god, dude! Yes! Those. Are. So. Good. I bet they’re really hard to make, though. They’re just too good to be easy.”
Well, that sealed it. I was intrigued. I logged on to allrecipes.com, and began searching. After much recipe-perusing and comment-reading, I decided to use the cookie instructions from one recipe and the glaze instructions from another.
The result? Some really good cookies that elicited an “Aaaah, YEAH!” from Mike, and began a war with two of his female co-workers over which one should get to “marry” me.
They’re light, almost cake-like, and the glaze gives an extra layer of taste and texture. And they were amazingly uncomplicated. It only took me about an hour or so to make the dough, bake them, glaze them, and clean up.
You must try them.

Cookie Ingredients
*1 cup butter
*2 cups white sugar
*2 eggs
*16 ounces ricotta cheese
*2 teaspoons vanilla extract
*4 cups all-purpose flour
*1 teaspoon baking powder
*1 teaspoon baking soda

Glaze Ingredients
*5 tablespoons milk
*1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
*1 teaspoon almond extract
*Colored candy sprinkles

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the ricotta cheese and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda, stir into the ricotta mixture. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
4. In a medium bowl, beat milk, confectioners' sugar, and almond extract until smooth. Spoon over warm cookies, and sprinkle with colored candy sprinkles.

Source: Allrecipes.com: Ricotta Cookies III (cookies) and Ricotta Cookies II (glaze)

Some thoughts:

I didn’t want to make a ton of cookies, so I halved all the cookie ingredients. I still got about 36-40 cookies out of the batch.

After tasting one cookie, Mike requested more glaze. To accommodate plenty of glaze for all cookies, I had to make a second batch of glaze. The first time, I used almond extract. The second time, I used vanilla. Both were good.

Mike also said he was used to a whiter, thicker glaze. My glaze was fairly thin and almost clear in color. I think it’s because I used skim milk, which is what we had on hand. If you want a thicker, creamier glaze, I’d recommend using 2 percent or whole milk.
I didn't use sprinkles this time because I could tell my glaze was too thin (and therefore hardened too fast) to hold them, but I'll add them on top next time when I use a thicker milk.