White Wine Mini-Cakes

Rett at the Gazebo House posted the most interesting recipe for a White Wine Cake here.

I didn’t change very much when I tried it.  Her version was gluten-free and mine is not, she made hers in a bundt pan and I chose to make mini-cakes in a muffin/cupcake tin, I used walnuts because I couldn’t find my pecans in the freezer and I made half a recipe of glaze for just the tops of the cakes.  Please check out Rett’s blog for this recipe and for the most gorgeous tablescapes.  Her table ware and arrangements are just spectacular.

• Servings: 24
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• ½ cup plus 2 Tblsp. chopped walnuts
• 15.25 oz. box yellow cake mix (Betty Crocker)
• 3.2 oz. package instant vanilla pudding
• ¾ cup water
• ¾ cup unsweetened applesauce (Mott’s)
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 4 eggs
• ¼ c light brown sugar
• ¼ c granulated sugar
• ½ c white wine (Chardonnay)

Glaze

• 1/2 cup butter, cut in cubes
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ cup white wine (Chardonnay)

Grease and flour two 12-cup muffin/cupcake tins.  After greasing the cups, place ½ tsp. flour in each cup and tilt and swirl pan to cover the bottom and sides of cups.  I always hold the pan over the sink for this so any excess flour falls there and not on the counter and floor.

Sprinkle nuts in the bottom of each cup section.  Set aside.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, place cake flour, vanilla pudding mix, water, applesauce, cinnamon, eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar and white wine.  Mix at medium speed for 3 minutes.  Divide batter among the 24 cups (a heaping ¼ cup for each).  The batter should be about ¼ inch from the top edge.

Bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 20 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center of one cake comes out clean.

Place tins on racks and allow to rest for about 3 minutes.  Remove cakes from tins and place on racks, bottom sides up (nuts will show).  After a few minutes turn the cakes so they don’t get deep ridges from the racks on the bottom.

To make wine glaze:
Place butter, sugar and water in a small pan over medium high heat.  Bring to a boil, stirring, and then let boil for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and add wine.  Place the racks with the cupcakes over waxed paper to catch drips and spoon about 1 tsp. of glaze on top of each cake and spread with spoon so a little drizzles down the side.  After glaze has soaked into the cakes (a few minutes), add another ½ tsp. to each cake.  Let cool on racks.

Before serving, heat remaining sauce in a small pan or in the microwave, pour into a pitcher and allow each person to add more sauce as desired.  This was a good opportunity for me to use one of the little vintage pitchers I recently found in an antique store. Although it is not a Homer Laughlin like the plate, it matches perfectly.

Yield:  24 mini-cakes  These freeze well and are nice to pull out for a quick dessert without additional sauce.To reheat, place thawed cakes on a flat pan and place in a cold oven.  Turn oven to heat to 350 degrees F and when it reaches that point, remove the cakes and turn off the oven.  This is just right to heat the cakes properly.