An easy, delicious recipe to make a moist and soft Wine Cake without eggs. This Wine Cake recipe is made with red wine and has plenty of nuts and dry fruits flavored with ground spices.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 60 minutes
  • Total time: 70 minutes
  • Yield: 10 · 10 slices
  • Category: Desserts
  • Cuisine: World

Ingredients

  • 1 cup red wine
  • ½ cup seedless dates
  • ¼ cup almonds
  • ¼ cup cashews
  • 5 to 6 glazed red cherries
  • 1 tablespoon tutti frutti
  • 1 tablespoon candied orange peel (- finely chopped, optional)
  • 1 tablespoon candied ginger (- finely chopped, optional)
  • ¼ cup golden raisins
  • ¼ cup sultanas (- optional)
  • 4 to 5 walnuts (- chopped)
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 pinch salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon instant coffee
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder ((ground nutmeg))
  • ½ cup + 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (or brown sugar)
  • ¾ cup oil (- any neutral flavored oil like sunflower oil)
  • 2 tablespoons curd ((yogurt) dissolved and mixed in 1 tablespoon water)
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or ½ teaspoon vanilla essence)
  • 1 tablespoon cacao nibs (- optional)

Method

Preparation

  1. First chop the dates, almonds, cashews, walnuts, glazed cherries, candied orange peels, candied ginger.
  2. In a bowl or jar soak the chopped nuts and dry fruits as well the tutti frutti, raisins and sultanas in red wine.
  3. Cover and keep this bowl or jar in a cool dry place. For 3 days I kept the bowl out and then for the remaining days I kept in the fridge. Every alternate day shake the jar or stir the bowl.

Making wine cake

  1. Sieve the all-purpose flour (maida) with salt, baking soda and baking powder. Add cinnamon powder, grated nutmeg and instant coffee. Mix well.
  2. Preheat your oven at 200 degree C/390 degrees F for 15 minutes. Grease a 6 to 7 inches diameter round cake pan or a regular loaf pan with some oil or line the pan with parchment paper.
  3. In a small bowl, stir and mix 1 tablespoon water with 2 tablespoons curd/yogurt until smooth. Set aside
  4. Next add the soaked nuts and dry fruits mixture, cacao nibs, brown sugar, yogurt and water mixture, oil, milk and vanilla extract.
  5. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients to get an even batter.
  6. Pour the batter in the greased or parchment paper lined cake pan of 6 to 7 inches diameter.
  7. Bake the eggless wine cake in a preheated oven for 200 degree C/390 degrees F for about 50 mins to 1 hour or till a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.
  8. Keep the cake in the middle rack with both the top and bottom heating elements of the oven on.
  9. If the top of the cake gets to brown quickly, then cover the top with aluminium foil or parchment paper.
  10. Place the cake pan on a wired rack to cool. When the red wine cake has cooled completely, remove it from the pan.
  11. Wrap the cake in an aluminium foil or cling film and allow the wine cake to mature for 2 to 3 days (at room temperature or in the fridge) before serving.
  12. Slice and serve Wine Cake as a dessert or sweet.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.