Recipe for Michaelmas

Tomorrow is the Feast of the Archangels: Michael, Gabriel, & Raphael. A few years ago, I came across this recipe on the All Recipes website to make for the feast day & it was a hit w/ my family. I thought I'd share it w/ you, but before I do, I wanted to share why we're making this particular cake. The following is taken from Catholic Culture's web page about the Feast of the Archangels:

Folklore in the British Isles suggests that Michaelmas day is the last day that blackberries can be picked. It is said that when St. Michael expelled Lucifer, the devil, from heaven, he fell from the skies and landed in a prickly blackberry bush. Satan cursed the fruit, scorched them with his fiery breath, and stamped and spat on them, so that they would be unfit for eating. A Traditional Irish proverb says: On Michaelmas Day the devil puts his foot on the blackberries. If you have access to blackberries, make this the last picking and eating. Perhaps make a blackberry pie?

Or in our case... Blackberry Wine Cake!

1 (18.25 oz.) pkg white cake mix
1 (3 oz.) pkg blackberry gelatin ***
4 eggs
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 c. blackberry wine (I used the Manischewitz Kosher Blackberry...delicious!)
1/2 c. chopped pecans
1 c. confectioners' sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease & flour a 9 or 10 inch tube pan. (I just used a regular rectangular Pyrex cake pan.) Put chopped pecans in bottom of pan.

Combine the cake mix, blackberry gelatin, eggs, oil, & 1 c. of blackberry wine. Beat for 2 minutes, then pour batter over top of pecans.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until cake tests done. Pour 1/2 of blackberry wine glaze (see recipe below) over top of cake while still warm. Let set for 10 minutes then remove cake from pan. Allow cake to coof fully before pouring remaining glaze on top.

Blackberry Wine Glaze: Mix together the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 c. blackberry wine, & softened butter or margarine. Beat until smooth.

* Obviously the alcohol is cooked out of the wine used in the cake mix, but not in the glaze. So, use your judgment in giving this cake to your kids or leaving the glaze off of the recipe.

*** NOTE: The first time I made this, I couldn't find blackberry gelatin so I used black cherry. This time, all I found was Jell-O Blackberry Fusion (blackberry & raspberry).