If you want to try something that is decadent, fattening, and oh, so delicious, do it! My heart-shaped pan worked out pretty good (it oozed out the bottom, but that was fine, I just sliced it off) and the cake was still a little warm when I put on the frosting. The frosting has espresso.
There was plenty of batter to make another single layer, so I decorated it with a big fat strawberry.
So, it’s gonna be a chocolate Valentine’s Day for us! We celebrated last weekend too, check it out below.
Who needs Napa Valley, when we have Morgan Creek Winery…yep, you heard it right, we have a winery right here in Alabama and they make muscadine and blueberry wine. We discovered this sweet little winery 2 summers ago when we first moved over here. We saw in the paper that they have concerts once a month during the summer, with wine tastings, music, and fireworks, so we went to check it out and have been going back ever since. You pay to get in, bring your own lawn chairs, a picnic, or you can buy food there, sit under the stars and enjoy some good jazz/oldies music. Very relaxing time!
It’s out in Harpersville, in the country and in such a pretty setting. This is a family owned winery and they’ve been in business for a few years now.
So, when I read they were doing chocolates and wine tasting for Valentines, we dropped by for a little visit last Saturday, on a beautiful blue-sky day. We’ve done the tastings a few times and really love the muscadine wines. We are not wine connoisseurs by any means, in fact don’t imbibe much at all, but these muscadine wines are so good. We both can’t stand dry wines and these are very sweet and delicious.
This is the shop which sits in front of the winery itself. Come on in for a tour!
There were about 10 people in our little tour. We’ve done it before, but it’s always neat to see how they make it. They brought their equipment over from Italy several years ago and an Italian winemaker came over to help them get their winery up and running. I think that’s SO cool! Those big vats hold the wine, it goes through all the steps and ends up in the bottling equipment to the left, where it is labeled and capped, ready for distribution. Our local Publix carries these wines most all the time. She did tell me that they cannot ship out of state at this time, but hope to be able to later this year.
Who knew?? Muscadine wines in Alabama! And you thought we were just hillbillies down here!
All the wines for the tasting. They were very good and we have a couple of favorites, Carlos and Regal Red.
Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all! Enjoy the day with your sweeties.
Head over to Dana’s Designs, a new blog friend of mine, and check out her chalkboard projects. She’d love to hear from anyone who has done one of these & would like to get some pics & there may be a giveaway! Check her out!
Happy Valentine’s day to you too!
Jen R
Happy Valentine’s Day, Rhoda! *Gorgeous* roses!!
Warmly,
Amy
Happy Valentine’s Day!
J loves sweet wine. My favorite is Chardonnay for semi sweet and Riesling for a little sweeter wine.
We love a good wine tasting and winery tour. This looks like a great place to visit!
Pat
Oh those tulips are perfect! Perfect colors! Sounds like you had a fun time a the winery. We just love wine events and look forward to any that come our way! Happy Valentines Day Rho! I have to catch up over here soon…you’re a very prolific blogger!
Happy Valentines Day and love. Also I want to thanyou for making me feel so welcome when I began my blog.
Rhondi xo
Happy Valentines Day Rhoda, loved the post today
hugs
Sandi
Just stopping by my favorite blogs and to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day! The cake looks delish, but we’re on diets and can’t have any sweets 🙁
Katherine
Happy Valentine’s Day to you Rhoda! The chocolate cake looks delish! And your tulips are beautiful!
Donna
Dear Rhoda,
What fun! Wishing you and hubby a sweet and wonderful St. Valentine’s Day!
xoxo,
Mary
Happy Heart day to y’all:-).
What a wonderful little retreat to a winery.
Have a wonderful day!!!
Happy Valentines Day Rhoda! Lovely flowers and such a cute poem! I have a heart shaped pan I’m trying out today but I’ll be making brownie with cherry filling on top and tomorrow I’ll be running a few extra miles!!!
Have a wonderful day!
Manuela
Happy Valentine’s Day to you Rhoda…I hope you and Peter have a lovely evening !!!
Such pretty flowers one of my favorites…and Peter does poetry !!!
As I was writing this..the bell rang and my honey sent me red roses 🙂
Enjoy the day,
Kathy 🙂
Happy Valentine’s Day Rhoda!
Enjoy that beautiful cake!
Rosemary
Happy Valentine’s Day, Rhoda. I hope you have a wonderful day today. ~Adrienne~
How sweet…and a winery too…lucky girl!
Happy Valentine’s Day to you! And an extra hug from little Adam.
You and hubby are celebrating in style. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Holley
Happy Valentine’s Day Rhoda! Your roses are gorgeous…my hubby had roses delivered to my office today, what a wonderful surprise! We don’t ususally do the flower thing anymore cause I told him I’d rather have the $$ for shopping! But he’s a sweetheart to do this for me and I really do love them (and him)!
The winery sounds neat…something I’d like to check out sometime when we’re in B’ham. Hubby does not drink at all but I do like a sweet white wine from time to time. When the weather gets mild this spring, we’ll have to check it out. Thanks for sharing.
Later – Judy
Happy Valentines Day Rhoda!! Beautiful tulips and chocolate cake!
Thanks for the winery tour!
Penny
Happy Valentine’s Day!!! Your flowers are beautiful…what a sweet hubby you have :o) Looks like you had a very nice time at the winery too?!?!?! I can see what your hubby was so delighted when he saw that cake….it looks sooooooooo delicious!!!!!!
~Des