Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Red Wine Chocolate Cake

As soon as I heard what our new secret ingredient
was, I knew I wanted to make this very rich, very
luscious red wine chocolate cake. And that's not just
because cooking with wine requires a little for the
cake and a little for me, a little more for the cake
and a little more for me. Kidding, okay, not really.
Let's just say, baking was more fun than usual
that day!



Because so much of the wine was going into the cake (1 1/4 cups), I chose
a Pinot Noir (Redwood Creek 2008) that was on sale (I'm nothing if not
thrifty). This medium-bodied Pinot was noted for having the ripe flavors
of blackberry and black cherry enhanced by a velvety smooth finish that
I thought would blend very well with chocolate. I was right. This cake was
deeeeeelicious!

Ingredients


2 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups red wine (dry)



Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan. In a bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla and beat for 2 minutes longer. Alternately mix in the dry ingredients and the wine. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 45 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely. Make your glaze. Drizzle cake with chocolate glaze and garnish with fresh strawberries.

Glaze recipe

3 tblspns butter

2 tblspns cocoa

3 tspns milk

1 cup confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla


Melt the butter in a small sauce pan. Add remaining ingredients one at a time, while continuing to stir. Take glaze off of stove. It will thicken while cooling. When it is the right consistency, pour over the cake and let it set. ENJOY!











NEW CONTEST ALERT! Krista has a set of COOKIE CUTTERS from Wilton that is up for grabs. To enter the contest, all you have to do is leave a comment! Easy Peasy!



Check back on March 2, when the cookie cutter winner will be announced, and my new book SPRINKLE WITH MURDER will be OUT!


There's only one more week to enter my Name the Cupcake Contest. Go to my website to enter. You and your cupcake might be the lucky ones to be written into BUTTERCREAM BUMP OFF (the sequel to SPRINKLE WITH MURDER). The entries are piling up with suggestions like Austin's Sprinkle Doodle and Phoenix's Banana Fonana. LOVE THESE!!!

Jenn McKinlay -- SPRINKLE WITH MURDER -- March 2010
aka Lucy Lawrence -- CUT TO THE CORPSE -- April 2010
-- STUCK ON MURDER -- Sept 2009

13 comments:

  1. That looks delicious, Jenn! I'm loving wine week. :) I bet the red wine mixes divinely with the chocolate! Yum...

    Elizabeth/Riley
    Mystery Writing is Murder

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  2. Oh, this is one of the most decadent cakes I've seen in a while... this and the Kahlua cake from Mary Kennedy. What am I waiting for? Chocolate! I need chocolate!!

    Thanks, Jenn. Can't wait to make and serve this to guests.
    Julie

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  3. What a great recipe. I would have never thought about leaving out milk and replacing it with wine. This would definitely enhance the chocolate flavor. Thanks for sharing Jenn. This will make a nice surprise cake for everyone.

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  4. Mmmm, I can just imagine all of the wine flavors enhancing the chocolate. My grocery store actually has chocolate wine!?

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  5. Jenn, I never would have thought of putting wine in a cake. It looks fabulous, and I can imagine that's very rich and moist. What a great recipe!

    ~ Krista

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  6. Jenn, I usually make a "dump" cake with sherry, but this red wine sounds fabulous. Love the picture. Can't wait to try this and now that I have gluten-free cakes in boxes (by Pamela's and Duncan Hines), I can! Wahooo! Thanks for sharing. ~ Avery

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  7. Looks fabulous... sorry I haven't been around for awhile, I moved to the US Virgin Islands (I still giggle when I say that) for six months, and it is taking awhile to get settled. But i do think I am caught up, and will be back with new postings...

    Come take a look at my new blogs of Island life!

    You are a broad after my own heart!!!

    hic

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  8. Thanks, all! I really do love this recipe.
    Janel, chocolate wine? I'm in!!!
    Dave, Virgin Islands!!! Please keep us
    posted on all your adventures. That's fabulous!
    I'll definitely check out your blog pics.

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  9. What is not to like about this cake? It's an easy recipe, but more importantly, it has two of my favorite things - red wine AND chocolate. I've already printed it out to make on the weekend.

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  10. The cake looks wonderful and I love the cookie cutter shapes.

    Ellen Hall

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  11. Sounds excellent!! I'm making pork roast this weekend, with my mom's wine sauce.... then i figure this would be excellent for dessert!

    One question tho, does it need to be in a bundt pan?? If it does, guess I need to buy one.... If it doesn't, what kind of pan WILL work?

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  12. Am copying this...thanks for sharing an intriguing, keeper recipe.

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