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