My Weakness for Wine

I try to be a healthful eater. My diet consists of three liquids – in order of the day; coffee, water, wine.

In the mornings I usually have a cookie with my coffee. I love to start the day with something sweet. It is generally the only sweet I eat all day. Much more of a crunchy, salty, cheesy girl. Never give me a bag of Smart Food Popcorn! Lunch is a salad. At dinner I enjoy puttering around in the kitchen and inventing a meal. And then there is wine…wine while I am cooking and wine with the meal and maybe, depending on the day, a little more wine after dinner.

I have always heard about Red Wine Cake. Not being a big cake or sweet eater I never put much thought into baking one. Baking is not something I enjoy too much anyway. It’s such an exacting science. I may be a Virgo but I am not Virgo enough to enjoy all that measuring and following of directions. I am much more a little of this and a little of that school of cook.

Recently a Facebook follower asked me about Red Wine Cake. I admitted I had never tried it. I did a little research and found a recipe that sounded interesting. It came with the warning that “not all the alcohol in the recipe cooks out”. Oh yes – this seemed like the one to try!!!

I had most of the ingredients. I used Apothic Red for the wine. This is a wonderful red that I tasted for the first time at the NY Wine Expo last year. It is a great red blend of Zinfandel, Syrah, Cabernet and Merlot. Lush and loaded with berries, mocha, chocolate and spice. It seemed like the one to use for this recipe. It is priced at under $15.00

Here is what you need:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup  white granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
3/4 cup  red wine, any kind you like

1 teaspoon  vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 tablespoon  all-purpose flour
1/2 cup  Dutch cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Line the bottom of a 9 inch round cake pan with parchment paper. Spray paper and sides of pan with non stick spray.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and yolk and beat well, then the red wine and vanilla.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together, right over your wet ingredients.

Mix until 3/4 combined, then fold the rest together with a rubber spatula. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool on a rack for about 10 minutes and then invert and continue cooling on a rack until completely cool.

I sprinkled the top with some confectioners sugar.

You can make some whipping cream for a topping when you are ready to serve the cake.

Ingredients for the whipped cream:

1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup chilled heavy or whipping cream
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whip all ingredients together until soft peaks form.

Dollop on cake and enjoy!!!

A happy man!!

This was a simple and easy recipe. The cake is a dense, moist, chocolatey, winey slice of awesomeness. I didn’t tell George that it was a red wine cake and he picked right up on it. Can’t fool that guy. He knows his desserts! You can definitely taste the wine so this is not a cake for the kiddies. Our January birthday week is rolling up again soon – so Emily, Jordan and George be prepared. I might just have to make another one of these.  And Rachel, my pastry sous chef daughter, is coming in from Chicago to help us celebrate. Maybe I can impress her with MY baking skills…

I wonder if I can have this cake with my coffee in the morning. Coffee and a red wine baked sweet treat together. What a way to start the day!

Thanks to Smitten Kitchen for this recipe which she adapted from a recipe for Everyday
Chocolate Cake.

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