I posted some time earlier about a red wine chocolate bundt cake that received rave reviews from my friends. So when I had half a bottle of unfinished red wine, I thought about baking that cake again. While surfing though, I came across a recipe on smitten kitchen that looked simpler and really good. So I tried that instead and tested it on my colleagues.
The texture of the cake is a cross between a brownie and a cake. It is dense but moist and boy was it rich. Deb from smitten kitchen calls it the real velvet cake and I think she is right. The cake is baked at a fairly low temperature of 160°C and so the alcohol does not boil off much. The red wine flavour comes through really strongly so my advice would be to use a fairly good bottle of red wine. I used a merlot for this cake, but you can use pretty much any kind you like. The mascarpone cream topping is a must. Do not omit that!
Red wine chocolate cake with mascarpone cream
Print recipe
| Website | adapted from smitten kitchen |
Ingredients
cake
- 3oz unsalted butter (at room temperature)
- 2/3 cups brown sugar
- 1/4 cup caster sugar
- 1 egg + 1 yolk
- 3/4 cups red wine
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Cup + 1 Tablespoon plain flour
- 1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
mascarpone cream
- 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
- 1/2 cup chilled whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons caster sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
| Step 1 | |
| Preheat oven to 160°C. Line a 9 inch round cake pan and spray the interior with a non-stick spray. | |
| Step 2 | |
| Using a standing or a handheld mixer, cream butter until smooth then add the sugars and beat till light and fluffy. | |
| Step 3 | |
| Add the egg and yolk, then the red wine and the vanilla and beat after each addition. The batter will look lumpy. | |
| Step 4 | |
| In a separate large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. | |
| Step 5 | |
| Sift the ingredients over the wet ingredients and combine on low speed. Fold in the last bits with a rubber spatula. Do not overmix! | |
| Step 6 | |
| Bake for 25 minutes on the centre rack of the oven. The tester should come out clean. Do not overbake or the cake will be dry. | |
| Step 7 | |
| Cool for 5-10 minutes in the tin then turn it out onto a rack and cool till it comes to room temperature. Dust with icing sugar if you like. | |
| Step 8 | |
| Whip together mascarpone cheese, whipping cream, sugar and vanilla extract till soft peaks form. (Cream can be refrigerated for a couple of hours) | |
| Step 9 | |
| Serve each slice of cake with a large dollop of cream. | |
