BOOZY RED WINE CAKE WITH RED WINE GANACHE

Hey guys, so is everyone in the mood for Christmas yet?  We’ve spent weeks—okay, months—counting down the days until we can start our Christmas vacations. And yet, I am not a tad bit ready to shut down for the holidays. It is my story every year. This last working week seems to last forever and endless tasks list that only keeps adding up to more to-do. We had a brilliant weekend before though, celebrating 9 years of togetherness. A lovely breakfast with friends, Christmas party with kids and a cosy dinner at home with a few more friends pretty much summed up our day but made it extra special. We tried to make sure that we spent some quiet, relaxing and fun time with kids, making memories and enjoying them especially since the past few months have been a mad rush.

Of course, no celebration is complete without a cake at my place. So let me come to the anniversary cake I made this time. So very excited to share this cake with you all today. I wanted to try something different, unlike the regular chocolate cakes. And since Christmas is around, I am in the mood for something boozy. I have tried rum and Whiskey Cakes before. You can check them out on my blog – but this had to be different and special. So, I tried with Red Wine instead. I could guess your reaction – Wine & Chocolate? Really? Yes, it works beautifully if paired with the right wine of course. Select a good port wine with dark chocolate to balance the bitterness or a Pinot Noir with milk chocolate. I chose dark chocolate for the cake this time. The flavour of wine in the cake is subtle and the chocolate gives a lovely richness to the cake with a delectable red wine ganache on top. Add a new kick to your regular chocolate cake this Christmas.

Btw, I have my jar of dry fruits soaking and drunk to make the delicious Rich Christmas Cake. Have you? Try the recipe on my blog – bake for yourself and some for holiday gifting.

Wish you all Happy Holidays and a very Good Christmas in advance!

INGREDIENTS

200g plain flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp salt

220g unsalted butter, at room temperature

200g caster sugar

4 eggs

200g dark chocolate, melted and cooled

1 tsp vanilla extract

125ml milk, at room temperature

125ml red wine, at room temperature

 For the red wine chocolate ganache

150g dark chocolate, chopped

20g unsalted butter

50 ml Red wine

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Prep and grease a bundt pan really well and set aside. You could use an 8inch round pan instead.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar on high for approx. 2 minutes.
3. Add vanilla extract and eggs one at a time, mixing in between each addition. Ensure you scrape the sides of the bowl well time to time.
4. In another bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
5. Incorporate the sifted flour into the wet ingredients. Fold well but do not overmix.
6. Then add the red wine. The batter is now ready.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
8. Allow cooling slightly before inverting the cake on a cooling rack. Set aside.
9. To make the red wine chocolate ganache, heat chocolate and butter over a double boiler on low heat. You could also melt chocolate for 1.5 mins at 30 sec intervals.
10. Once the chocolate is fully melted, whisk in the red wine.
11. Allow it to cool for 5 minutes before drizzling over the cake.

Enjoy with your loved ones.

I am sharing this cake with my friends at Fiesta Friday with  Judi @ cookingwithauntjuju.com and Laurena @ Life Diet Health.

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Love & Hugs,

Trupti