Chocolate Merlot Cake Recipes

RED WINE CHOCOLATE CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350F/180C degrees. Grease a 12-cup bundt pan and set aside.
• In a medium bowl sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
• In a mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary. Beat in vanilla extract. On low speed, beat in (or fold by hand) the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating it with the wine in 2 additions (starting and ending with the flour). Do not overmix.
• Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack, then turn it out and let it cool completely. Dust the cake with powdered sugar or drizzle chocolate ganache over the cake.
• Store cake at room temperature in airtight container for up to 3 days.
• Cake can be frozen for up to 2 months.

CHOCOLATE MERLOT CAKE

Steps:

• 1. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C/Gas 4). Butter the cake pans, line each pan with a round of parchment paper, and brush again with butter. Sprinkle the pans with flour, discarding the excess. Sift flour with the cocoa, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.
• 2. Cream the butter in an electric mixer, beat in the sugar, and continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one by one, and then the vanilla, and continue beating 1 to 2 minutes. Sift a third of the flour over the butter mixture and fold them together, using a spoon. Fold in a third of the wine. Add the remaining flour and wine alternately in two batches.
• 3. Spread batter in the prepared pans and bake in the oven until the cakes start to shrink from the sides of the pan, 30 to 35 minutes; a metal skewer inserted in the center should come out clean. Let the cakes cool 10 minutes in the pans, then turn them out on a rack to cool completely.
• 4. Meanwhile make the wine jelly: Melt the jelly with the wine over low heat, stirring gently until combined. Let it cool.
• 5. Shortly before serving, sandwich the cake with the cooled jelly. Sprinkle the top with confectioners' sugar and transfer the cake to a plate to serve.