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Red wine chocolate cake


Rieux

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Has anyone ever made a Red wine chocolate cake? I saw this recipe (link) in one of my Cucina Italiana magazines and was thinking of making it tonight to bring to a dinner party tomorrow. It sounds good, I mean who doesn't like wine and chocolate, but any first-hand experiences?

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Has anyone ever made a Red wine chocolate cake? I saw this recipe (link) in one of my Cucina Italiana magazines and was thinking of making it tonight to bring to a dinner party tomorrow. It sounds good, I mean who doesn't like wine and chocolate, but any first-hand experiences?

Make a test run today. It's always risky to make a new-to-you recipe when you are cooking to share with others. Or, Plan B, have a backup dessert to bring.

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Has anyone ever made a Red wine chocolate cake? I saw this recipe (link) in one of my Cucina Italiana magazines and was thinking of making it tonight to bring to a dinner party tomorrow. It sounds good, I mean who doesn't like wine and chocolate, but any first-hand experiences?

Nope, but I get the same magazine and was equally intrigued. Let me know how it goes if you attempt it!

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It seems good, will report back tonight after we eat it.

Recipe from Cucina Italiana Jan/Feb 2013.


Ingredients
CAKE
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing pan
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs, separated
5 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate (82%), very finely chopped. (I used Ghiradelli 82% since that is what they had at Harris Teeter)
1 cup dry red wine

RASPBERRIES
1/2 cup dry red wine
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 cups raspberries
Whipped Cream
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 1/2 tablespoons confectioners sugar

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: parchment paper; 9- x 3-inch or 10- x 2-inch springform pan

Instructions
For Cake: Heat oven to 350º. Grease springform pan and line bottom with parchment paper. Butter the parchment.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and ½ cup sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in egg yolks 1 at a time, scraping bowl as necessary. Add chocolate; beat just to combine. In 3 additions, add wine to butter mixture, alternating with flour mixture.
In a large bowl, using clean beaters, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 3/4 cup sugar and beat until the whites are firm and glossy.
Using a spatula, gently fold whites into batter just until no white streaks remain. Pour batter into prepared pan; smooth top with spatula. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to
45 minutes.
Transfer cake to wire rack; let cool in pan 10 minutes. Run a knife around pan to loosen cake; release from pan. Let cool completely on wire rack. (I let it cool and then inverted it onto a serving plate and removed the parchment. The bottom was more attractive than the top).


For Raspberries: While cake cools, bring wine and sugar to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Put raspberries in a bowl and pour the hot syrup over them, gently tossing to coat. Let stand at least 15 minutes or up to 1 day. (If preparing raspberries more than 4 hours ahead, keep covered and chilled. Let stand 30 minutes at room temperature before serving.)
For Whipped Cream: Combine cream and sugar in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat mixture until soft peaks form.
Serve cake with raspberries and whipped cream.

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Just a note: 82% chocolate is definitely bittersweet, not semi-sweet. Semi-sweet is generally below 62% (most available chocolate chips are semi-sweet). If the recipe calls for semi-sweet chocolate and you use 82% instead, your cake will be more chocolate-y and less sweet than the recipe intends. Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you. I much prefer bittersweet chocolate myself.

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Thanks Zora, I, too, was confused, as the recipe says semi-sweet but also specifies 82%. Since I like bittersweet more than semi-sweet I decided to go with the 82%. I prefer desserts that are not too sweet, and I am going to put the berries and whipped cream on top, which have almost another 2/3 cup of sugar in them, so I think the balance will be right for me.

We will be eating this tonight, so I will report back tomorrow.

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The cake was AMAZING! Actually I think it was one of my better ones, and I bake a lot. The 83% chocolate was great. The cake was moist and everyone went back for seconds. The wine added a nice flavor but was not overwhelming. Make the cream and raspberries, I think they are important additions. This goes in the regular rotation!

For the record, I used a $12 Chianti from Harris Teeter and it worked well. Plus, I got to drink the remainder while baking!

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