Thieving Thursday: Red Wine Chocolate Cake

I’ve been holding out on you. You see, I’ve made this cake before. I know, not a big deal. But you know what is a big deal. A few weeks ago, me and the lady who told me all about this cake were in the same room together. For a WHOLE HOUR. Yes, Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen stood on the third floor of the West 14th St. Apple store and radiated the most beautiful tales of warm kitchen loveliness at me and a fellow admirer from my apartment. Because these few words can’t really describe the intense escalation my fondness for her that occurred as I listened to her tell me how and why she wanted to share the best of her kitchen with the universe, I decided to make this cake. Twice. You should make it, too. Because it’s warm, delicious, chocolate, and it leaves you a bottle of wine.

Red Wine Chocolate Cake, adapted a smidge from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients
for the cake
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temp
3/4 cup red wine (I literally went to the liquor store and bought the cheapest red on the shelf, but now I have to drink it all. Or possibly make this cake 6 more times.)
1/2 cup Dutch cocoa powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
for the topping
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese (also known as butter in cheese form, not really but sort of)

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the bottom of a 9 in cake pan that you went all the way to the Williams-Sonoma on the East Side to obtain with parchment paper and butter and flour it.

Step 2: In a large bowl, cream the butter until smooth with an electric mixer. Add the sugars, and beat until fluffy. Add the eggs and beat well, and then add the red wine and vanilla. At this point the batter may look kind of crazy. Keep calm and carry on.

Step 3: Sift the dry ingredients in directly into the batter. Mix until 3/4 combined and then fold the rest in.

Step 4: Spread the batter in the pan, and bake 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and top is shiny and smooth.

Step 5: While cake is cooling (turn out of pan after ~10 minutes), prepare topping by whipping cream and mascarpone together with electric mixer until fluffy.

Step 6: Enjoy a slice of cake with a dollop of topping!