Chocolate Red Wine Cupcakes

Hey guys! So this dessert was created specifically for my mom for Mother's Day back in May; you can see the full post on my blog here. The cake part tastes primarily of chocolate, with a nice deep flavor, but finishes with a subtle wine flavor kick. It leaves a wine taste in your mouth. Together with the red wine buttercream frosting, the wine flavors are even more pronounced and create a deliciously sinful dessert – a chocolate red wine cupcake with red wine buttercream frosting. It tastes just as elegant as it sounds.

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Chocolate Red Wine Cupcakes [yield 12 cupcakes]

1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup boiling water
1 stick organic butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 and 1/8 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 and 1/8 cup red wine

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners and spray them with cooking spray. In a heatproof bowl combine cocoa powder and chocolate chips and pour in the boiling water. Using a whisk, stir the chocolate until it’s all melted. In a larger bowl, cream the butter and sugar together using a mixer. Then beat in each egg one at a time until they’re all mixed in. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Then slowly add the flour mixture to the cream mixture until combined.

Add some of the chocolate to the mixture, then some of the wine, alternating until all of it is blended. Pour batter into your papered muffin tins, almost all the way to the top. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, making sure the toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely before taking out of the tin. The cupcakes might fall and look sunken a little bit, which is okay.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, go ahead and make the frosting…..

Red Wine Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup red wine + 1 tbsp, divided
1/8 cup granulated sugar
1 stick organic salted butter, softened
1.5-2 cups confectioner’s sugar
Place red wine and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat while stirring constantly until the sugar is all dissolved. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for a while, while stirring sometimes (not constantly). Cook until the syrup is reduced to about 1/6 cup. Put in a mug, let cool a little bit and stick in the fridge for a few hours to cool completely.

Whisk the butter while adding confectioner’s sugar to it by 1/8 cupfull. Cream together to form a frosting. Once a nice consistency is reached (almost all of the required confectioner’s sugar is in), add the wine reduction and continue beating. Add some more confectioner’s sugar. Then add 1 Tbsp of red wine. Add more confectioner’s sugar if desired.

Place the mixture in a piping bag (or ziplock bag, which is what I did here) and frost the cupcakes.