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Newest chocolate obsession and guess what? It includes red wine! Are you celebrating this Decadent Red Wine Chocolate Cake recipe with me? Because, if you like chocolate and wine, you’ll definitely fall in love with this rich dark chocolate cake infused with red wine flavor with a sweet cream cheese frosting!

More chocolate? 75 Heavenly Chocolate Dessert Recipes and our Super Easy Chocolate Cake Recipe with Chocolate Frosting will definitely make you smile!

Chocolate Cake recipe with red wine

What You Can Expect From This Red Wine Chocolate Cake!

This Decadent Red Wine Cake has a wonderful earthy, fruity flavor with the red wine that perfectly complements this velvety smooth dark chocolate cake.
The cake layers have a texture that is tender, moist and is perfect for all special occasions, especially when entertaining!
Paired with creamy cream cheese frosting, this is a chocolate lover’s dream with wine included!
Even beginning bakers will be able to slay this recipe with ease. There’s no fuss, unless you’re drinking multiple glasses of wine while making a wine cake. Then, it can go downhill real quick if that happens!

Decadent Red Wine Chocolate Cake recipe

I was really inspired to make this cake after talking to my son Derek a few weeks ago. His girlfriend Emily had just made a red wine chocolate cake and he was telling me about how amazing it was.

Emily is an excellent baker, btw. Her family owned a restaurant when she was young, so she learned how to master cook and bake first-hand, so she definitely knows how to throw down!

So, of course, being the chocolate lover that I am, I wanted this recipe!! And with the addition of red wine, it sounded so intriguing and hell yes, I was all about, let’s do this!

So thank you Emily for sharing one of your family’s recipes with me! We all thank you!

cream cheese frosted cake Decadent Red Wine Chocolate Cake recipe

Ingredients for Decadent Red Wine Chocolate Cake

Red Wine Chocolate Cake Recipe

all-purpose flour
unsweetened cocoa powder, not Dutch process cocoa (Use a natural unsweetened cocoa powder like Hershey’s 100% Cocoa, Rodelle Organic Baking Cocoa Powder or Ghirardelli® 100% Unsweetened Premium Baking Cocoa Powder)
baking soda
salt
unsalted butter, softened
brown sugar
eggs
vanilla extract
dry red wine

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

cream cheese softened
butter, softened
confectioners’ sugar
pinch of salt
vanilla extract

Instructions How to Make Red Wine Chocolate Cake

Red Wine Chocolate Cake

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease two 9-inch cake pans (works best if you also line the bottom with parchment paper). In a bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy, 4 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until incorporated. Add the vanilla and beat for 2 minutes longer. Working in two batches, alternately fold in the dry ingredients and the wine, until just incorporated.
Scrape the chocolate cake batter into the prepared pans using a rubber spatula, and bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan for at least 2 hours, then turn it out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Prepare the frosting by using mixer by beating the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt together until smooth and creamy. Ice cake – should be just enough to adhere the two layers and ice the entire cake. (See Notes)
For a nice decorative touch to your cake, add some chocolate curls, truffles or some fresh cut seasonal flowers would be beautiful. It is close to Mother’s Day after all and what better way to show mom (and all the adults in the room) some love!

boozy dessert

Tips & Tricks For Red Wine Chocolate Cake Recipe

Use a premium quality baking cocoa and a red wine that you wouldn’t mind drinking on it’s own. You should not use Dutch process cocoa when a recipe calls for baking soda, as it can cause baked goods to fail. Use a natural unsweetened cocoa powder like Hershey’s 100% cocoa, Rodelle Organic Baking Cocoa Powder or Ghirardelli® 100% Unsweetened Premium Baking Cocoa Powder.
By substituting red wine instead of buttermilk or sour cream, the wine brings a deep red hue to the cake. It’s really beautiful.
Make sure the butter is softened, or the butter will chunk up, especially if you add cold eggs.
Eggs in this chocolate wine cake are best used, when they are room temperature, that way the butter doesn’t chunk up in the recipe.
Make sure the cream cheese is softened as well. Softened room temperature cream cheese makes for a smooth frosting.
Double frosting recipe if you want more frosting. I used a double batch on the cake pictured, but more frosting in middle and top of cake and less on sides, resembling a naked cake. You can also add a little heavy cream to your frosting if you want to make your frosting more rich and creamy.

About Red Wine Tips

As I noted above, use a red wine that you would normally drink. I love delicious Pinot Noir and it’s usually what I have stocked around the homestead.
Emily used a rich Cabernet Sauvignon. But you could use a nice Merlot, Zinfandel or Syrah/Shiraz. That said, red wines are often classified by “body-type”.

boozy dessert

My 3 Other Go-To Chocolate Cake Recipes

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