Skip to main content

Chocolate? Wine? Yes, Please!

I like chocolate. I like wine. It was only a matter of time until I would put the two together.

Red Wine Cupcakes (recipe courtesy of the ladies at We Are Not Martha)

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

5 oz. chocolate chips

1/2 cup boiling water (two to three minutes in microwave)

Combine these three until chips are completely melted. Set aside.


2 sticks butter, room temperature

1 1/2 C sugar

4 eggs

Cream the first two, and add one egg at a time, beating in completely.

1 1/4 C flour

1 1/2 t baking powder

1 t salt

Combine these dry ingredients and mix into egg mixture.


3/4 C red wine (I went with a local favorite)

Alternate melted chocolate and wine into flour-egg mixture. When all in combined, fill muffin cups to near full and bake for 20-27 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cupcakes cool slightly and remove to wire rack.

Then...in lieu of the cream cheese frosting recipe posted at the website, I opted for a simpler one.

Red Wine Frosting

Beat together: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup (one stick) softened butter, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/4 cup red wine. Frost cupcakes when they are cool.

And voila!


Additional notes: I used cake flour for the first time, and when I baked the first batch for 20 minutes, they seemed very underdone (sunken tops). The next went for 23 minutes, and the same thing occurred (to a lesser extent). The last batch cooked for 27 minutes, and that seemed to be the right amount of time. I don't know for sure if it was the cake flour usage or that the recipe's cook time was off. I should probably make these again to find out for sure (using all-purpose).

The garnishes were a spur of the moment thing. I had leftover maraschino cherries in the fridge, and I let them drain overnight in the fridge. However, this morning, the frosting had hardened (chilling in the fridge), and putting the cherries on top proved to be an exercise in futility. Enter the flamingo mini-skewers. Just laying there in my random kitchen gadget drawer!

My family (children included) did taste-test these. Yes, I know there is a full cup of wine in this recipe. Nobody got drunk. These aren't cupcakes I'd make for around the house - I'm taking them to a family gathering. Mostly adults. The kids get Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies - from a "Be Food" March post.

Comments

  1. the yellow fringeMay 27, 2012 at 1:59 PM

    Sounds good, but 2 sticks butter are 2 too much for our families cholesterol.
    Don't worry about the kids, or anyone getting drunk, alcohol evaporates out at a high rate during cooking, it's unlikely any remains. That's how a distilling works, the alcohol cooks out in the steam and is captured, cooled, and directed into the jug or the next cooker.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Go Placidly

My food truck business started back up this past weekend, and from here until November, the weeks will be packed.  Sandwich-slinging Thursday-Saturday and bartending work Monday-Wednesday.  And Sunday, I guess, is the day to sleep in and hide in my house. Hiding out is the one thing I feel like doing a lot of these days.  My food truck's ReOpening wasn't the only thing happening in my hometown this weekend past.  A 13-year-old boy was accidentally shot and killed on Saturday and then yesterday, the police department busted one of the biggest meth labs in a long time. Both are tragic...one is a sad loss, one that will devastate a loving family for the rest of their lives.  One is tragic only because of the profound stupidity/ignorance/addiction of a few people who happen to be living in a town mostly filled with good-hearted, hard-working people. And if it's not drama at the local level, then there's the constant bombardment of news that seems to be vividly...
5 comments
Read more

From Government Regulations to Chicken

So, I really wanted tonight's post to be whippy and biting and highly intelligent...and I've even got the perfect topic - government wine regulations: Europe vs. the US (subtitle: European Governments Seem to Trust Their Citizens A Whole Lot More The US, Otherwise Why Don't French, et al., Wine Labels Have the Surgeon General's "Pregnant Women Should Not Drink This/This Beverage Impairs Your Brain" Warning). But, I realized that to begin a post like that, I should probably know the answer to the question, yes?  Why do American wine labels include the warning, when, I don't know, isn't just common sense?  A quick search of this very query lands me at Wikipedia, which is good enough for a rude overview, but nothing that indicates why it's a law in the first place. Hence, more reading is required.  I hope to get to it soon.  It's almost August, two-thirds of this year is nearly gone, and sometimes I feel as I am moving very, very quickly along...
6 comments
Read more

A Burst Bubble (Sort Of...)

My first class of the day starts at 7 a.m.  I have a half-hour drive to school.  I leave my house around 6:15 a.m.  I wake up at 5:30 a.m., shower, get dressed, complete my morning toilette, and get my school materials together. Guess what I don't usually have time for?  A sit-down breakfast.  Enter this essential item right here: I won't ever skip breakfast.  I just won't do it.  There are some things I believe to be sacred.  But, because of time constraints, I'm obligated to take my breakfast on the road.  In a sippy glass. It's not a SlimFast shake.  It's not water.  It's not orange juice.  It's not chocolate milk. It's a homemade veggie-fruit smoothie.  And I love them.  By the time I arrive to school, my glass is empty, and I'm totally full.  And, I've had a good whopping serving of my fruit and veg for the day.  However, with every good thing, it needs to be evaluated from time to time....
4 comments
Read more