Red Wine Chocolate Cupcakes with a Chocolate Glaze

These Red Wine Chocolate Cupcakes with a Chocolate Glaze combine the flavors of what just might be a marriage made in flavor heaven, red wine and deep, dark chocolate. 

I just happened to have some 70% bittersweet chocolate as well as a bottle of Chilean Carménère. While tasting the chocolate and sipping on the Carménère sounded like the perfect evening, combining the two ingredients into a dark chocolate cupcake also sounded like a wonderful way to use both ingredients.

The flavor of these Red Wine Chocolate Cupcakes with a Chocolate Glaze is very rich, intense, and not overly sweet. This is a grown up cupcake.

For the wine, you can use any full bodied and hearty red wine such as Cabernet. Malbec, or Merlot. I used a Carménère from Chile. Carménère is originally from Bordeaux, France, but found its identity in Chile. It's pretty reasonably priced, so it was pretty painless to open up a bottle to add some to these cupcakes.

I decorated these red wine chocolate cupcakes with some shimmery sprinkles I found at a discount store. I subscribe to the theory that sprinkles make everything better.

If you're really good at decorating baked goods, you will smooth out ganache on top of the cupcakes way better than I did. I specialize in the "rustic" look.

My taste testers for these cupcakes were my colleagues, who loved them. My grandsons also gave them thumbs up!

This recipe was adapted from the book, Baked Occasions: Desserts for Leisure Activities, Holidays, and Informal Celebrations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, best selling authors of the Baked Series. Each recipe in the book is tied to a holiday. This recipe is tied to National Wine Day, which is May 25.

Be careful not to overfill the cupcake cavities. These cupcakes do not "dome" very well, and if you overfill them, you will end up with an ugly "muffin top situation," which is not a good look for a cupcake.

This month, the Baking Bloggers, hosted by Sue of Palatable Pastime, are baking cupcakes! After the recipe, be sure to check out the rest of the cupcake recipes.

Yield: 22 to 24 cupcakes

Red Wine Chocolate Cupcakes with a Chocolate Glaze

ingredients:

For the Cupcakes

• 40 grams (1/2 cup) unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
• 55 grams (about 2 ounces) dark chocolate (60 to 72% cacao), chopped coarsely
• 300 ml (1 1/4 cups) red wine
• 255 grams (2 cups) all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 225 grams (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cool room temperature
• 200 grams (1 cup) granulated sugar
• 165 grams (3/4 cup) dark brown sugar
• 2 large room temperature eggs
• 1 large room temperature egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Glaze

• 115 grams (about 4 ounces) dark chocolate (60 to 72% cacao), chopped
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup
• 120 mi (1/2 cup) heavy cream

To Decorate

• Sprinkles (optional)

instructions:

To Make the Cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with a rack in the middle, and line two twelve cavity muffin tins with paper liners. 
2. In a medium heatproof bowl, add the cocoa powder and chopped chocolate. Heat the wine in the microwave to almost boiling. Pour the wine over the cocoa powder and stir until the chocolate is melted. 
3. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 
4. Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer, and beat with the paddle attachment until creamy. Add the granulated and brown sugars, and beat on medium-high for about 3 minutes, until fluffy and pale. 
5. Add the eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, beating between each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Scrape down the bowl and beat for another 30 seconds. 
6. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the wine and chocolate mixture. 
7. Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full with the batter. Bake the cupcakes, one pan at a time, 20 to 24 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking, until a toothpick comes out clean. 
8. Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 20 minutes. Remove them from the pan to a wire rack, and let cool completely. 

Chocolate Glaze

1. Place the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. Add the corn syrup to the chocolate. 
2. Heat the cream until it just begins to get bubbles on the edges, and pour it over the chocolate. Wait 30 seconds, and and then whisk until the chocolate glaze is smooth. 

To Assemble the Cupcakes

1. Dip each cupcake in the glaze, and allow the excess to drip off into the bowl. Place the cupcake on the rack, and decorate with the optional sprinkles. 
2. Let the glaze set for at least 30 minutes before serving. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. 

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2018/04/red-wine-chocolate-cupcakes-with.html

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