Red Wine Cake Recipe
A deeply chocolatey, incredibly moist bundt cake infused with hot spiced red wine, finished with a red-wine-spiked chocolate ganache glaze. Perfect for the holidays, Valentine's Day, or any night you want a dessert that feels like a celebration.
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 447kcal
Ingredients
Spiced Wine
- 12 ounces red wine fruity but not too sweet
- 6 ounces apple juice
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 3 orange slices
- 3 whole cloves
- 1 whole cinnamon stick
- 1 whole star anise
Chocolate Bundt Cake
- 10 ounces flour
- 7 ounces sugar
- 7 ounces brown sugar
- 4 ounces cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 8 ounces buttermilk
- 8 ounces hot spiced wine
- 4 ounces vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Red Wine Ganache Glaze
- 9 ounces milk chocolate chips
- 2 ounces unsalted butter cut into small pieces
- 1 ounce powdered sugar
- 5 ounces hot spiced red wine
Instructions
- Before you begin: Preheat your oven to 350°F (177°C). Prepare a 10 to 12-cup bundt pan with cake goop or a generous coating of butter and cocoa powder, getting into every crevice. Bring eggs and buttermilk to room temperature.
- In a medium saucepan, combine the red wine, apple cider, honey, orange slices, cinnamon stick, cloves, and star anise. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Strain the spiced wine through a fine-mesh sieve. The recipe yields about 1 ½ cups, which is just what you need: 1 cup hot for the cake batter and ½ cup cooled to room temperature for the glaze.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients. Mix on low for about 30 seconds until just combined.
- With the mixer on low, slowly stream in 1 cup of the hot spiced wine. The batter will be thin. That is correct.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Bake at 350°F for 45 to 55 minutes, or until a wooden skewer comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
- While the cake is still in the pan, trim off the dome on top with a serrated knife so the cake will sit flat after flipping. Cool the cake in the pan for 15 to 20 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack and let it cool completely.
- Make the glaze: combine the milk chocolate chips and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second increments, stirring between each, until smooth. Whisk in the powdered sugar, then the reserved ½ cup of cooled spiced wine. Whisk until smooth and pourable.
- Pour the glaze over the cooled cake, letting it drip down the sides. Let set for 10 minutes before slicing.
Video
Notes
About the wine
- Use a fruity, medium-bodied red you would drink. Cab, merlot, zinfandel, shiraz, pinot noir all work.
- Avoid "cooking wine" (over-salted) and very dry/tannic wines (bitter when concentrated).
- Sweet dessert wines work but reduce the cake's sugar by ¼ cup.
- Spiced wine can be made up to 2 weeks ahead, stored in an airtight jar in the fridge. Reheat the 1 cup portion before adding to the batter and bring the ½ cup glaze portion to room temperature before whisking into the ganache.
- Cake can be baked, cooled, wrapped tightly, and stored at room temperature 1 day before glazing.
- Glazed cake at room temperature, covered, for 3 to 4 days. Flavor improves overnight.
- Refrigerate up to 1 week. Bring slices to room temp before serving.
- Freeze unglazed cake up to 2 months.
- Pan: 2 round 8 or 9-inch cake pans (bake 25 to 30 min) or one 9x13 (30 to 35 min) instead of bundt.
- Alcohol-free: replace wine with pomegranate juice or grape juice plus 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar.
- Cocoa: Dutch-process works for milder chocolate flavor.
- Chocolate chips: semi-sweet for less sweet, more chocolate-forward glaze.
- Don't use cooking wine. Always use drinking wine.
- Don't boil the spiced wine hard. A gentle simmer protects the wine flavor.
- Don't underbake. Bundts hide underbaking. Skewer test is non-negotiable.
- Don't skip the pan prep. Bundts stick. Use cake goop or butter plus cocoa powder.
- Don't add red food coloring to the glaze (unless you want barbecue-sauce vibes). The natural color is prettier.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 447kcal | Carbohydrates: 78g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 43mg | Sodium: 239mg | Potassium: 398mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 51g | Vitamin A: 196IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 101mg | Iron: 3mg
