I have the epitome of Valentine’s Day desserts for you today.

We’ve got chocolate. Red wine. The color pink.

I mean, it’s as quintessential as it gets. At least in our commercialized holiday world.

The best part of this cake, though, is how easy it is to make. Really. It happens in a bundt pan, which is impressive looking, but soooo simple to execute. No layering. No frosting. But still gorgeous!

The other amazing thing about this cake is how delicious it is. Duh. THAT may actually be the best and most important part. My family devoured this cake, and even had a few non-cake people declaring it to be absolutely delicious. They couldn’t stop eating it.

Not only is the cake deeply chocolatey and fudgy and moist, but we’ve got red wine happening in three ways to make this situation come together. There is wine in the cake batter. Then, after it’s baked, we soak the cake in a red wine simple syrup. Finally, we douse the cake in a red wine glaze.

I mean, does it get any better than that?

I don’t think so. The red wine imparts its own boozy and dark berry flavor to things but is not at all overpowering. It works SO WELL with the chocolate and gives the cake just a little extra somethin’-somethin’. It really is a match made in heaven.

The red wine syrup that we make is easy peasy and adds another layer of wine flavor and extra moisture to the cake itself. All you do is whisk together wine and sugar in a pan until it is reduced, thickened, and syrupy and pour it over the cake once it comes out of the oven. It seeps into the cake and makes everything extra yum.

The red wine glaze drives home the flavors again but also adds some much needed color. Pink! So cute. So pretty. And most importantly: so tasty.

And it’s all sorts of romantic, right? Like, this is the PERFECT thing to make for your Valentine. My husband and I usually keep things really simple on V day.

Usually, he cooks me dinner and I do a dessert and we enjoy it all after the kids are in bed. Simple. No commercialism. Celebrating each other a little extra in the comfort of our own home with our favorite way to show our love: with food. And wine!

On the menu this year: this cake. 100%. It’s so delicious, easy, and too pretty not to make again!

Chocolate Cabernet Cake with Red Wine Glaze

Author: Molly
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes (plus cooling time)
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Yield: 8 servings 1x

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Description

This Chocolate Cabernet Cake with Red Wine Glaze is a deeply dark chocolate bundt cake with a fudgy, moist inside and crackly, crunch outside. It’s flavored with red wine in three ways – the most dramatic being a red wine glaze poured over top! This is as quintessentially Valentine’s Day as things get!

Scale

Ingredients

For the Cake:

1 cup cabernet wine (or other dry, full-bodied red wine)
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, sliced
¾ cup Dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sour cream
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoons vanilla bean paste (or extract)
2 large eggs

For the Red Wine Syrup:

½ cup cabernet wine (or other dry, full-bodied red wine)
2 tablespoons sugar

For the Red Wine Glaze:

½ cup cabernet wine (or other dry, full-bodied red wine)
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Instructions

For the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350°F and liberally grease a 10- or 12-cup bundt pan with butter or cooking spray.
In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine the wine, butter, and cocoa powder. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, and then microwave for another 20-30 seconds or until the butter is completely melted. Whisk the mixture until smooth.
In another bowl, whisk together the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flour until well combined.
In a third bowl, whisk together the sour cream, canola oil, vanilla, and eggs until smooth.
Add half the dry ingredients to the wine-cocoa mixture and stir until combined.
Add the sour cream mixture to the wine-cooa mixture and stir until combined. Stir in the remaining dry ingredients and mix until the batter is smooth and just combined. Resist the urge to overmix the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

For the Red Wine Syrup:

While the cake is baking, combine the wine and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook, swirling the pan occasionally, until the sugar is completely dissolved and the wine reduces by about half. You want it to be thickened and syrupy.
When the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes all over the bottom the cake while it is still hot and in the pan (I use a wooden skewer to do this). Pour the wine glaze all over the cake. Allow the cake to sit in the pan for 10 minutes or until all the wine syrup has been absorbed by the cake.
Carefully invert the cake onto a serving plate or cake stand. Allow it to cool completely before finishing with the glaze.

For the Glaze:

Whisk together the wine and powdered sugar until thickened and smooth.
Whisk in the softened butter until completely incorporated and the glaze is smooth and creamy.
Pour the glaze all over the cooled cake and allow the glaze to set for 15 minutes before slicing and serving the cake.

Notes

Cake batter adapted from here.

Category: desserts

Keywords: chocolate bundt cake, chocolate cake recipe, easy cake recipe, chocolate red wine cake, chocolate and red wine, cabernet chocolate cake, cabernet chocolate bundt cake, dark chocolate cake, red wine glaze