Red Wine Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Sauce

Do you ever have leftover red wine? Haha, me neither. “Leftover” wine, what is that? But pretend we’re living in an alternate universe where your friends come over for dinner and, at the end of the evening, instead of being sipped dry, you find half a cup of red wine in the bottom of a bottle… It’s a stretch, but stay with me…Stick a cork in that bottle, and the next day, when you’ve recovered from your hangover, make a cake, using up that wine… frugal much, plus it will make getting through the rest of the day so much easier. Chocolate cake is a killer hangover cure and you get the hair of the dog as well… I just made that up.

Now in reality, if, like me, your friends are unlikely to leave you with ANY leftover booze, this is the perfect excuse to open a bottle (other than actually opening it solely for drinking purposes). You can plan your whole dinner party around this cake. Make the cake in the afternoon, and have a sneaky glass before the guests turn up. Then, you’ll look super organised because you’ve already opened a bottle to “let the wine breathe” when they arrive. I’ve got you covered either way. It can be our little secret.

Red Wine Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Sauce

Slightly adapted from here

For the Cake:
200g plain flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
225g unsalted butter
220g caster sugar
4 eggs
200g dark chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
125ml buttermilk
125ml red wine

For the Ganache:
150g dark chocolate
125ml cream
20g unsalted butter

For the Raspberry Sauce:2 cups frozen and thawed (or fresh) raspberries
1 – 2 tablespoons icing sugar (or more if you prefer it sweeter)

Make the Cake:
Preheat the oven to 160C. Spray a 2.5 litre bundt pan with cooking oil spray. Set aside.

In a bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda together and stir together to combine. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed for 5 mintues until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce the speed to low and gently mix in the metled chocolate and then the vanilla, buttermilk and red wine. Mix until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, level the top, and bake for 45 – 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Ganache:Put all the ganache ingredients into a heatproof bowl and place the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water. Don’t let the bowl touch the water. Stir until the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Make the Raspberry Sauce:

Put the raspberries and icing sugar into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Push the sauce through a fine sieve and discard the seeds.

To Serve:
Pour the ganache evenly over the cooled cake, letting it drip seductively down the sides. Slice and serve with a generous spoonful of raspberries sauce drizzled over.