~ Chocolate and red wine cake ~

This is a recipe slightly adapted from ”Décors et recettes de Noêl – traditions d’Alsace” which I recently got my hands on!

Also called Gateau au vin rouge or Roewin un Mûesbollekûeche, it’s a deliciously easy and moist chocolate cake perfect for freezing and defrosting later when needed.

It’s another of my favourite – “mix everything together and bake” recipes and is really simple and tasty.

The red wine doesn’t give a strong taste, it’s very subtle and the chocolate vermicelli means that the chocolate is evenly dispersed and doesn’t sink to the bottom!

Ingredients:

110g Sugar

200g soft butter

200g plain flour

1Tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 sachet of baking powder

100ml red wine

4 eggs

100g chocolate vermicelli

How to:  Put everything into the processor and whiz until you have a smooth cake mixture.

Pour the mixture into a grease proof paper lined cake tin, I used a circular 20cm tin but it’s also often made in loaf tins.  Bake at 180°c for 1 hour then test with a skewer to check if it is fully baked. When the skewer pulls out clean, remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack.

As with all chocolate cakes this one can be decorated with any kind of icing. It’s not a very sweet cake so the touch of icing on the top is a little extra. It’s also delicious served with cream or custard.

Wrap well and freeze when cool (un-iced) if there is too much or it’s been made in advance.