Do you want a chocolate cake with an extra oomph? Then you should try German Red Wine & Chocolate Cake – you even see chocolate chip bits in it! Enjoy a slice with coffee, tea, or more wine!
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The ingredients for this cake remind me of Christmas – wine, chocolate, and spices.
But it’s definitely not just a Christmas cake; you can make this cake the whole year-round.
Ingredients
- Butter – I use unsalted butter in this recipe. If you are using the salted type, use a bit less salt.
- Chocolate chips – you can use semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips; they both work perfectly with this red wine cake.
- Salt & spices – cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
- Cocoa powder – use your favorite brand, but make sure you strain it with the rest of the dry ingredients.
- Sugar
- Eggs – best to be at room temperature.
- Flour – all-purpose flour is all you need for this recipe.
- Vanilla sugar
- Baking powder
- Red wine – any dry red wine will be excellent with this wine cake.
Preparation
Start by preheating your oven into 180°C (350°F) and preparing your cake pan by greasing it with butter and dusting it with flour.
Using a medium mixing bowl, sift and combine flour, cocoa powder, salt, cardamom powder, cinnamon powder, nutmeg, cloves, and baking powder (photo 1).
In a separate large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, and vanilla sugar (photo 2).
Use a hand mixer to combine until creamy.
Add melted butter and continue mixing (photo 3).
Add the sifted dry ingredients and the red wine alternately in batches while mixing continuously (photo 4).
Add chocolate chips (photo 5).
Using a spatula or wooden spoon, mix just enough to incorporate the chocolate chips into the batter.
Pour cake batter into greased and floured cake pan (photo 6).
Tap gently on the countertop to remove bubbles, and place the plan in the lower part of the oven for fifty-five to sixty minutes.
Set aside to cool.
Remove cake from pan and serve with a dusting of powdered sugar.
Helpful tips
- Make sure you sift the dry ingredients. It helps in getting rid of the lumps in the batter.
- Do not overthink the type of red wine that you would be using. As long as it’s dry red wine, regardless of the type of grapes used – you are good to go.
- If you are using a bundt cake pan, make sure you have prepared it correctly. Grease it with butter generously, dust with flour and then turn it over and shake it to remove any excess.
FAQs
- CAN YOU BAKE WITH WINE?
Absolutely.
Depending on the length of baking time, there would still be an amount of alcohol left in the cake. You wouldn’t taste the alcohol, but don’t be fooled into thinking that nothing is left in there.
So, keep that in mind when you are serving it.
- CAN I USE A REGULAR ROUND CAKE PAN?
Yep. Any 8-inch or a 9-inch cake pan would do. You might need to adjust the cooking time a bit and keep the cake on the lower part of the oven.
It’s to make sure that it does not brown too much since the color is already dark, to begin with.
If you want to try another traditional German dish, you should check out one of my most popular posts — German Potato Soup (Kartoffelsuppe)!
Or if you would like to see chocolate cakes from other countries, then you might like posts:
German Red Wine and Chocolate Cake
Equipment
- Mixing Bowls
- Pyrex Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Hand Mixer
- Rubber Spatula
Ingredients
- 6 medium eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
- 1 & 1/4 cups butter, unsalted & melted (plus more for greasing)
- 1 & 3/4 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder, heaping
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- pinch salt
- 1 tsp cardamom powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp cloves
- 2/3 cup red wine
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
- Grease the cake pan with butter and dust with flour.
- In a medium bowl, sift and combine flour, cocoa powder, salt, cardamom powder, cinnamon powder, nutmeg, cloves, and baking powder.
- In a separate large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, and vanilla sugar. Use a hand mixer to combine.
- Add melted butter and continue mixing.
- Add the dry ingredients and the red wine alternately in batches while mixing continuously.
- Add chocolate chips and use a spatula or wooden spoon to mix, just enough to incorporate it into the batter.
- Pour cake batter into the prepared cake pan.
- Tap the pan gently on the countertop (to lessen bubbles) and place the plan in the lower part of the oven for 55 to 60 mins.
- Set aside to cool, then remove the cake from the pan.
- Dust with powdered sugar and serve.
Notes
- Do not skip the step for sifting the dry ingredients. It helps in getting rid of the lumps in the cake batter.
- You can use any dry red wine – if you prefer a specific grape variety, I leave that to you. 🙂
- If you decide to use a bundt cake form (like in this recipe), grease it generously with butter, dust it with flour and then turn it over and shake it to remove any excess flour.
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