ICE-6: DARK CHOCOLATE RED WINE CUPCAKES

This month's Iron Cupcake Earth challenge ingredient is wine. I've only cooked with wine, never baked. So, I was excited to experiment especially since I have so much unopened readily available wine in my apartment. Whenever I think of red wine; chocolate comes to mind. Why, you ask? Seriously I have no idea...but it just does! Therefore, I knew right off the bat that I wanted to incorporate chocolate..and not just chocolate, but rich, dark, deep chocolate giving this cupcake a super sophisticated taste. For added fun I incorporated chopped toasted pecans into the batter for a little extra umph.

I made a deep dark chocolate ganache to top the cupcakes with. For half of the batch I poured the already warm ganache along the tops and garnished with multi-colored dragees. For the other half I whipped the ganache in my Kitchen-Aid mixer on high speed until fluffy and piped it on the cupcakes with a little fondant flower for garnish.

These cupcakes were fantastic! The wine added a bit of zing without being overbearing. The actual cake was very moist and rich and the toasted pecans added just enough crunch. The ganache couldn't have been any more complimentary. I used Lindt's extra intense dark chocolate which proved to be..well, intense..

Be sure to vote for me at No One Puts Cupcakes In A Corner beginning January 24th at Noon (central time). ICE is giving away awesome prizes for the winner.

RECIPE:

For cupcakes

1-1/4 cup sugar

1 cup AP flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Dutch processed)

1 tsp baking powder1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 large egg

2/3 cup sour cream

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup red wine (I used Porto)

1/4 cup boiling water

1/3 cup toasted pecans, chopped

For Ganache:

8oz chopped dark chocolate (I used Lindt's intense dark)

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

dash of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake tins with papers, or grease well.
Combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Cream the egg, sour cream, oil and wine together in mixer for two minutes. Stir in flour mixture until well combined.

Add 1/4 cup boiling water and stir. Fold in chopped nuts. Batter will be fairly thin. Pour into prepared cupcake tins and bake for approximately 17-20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

To make ganache–Place chocolate in bowl. In saucepan bring whipping cream to boil over high heat. Pour hot whipping cream over chocolate and stir until chocolate melted. Add vanilla and salt. Spoon ganache over cupcake.

Prizes provided by Etsy artists: DOGBONE ART

• A pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES
• CAKESPY
• SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY
• Corporate prize providers:HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson
• JESSIE STEELE APRONSCUPCAKE COURIERTASTE OF HOME booksUPWITHCUPCAKES.COM

Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers