to start the Wine Festival!

Every year in August we have the wine festival going on downtown. That means all the wine growers sell their wine on a big festival with live music and food. You go there with your friends and sample the wine and eat and talk. Good times..

This cake is also a childhood memory. The Grandmother of my best friend would make it and I always loved it. I found the recipe here from Kristin Donnelly, Food and Wine and it’s definitely a good one. The cake is not too sweet and the balance between the chocolate and the red wine just perfect.

Chocolate Red Wine Cake

Ingredients

2 cups (240 g) flour
¾ cup cocoa powder
1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 sticks (230 g) butter or lactose free margarine, softened
1 ¾ cups (350 g) sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups (300ml) dry red wine

This recipe is for a 12cup bound cake form, I did cut it in half and made a little one.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 Celsius).

Mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. Beat the butter and the sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and the Vanilla. Then alternately mix in the flour and the wine until incorporated.

Fill the batter in a greased and floured pan and bake for 45 minutes. Don’t forget to make the toothpick test.
Let cool on a rack and dust with confectioner’s sugar before serving.

I had a great girls night out on the festival this year, we sampled some sparkling wine, they all were delicious…of course