Red Wine Chocolate Cake with Red Wine Chocolate Ganache

It's Thirsty Thursday and the Scandal finale is on tonight!  What better way to celebrate than with a recipe for Red Wine Chocolate Cake!  I found this recipe over at Food & Wine and I adapted it slightly.  It was the perfect way to celebrate a recent birthday and it was an amazingly decadent chocolate cake!  

In other news, I went to my second Cubs game of the season last night.  My brother is in town and it was so fun to hang out with him.  Plus, the cubs won!  It was a pretty chilly night for a game, but we still had a great time.  It was a little weird to be out late on a Wednesday and I'm a little sleepy today, but I'm sure I'll be fine! I guess I should also mention that tonight there is a pretty big basketball game involving a Chicago team...if you're into that...I just can't wait for Scandal :).  I'm sure my sport-loving fiance will keep me updated on the sporting world anyways! 

I hope that you all enjoy this recipe!  Get out a good bottle of red wine, try not to drink too much while you bake, and have fun! 

Red Wine Chocolate Cake with Red Wine Ganache

Ingredients:
Cake:

1 1/4 cups dry red wine (I used a Cabernet Sauvignon)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Ganache:1 cup chocolate chips (I used a mix of dark and milk)
3 tbsp heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp red wine




Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a bundt cake pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla until well combined.
4. Add in 1/3 of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.  Then, add in 1/2 of the wine and mix until combined.  Continue with another 1/3 of the flour, then the rest of the wine, and finally the rest of the flour until just combined.  Pour the batter into your prepared pan and place in oven for 45 minutes.
5. While the cake is baking, make the ganache: In a heat-proof bowl, place the chocolate with the cream.  Let the bowl sit over a pot of boiling water and stir once the chocolate starts to soften.  If your mixture doesn't come together, you can add a little more cream.  Once smooth, stir in the red wine and remove from heat.
6. When your cake is done, let cool for 15 minutes and then frost with the ganache.  Let cake cook completely and ganache set.

Enjoy :)