This red wine chocolate cake has two layers of moist, chocolate cake smothered with whipped red wine chocolate ganache! The red wine imparts a slightly fruity flavor to the dark chocolate, for the most decadent dessert for date night, Valentine's Day, or any random wine Wednesday!
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Why You'll Love This Red Wine Cake!
- Perfect for Valentine's Day - This red wine chocolate cake is a chocolate lovers dream! It's the perfect decadent dessert for celebrating Valentine's Day!
- Whipped chocolate ganache frosting - The red wine chocolate ganache is whipped to create a rich, velvety frosting!
- Super easy to make and decorate - With just a simple frosting and fresh flowers, this cake couldn't be easier to make look stunning!
If you love chocolate as much as I do, you might also like these chocolate fudge cupcakes or these red wine brownies!
Ingredient Notes
You only need a few ingredients for this moist red wine chocolate cake!
Vegetable Oil - I use vegetable oil instead of butter in this cake to help keep the cake super moist and delicious! You can also use canola oil or a neutral olive oil.
Cake Flour - I always use cake flour in my cakes because it makes them super soft and tender, but all purpose flour also works great!
Cocoa Powder - My absolute favorite cocoa powder to use in my baking is the King Arthur Flour Triple Cocoa Blend! It's a blend of natural, Dutch, and black cocoa and is perfect for any baking. But you can easily substitute Dutch-processed cocoa instead! If you want to use natural cocoa, see the notes below.
Red Wine - Use your favorite red wine! A sweeter, fruity red is ideal for this cake, but I've used merlot, pinot noir, and cabernet and they all work great!
Dark Chocolate - For the ganache use dark chocolate baking bars as opposed to chocolate chips!! Chips contain emulsifiers that help them keep their shape, which also means they won't combine as smoothly as chocolate bars. If desired, you can use milk chocolate instead.
Heavy Whipping Cream - This is for the ganache and cannot be substituted.
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
Dutch-processed Cocoa Powder vs. Natural Cocoa Powder
Natural and Dutch-processed cocoa have different levels of acidity due to how they are processed. And as such are different in terms of whether you should use baking powder or baking soda to leaven the cake. This is a great article from King Arthur Baking that breaks everything down in more detail!
This cake calls for either Dutch-processed cocoa powder or a cocoa blend (mostly Dutch) and baking powder. So if you want to use natural cocoa powder instead, you need to adjust the leavening agent.
To use natural cocoa in this cake: Instead of 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder, you want to use 1 teaspoon baking powder + ¼ teaspoon baking soda.
Red Wine Chocolate Ganache
Finely chop the dark chocolate and place into a large bowl.
Place the heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1-2 minutes or until hot to the touch but not boiling.
Pour over the chopped chocolate and let sit for about two minutes.
Using a spatula, gently mix until the chocolate is fully melted and the ganache is mostly smooth. It will still be very thick.
Place the red wine in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1-2 minutes or until hot to the touch but not boiling. Pour into the ganache and continue to mix until it's fully combined and silky smooth.
Let sit at room temperature or in the fridge until is has thickened enough to hold its shape. If your ganache is too firm, microwave for 10 seconds to soften and then stir until ganache is the desired consistency.
Then using a hand mixer, whip the ganache until it's light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Be careful not to overwhip or the ganache will become grainy.
How to Make a Two Layer Cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a separate large bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil and sugar until combined. Then whisk in the eggs and vanilla.
Slowly whisk in the red wine, then gently fold in the dry ingredients until just combined. The batter will be thin.
Evenly spray each cake pan with an oil based pan spray (I don't recommend butter as the butter solids can cause the cake to stick to the pan).
Pour ½ of the batter into each cake pan (they will only be about half full).
Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Place a cooling rack on top of each cake pan and invert. The pan should slide cleanly away.
Let the cakes cool completely to room temperature before trimming.
Once the cakes are fully cooled. Using a sharp bread knife, trim the cakes until the layers are even. Note: trimming is not always necessary! These cake layers cook up pretty evenly, so you may not need to trim at all!
Place the bottom layer of cake on your cake stand and spread about ⅓ of the whipped chocolate ganache on top and smooth into an even layer. Then top with the second layer.
Smooth the rest of the ganache frosting over the top and sides of the cake as desired.
If you don't plan on eating the cake immediately, chill in the fridge so that the ganache stays solid. But remove from the fridge at least 30 minutes before eating for the best texture.
If you want to top with flowers, do so immediately before serving!
How to Get Perfect Cake Layers
There are a few tricks that will help you get perfect, even layers for your red wine chocolate cake!
First, you need good nonstick cake pans and pan spray. I use two 6×2 inch Fat Daddio’s layer cake pans and I love them!! It's super important to get actual layer cake pans because the sides are perfectly straight! It's a little annoying because this means you can't stack them, but your layers will have perfect sides! With just a tiny bit of pan spray, the cakes just slide right out and never stick! For pan spray, I love both Everbake Pan Spray and Baker's Joy!
Next, is trimming your cake. This can be a little tricky, but it's super easy once you do it a couple times. Let the cakes cool completely to room temperature, then take a large bread knife and very carefully slice off the very top of the cake so that you have a perfectly even layer. I like using a big bread knife because it's sharp, serrated, and long enough to go through the entire layer at one time.
Tips for the Best Baked Goods
Use room temperature ingredients! Always make sure ingredients like butter, eggs, milk, yogurt, etc. are at room temperature before baking (unless the recipe indicates otherwise)! This ensures they'll incorporate into the batter more easily and leads to overall better texture. Remove all ingredients from the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before baking for best results.
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. [Measure cocoa powder the same way!]
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature.
Make sure you baking powder is fresh! Baking powder is important for helping baked goods rise properly, but it has a relatively short shelf life once opened, so it's one of the few items I never buy in bulk! To test if your baking powder is still fresh, add a small amount to boiling water. If it bubbles it's still good to use, but if not it's time to toss it!
Cake Decorating Tips
I've never been an expert cake decorator, so I like to keep things simple! To frost the cake easily, I have a few favorite tools:
- I absolutely love my rotating cake stand! I hesitated buying one for a long time, but it really does make getting nice, even frosting so much easier!
- My must have tools for frosting cakes are an offset spatula and an icing smoother.
- I use a 6 inch cake board to transfer my cakes from the turning caking stand, to the stand I like to photograph with.
You can decorate this red wine chocolate cake however you want! I went with some flowers and greenery, but there are a few things to keep in mind if you go that route. These two articles are super helpful for how to decorate cakes safely!
Recipe FAQ's
Store the cake in the fridge for up to 4 days. However, it will taste best when served at room temperature! I like to let it sit at room temperature for about an hour before serving.
This recipe is designed for 2 six inch cake pans. But it will also work well with 1 eight inch cake pan or 12 cupcakes.
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Red Wine Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Ganache
- 8 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup red wine, substitute heavy cream
Cake
- 1 cup cake flour, substitute all purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup vegetable oil, substitute canola oil or light olive oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup red wine
Instructions
Chocolate Ganache
- Finely chop the dark chocolate and place into a large bowl.
- Place the heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1-2 minutes or until hot to the touch but not boiling.
- Pour over the chopped chocolate and let sit for about two minutes.
- Using a spatula, gently mix until the chocolate is fully melted and the ganache is mostly smooth. It will still be very thick.
- Place the red wine in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1-2 minutes or until hot to the touch but not boiling. Pour into the ganache and continue to mix until it's fully combined and silky smooth.
- Let sit at room temperature or in the fridge until is has thickened enough to hold its shape. If your ganache is too firm, microwave for 10 seconds to soften and then stir until ganache is the desired consistency.
- Then using a hand mixer, whip the ganache until it's light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Be careful not to overwhip or the ganache will become grainy.
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil and sugar until combined. Then whisk in the eggs and vanilla.
- Slowly whisk in the red wine, then gently fold in the dry ingredients until just combined. The batter will be thin.
- Evenly spray each cake pan with an oil based pan spray (I don't recommend butter as the butter solids can cause the cake to stick to the pan).
- Pour ½ of the batter into each cake pan (they will only be about half full).
- Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Place a cooling rack on top of each cake pan and invert. The pan should slide cleanly away.
- Let the cakes cool completely to room temperature before trimming.
- Once the cakes are fully cooled. Using a sharp bread knife, trim the cakes until the layers are even. Note: trimming is not always necessary! These cake layers cook up pretty evenly, so you may not need to trim at all!
- Place the bottom layer of cake on your cake stand and spread about ⅓ of the whipped chocolate ganache on top and smooth into an even layer. Then top with the second layer.
- Smooth the rest of the ganache frosting over the top and sides of the cake as desired.
- If you don't plan on eating the cake immediately, chill in the fridge so that the ganache stays solid. But remove from the fridge at least 30 minutes before eating for the best texture.
- If you want to top with flowers, do so immediately before serving!
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Rosslyn says
I doubled the recipe and made them into cupcakes for a valentines day party and they were a hit!
claire says
omg the red wine ganache is heavenly