Chocolate Red Wine Cupcakes

Chocolate Red Wine Cupcakes Recipe

From Pastry Tales

Our friends from Pastry Tales bring us another sweet dessert recipe! These chocolate red wine cupcakes are topped with a delicious homemade blackberry buttercream frosting that pairs perfectly with any dark fruit wine.

Yield 26 cupcakes (You can cut the ingredients in half if you want less amount of cupcakes) 

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup cocoa powder

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup white granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 cups buttermilk

1 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup Castello Napa Valley Red Wine

For the frosting:

2 cups fresh blackberries

3 teaspoons granulated sugar

juice of 1 lemon

2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 1/2 – 4  cups powdered sugar,sifted

2-3 tablespoons of cream

For decorating:

Fresh blackberries or sprinkles

Instructions:

For the cupcakes:

1.- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare cupcake pan with liners, set aside.

2.- In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

3.- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix eggs, buttermilk, olive oil and vanilla extract and mix on medium speed for about a minute until combined.

4.- Add flour mixture to the bowl and combine on low speed, gradually increasing speed to medium, until completely combined. Add wine and beat to combine again for about 1 minute.
Pour batter into prepared cupcake liners, filling 2/3 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out with a a moist crumb.
Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Be careful with how you handle the cupcakes, if they are still warm they can be soft and they can break.

For the frosting:

1.- In a small saucepan over medium heat, add blackberries, sugar and lemon juice, frequently stirring and squishing blackberries. Stir until blackberries are soft, about 10 minutes.
Push the mixture through a fine mesh strainer over a small bowl to remove all the seeds. Put the bowl in the fridge so it cools completely.

2.-In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth for a couple of minutes. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar, salt and half of the blackberry juice. Mix well until is fluffy. Add 2 tablespoons of the cream (for me 2 tablespoons was enough). Add more powdered sugar, mix well. Taste the buttercream and see if you need more of the blackberry juice, check the texture and flavor. I used almost all the juice. Beat well until completely combined and fluffy.

3.- Frost the cupcakes. I used 1 M Wilton tip.

Enjoy!! Don’t forget to grab a glass of your favorite Castello di Amorosa Wine