Red Wine Chocolate Cake

This luscious, decadent cake is 100% whole grain, vegan and full of Chianti for good measure. A topping of melted chocolate and a sprinkle of chips just ups the ante.

Cake isn't just for kids, and certainly not just for birthdays! If the contents of our staff room are any indication, a simple weekday is permission to indulge a little. Of course, at the end of the day a drink and a slice of cake are occasionally in order... luckily there's a way to get both, whenever the mood strikes, without any risk of a hangover.

Like I mentioned when I made the cookies, red wine and dark chocolate are a great combination - even for people like me who detest vino in any (liquid) form. The richness of the cocoa is accented beautifully by the fruity notes of the wine, making a slice seem simply more decadent, rather than a one-note, "out of the box" flavour. While I appreciate that this is cake, and thus a "sometimes food", I also wanted to keep it slightly on the virtuous side - especially since cocoa andred wine are touted as health foods in some circles.

Applesauce is a common diet trick - certainly one mom and I utilized back in our Weight Watcher days - but it's pretty flavourless. Instead, I went with a flavoured applesauce, which doesn't seem like it would make that much of a difference. However, the strawberry in the applesauce plus the berries of the Chianti made the cake even better. I also utilized whole wheat pastry flour, which added a slightly nutty note without sacrificing texture. Of course, I couldn't serve a naked cake, so melted dark chocolate it was. A small slice was plenty to kill off any chocolate cravings, without any "winey" taste, and when covered with a cake dome it actually didn't stale in the fridge. I'm not sure if that's the wine talking, but either way I deem it a winner.

Do you bake with wine? What's your favourite recipe?

Red Wine Chocolate Cake
Makes one 7" cake, 12 slices

¾ cup sugar
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
⅓ cup canola oil
¼ cup applesauce (I used a strawberry applesauce)
1 cup red wine
1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda

Melted chocolate for topping (not included in NI)

1. Heat the oven to 300F and line a 7” springform pan with parchment
2. Whisk together the sugar, salt, vanilla, oil, applesauce and red wine until well combined.
3. Add the flour, cocoa and baking soda and whisk smooth.
4. Bake for 50 minutes, until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Let the cake cool for 30 minutes in the pan, then remove the sides and cool completely on a wire rack.
6. Melt chocolate and pour over the cake to decorate, if desired.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 170.9
Total Fat: 6.1 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 2.0 mg
Total Carbs: 25.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.7 g
Protein: 2.5 g