Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!!!!!

Do you know what today is? Do ya? Do ya?! Todaaaaaayyy….. is my ONE YEAR BLOGIVERSARY!!!!! That’s right! I’ve officially been blogging for one entire year and I am beyond excited to be celebrating it with this cake.
Just a year ago, I was hitting the publish button on my very first post. I was terrified as to what would happen with this blog and where it would take me. I never would have guessed that I would form so many friendships, learn things about blogging that I never even considered with my other blog, and and take my baking and photography skills to new levels.

It’s been such a great blogging year and I don’t even know what to do with the joy and excitement I feel for the coming year. I have so many ideas and I hope that you will continue to be there with me for the ride. I want to work on more over the top recipes like my S’mores Stuffed Cookies and balance it out with more classic recipes like my vanilla bean and rose madeleines. Then I’d like to round it all out with more healthy savory recipes that will tide us over until dessert and make sure our pants don’t start to protest too much. Whatdo you think? Maybe a free e-book somewhere down the line?

I decided I needed a red wine cake because I love red wine and what better way to celebrate than to put a bit of wine in my cake! I used the red wine velvet cake from Brave Tart because she is an amazing baker and I would only trust such a special occassion with her… plus, I’ve been wanting to try out this recipe for ages! It’s so velvety with a great balance of chocolate, red wine, and vanilla. It has a wonderful crumb and will be sure to impress everyone who enjoys a slice. Stella…. is a genius.

I added a layer of my berry wine jam and used a berry wine buttercream frosting in this cake because I wanted it to be all wine all day. If you are afraid it would be too much wine for you, please feel free to take the wine out of the buttercream and just use a berry, chocolate, or vanilla buttercream instead. They all work with this cake. The berry wine jam has a very subtle wine flavor, but feel free to take it out as well if you want. I also found some edible sparkly stuff and my daughter had fun adding it to the chocolate hearts and the buttercream, but you don’t have to do all that either!

Red Wine Velvet Cake with Berry Wine Jam and Buttercream

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Ingredients

• 12 ounces all purpose flour
• 2 ounces cocoa powder (I used Hershey's natural unsweetened. Do not use Dutch Processed)
• 16 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
• 18 ounces brown sugar
• 2 ounces (weighed) vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3.4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnmaon
• seeds from two vanilla beans or two tablespoons vanilla extract
• 6 large eggs, room temperature
• 12 ounces (weighed) red wine (choose something sweet)
• 1 1/2 ounces (weighed) vanilla extract

For the Buttercream

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 2 -4 tablespoons berry syrup
• 2 tablespoons wine syrup (optional)

For the Buttercream Flavoring

• 1/2 cup berries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup wine
• 1/4 cup sugar

For the Heart Lollipops

• 4 ounces chocolate chips
• 1/8 teaspoon powdered cayenne pepper (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven 350 degrees F. Grease two round 9 inch or three 8 inch cake pans.
2. Whisk the flour and cocoa powder together in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the butter and sugar and beat until it is well combined and creamy. Add in the oil, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and vanilla bean seeds. Mix well until the mixture is a nice smooth consistency. Add the eggs in one at a time, mixing until each is well incorporated.
3. Slowly add the flour and wine in batches, beginning and ending with the flour. Do not over mix. Lightly fold in the remaining vanilla. Evenly pour the batter into the baking pans. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes (I found the 9 inch cake pans that I used needed about 32 minutes) You can tell if the cake is done by inserting a toothpick in the center of the cake and a few crumbs stick to it.
4. Beat the butter until smooth, light, and creamy. Slowly add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating well until the sugar is fully incorporated before adding more. Add either the 4 tablespoons of berry syrup, or 2 tablespoons each of wine and berry syrup. Alternatively, you may opt for 2 - 4 tablespoons of melted chocolate and cream and replace 3 - 4 tablespoons of powdered sugar with cocoa powder for a quick chocolate buttercream.
5. In a small saucepan, heat the berries and sugar together on medium-high. Continue to heat until the berry juice starts to come out and boil. Allow it to boil until about a quarter cup of berry juice is left . Strain out the berries. Repeat the same method using the wine and sugar to make the wine syrup.
6. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave by heating on 50% power for 30 seconds at a time, stirring between intervals. Mix in the cayenne pepper if using. Quickly put the melted chocolate in a ziplock bag and cut a small hole in the corner. Coat the tips of lollipop sticks with melted chocolate, then lay them down on parchment or wax paper. Draw hearts over the lollipop sticks and allow to dry for about 3 - 4 minutes Slowly remove from the parchment paper

Notes

*Please note: Stella weighs all her ingredients, so everything here, including the liquids are weighed amounts.