Red Wine Chocolate Cupcakes

Cakes & Cupcakes, Chocolate, Chocolate Cakes & Cupcakes, Desserts, Recipes

What’s better than wine and chocolate? Well, wine-infused chocolate cupcakes! These delicious red wine chocolate cupcakes have a light wine flavor that goes well with the rich red wine buttercream frosting. The recipe for these delightful treats is quick and easy to make, combines a couple of my favorite things, and they are perfect for any celebration or occasion!

Red Wine Chocolate Cupcakes are infused with a red wine reductions for a rich and flavorful cupcake that's perfect for any celebration.

Ringing In The New Year Or A Special Occasion

Now that Christmas is over I’m attempting to wean myself from so many peppermint pastries. It was good while it lasted (sooooo good) but moving onto New Years’ celebrations. These red wine chocolate cupcakes are just the thing I need for my New Year’s Eve party. It’s been years since I’ve gone out on the town for New Year’s. I just can’t make myself fight the crowds and pay the inflated prices for every venue in the city. A small get-together at the house is much more my speed lately.

You know what I’m talking about. A few close friends, a few great bottles of wine or bubbly, some awesome appetizers, the NY times square ball drop in the background on the TV, all paired with some gourmet chocolate cupcakes like these chocolate cupcakes infused with red wine. You’re going to love the deep and delicious flavor that’s perfect for welcoming the New Year or any other special occasion you may have.

Using Red Wine In Dessert Recipes

Red wine makes a flavorful addition to many desserts. In cupcakes, it creates a moist texture and combines with chocolate for a richness that is unforgettable so you want to choose a red wine that you love. I’d stick with a cabernet sauvignon, zinfandel, pinot noir, or just one of your favorite dry red wines.

I was up in Northern California for a conference a while back and we went on a wine tour and did a few wine tastings. I loved this wine from Boeger winery up in Eldorado County. As many times as I have been wine tasting in California, I had never ventured to El Dorado County. It was a diverse place with stunning beauty. There was a great blend of gorgeous scenery, colorful history, and fun outdoor adventures. You can get the wine from the winemaker, or if you have your own favorite go ahead and use it.

Ingredients In Red Wine Chocolate Cupcakes

The Boeger red wine made a great addition to the cupcake. I used it to create a wine syrup reduction and mix it with the buttercream to give the red wine frosting just a tiny bit of wine deliciousness. Now if you think you just want to go with plain buttercream, you don’t need to add the wine. But if you like the color just add a few drops of gel food coloring to get the red frosting.

Red Wine
Sugar
All-purpose flour
Cocoa powder
Salt
Baking soda
Cultured buttermilk powder
Vegetable oil
Water
Eggs
Confectioner’s sugar
Unsalted butter
Milk
Vanilla extract

Red Wine Chocolate Cupcake Process Collage

How to Make Chocolate Red Wine Cupcakes

For this recipe, I used the red wine reduction in the batter while baking, and I also used it once done baking.

Boil red wine and sugar until reduced by half in a small saucepan.
Combine the cupcake ingredients and bake 16-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Once cooled, use a wooden skewer to poke a few holes in the top of each cupcake and drizzled some of the wine reduction into the holes and let the cupcake soak it up. (Just a tiny bit here. A little goes a long way. You could skip this part if you wanted. It depends on how much red wine flavor you like.)
Make the buttercream frosting.
Frost the cupcakes and enjoy!

These cupcakes are the definition of a good dessert. They’re rich and chocolatey with just enough red wine to make them interesting. As always we hope you enjoy these red wine cupcakes as much as we do. Please share if you end up making them, we always love to hear how it goes. If you find you are still longing for the peppermint like I am, these little chocolate peppermint meringues make great party food or even peppermint bark. Cheers to a Happy New Year!

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