Red Wine Chocolate Cupcakes

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!

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

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.

1. Boil red wine and sugar until reduced by half in a small saucepan.
2. Combine the cupcake ingredients and bake 16-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
3. 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.)
4. Make the buttercream frosting.
5. 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!

More Cupcake Recipes You'll Love

• Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes
• Chocolate Pudding Cupcakes
• Chocolate Pumpkin Stout Cupcakes

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Red Wine Chocolate Cupcakes

A red wine reduction is used to infuse chocolate cupcakes with a rich flavor.

5 from 5 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Cooling Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Servings: 24 Cupcakes

Calories: 301kcal

Author: Serena

Ingredients

Cupcake

• ▢ 297 grams AP Flour
• ▢ 425 grams sugar
• ▢ 65 grams cocoa powder
• ▢ 1.5 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 12 grams baking soda
• ▢ 45 grams cultured buttermilk powder
• ▢ 170 grams vegetable oil
• ▢ 470 grams boiling water
• ▢ ¼ cup red wine syrup
• ▢ 80 grams eggs

Red Wine Syrup

• ▢ 1 cup red wine (Your favorite type of red wine)
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon sugar

Buttercream

• ▢ 3 cups powdered sugar
• ▢ 8 tablespoons unsalted room temperature butter
• ▢ 2 tablespoons milk room temperature
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ ⅛ cup wine syrup

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Line your cupcake pan with 24 cupcake liners.

Wine Syrup

• Boil red wine and the tablespoon of sugar in a small saucepan until it reduces to half (about 10-15 minutes on medium low heat)

Cupcakes

• Sift flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and buttermilk powder into a mixing bowl of a stand mixer.
• With paddle attachment mix on low speed to combine.
• Add oil, water, eggs, and ¼ cup wine syrup one at a time to the flour mixture and continue mixing until blended together. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and the bottom of the bowl.
• Scoop the cupcake batter out with a cookie scoop and place into cupcake pan and bake for 16 - 20 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched or toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
• Remove from oven and let cool.
• If you want more wine flavor, use a skewer and poke holes in top of cupcakes, use ⅛ cup of wine syrup and drizzle over tops of cupcake.

Buttercream Frosting

• In the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, beat together the confectioners sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla on low speed until combined.
• Stop the mixer and scrape the sides down.
• Increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy, about 3 more minutes. (If frosting is dry, add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time until creamy)
• Stir in the remaining ⅛ cup wine syrup
• This will make 2 cups of frosting. Use a piping bag to frost cupcakes.

Notes

Recipe Source: SerenaLissy.com

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database via Spoonacular API, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators. While this information can be helpful in estimating the nutritional information of a recipe, it is by no means accurate or official and is not evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.

 

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Nutrition

Serving: 1Cupcake | Calories: 301kcal | Carbohydrates: 46g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 300mg | Potassium: 110mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 34g | Vitamin A: 140IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 1mg

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