Red Wine Chocolate Cupcakes with Brandy and Chocolate Liquour Frosting

When researching for a new taste, I always wondered whether wine would be a fitting choice of liquid in a cupcake. Then cupcake wars on the Food Network started and that sold me. Then I wondered whether red wine and chocolate in a cupcake go together and it sure did because the combination is no stranger in the US. While researching for a recipe I could loosely base my version on, I found a ton of blogs and recipe websites that have one version or the other. The closest was Rachel Ray's version. Then I figured why not amend my own recipe that I have and see where that takes me. And then voila, it gave birth to...Red Wine Chocolate Cupcakes with Brandy and Chocolate Liquour Frosting.

The Ingredients:

300g self-raising flour - sifted

15g cocoa powder - sifted

1 tsp baking soda - sifted

2 eggs

100g butter - slightly melted

225g golden caster sugar

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup red wine (any kind)

100g dark chocolate - melted

Method:

1. Firstly crank up your oven to 180 Degrees Celcius. Then line your cupcake cups in a muffin tray.
2. Sift all three dry ingredients together into a bowl. Set aside. Melt the dark chocolate in a bain marie. 
3. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy before adding the eggs one by one. 
4. Then pour in half the dry ingredients and the red wine, beat it until combined, before adding in the second half of the dry ingredients and the milk. Continue beating. Use a spatula to scrape the sides of the mixing bowl to make sure all the dry ingredients are mixed thoroughly. Finally add in the melted dark chocolate. Stir until combined.
5. The using an ice cream scoop, scoop a portion into each cupcake cup. Pop into the oven for about 25 minutes depending on the size of your cupcake. If it is smaller, it would only need 20 minutes or so. 
6. Take it out and leave it to cool while continuing the baking process for the rest of the cupcake batter.

Brandy and Chocolate Liquour Frosting Ingredients:

1x 300g cream cheese (philadelphia cream cheese was used)

1x 284ml double cream

1 tsp vanilla essence / syrup

100g icing sugar

1 tbsp brandy

1 tbsp chocolate liquour

100g butter melted with

200g dark chocolate

Method:

1. In the mixer, put everything in and whiz away!!! It will combine quite quickly.
2. Then add in the melted dark chocolate and butter and combine well. Put aside.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, poke a knife in the centre of each cupcake. Make sure it is deep enough. Then in a piping bag, add some of the frosting in and stick it into the cupcake to inject more frosting inside the cupcake. Then in a bigger piping bag and a nozzle of your choice, pipe the frosting on top of the cupcake. I used a normal circular nozzle. To add a more decorative touch, add a fresh raspberry (or as Rachael Ray would suggest half a grape) and a chocolate stick. Here I used chocolate fingers from cadbury.

The cake will have the taste of the red wine when eaten. But it isn't too overpowering that you can't taste the rest of the chocolate. But this was heavenly. Not too sweet either :)

Yes...I promised the Kam Heong Chicken recipe. And it will appear over the weekend. Figured something sweet would be nice!

The Innovative Baker on the go!