Monday, February 13, 2012

Divine Cherry & Red Wine Chocolate Cake

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As most of you may already know, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. At first, I did not have the intention of covering this oh so essential day for baked goods - from the bland perspective of food blogger-me, that is. The reason why is the me-me. Mixed feelings.
February 14th has never really been the day for lovers, but more the day for love in a different way, as it was my grandfather's birthday. A man I have more respect, admiration and appreciation for than I could never form into words that would not fall short to what he really deserves. A man who was kind and honest. Benevolent. A man who met not the fate in a way he deserved.

This day will always be his birthday but of course, Valentine's Day is becoming more important as well. Giving it a bit more thought, the idea of a day that reminds happy couples how great and valuable it is what they have is quite appealing in its essence. However, the execution fairly often somewhat questionable. When shiny things and expensive gifts become the main focus – and especially when the lack of such result in tears and tantrums – maybe the relationship is not so valuable after all. Like I said, mixed feelings on so many levels.

Cherry & Red Wine Chocolate Cake

But yes, in the end, I have decided to think up something for Valentine's Day.
Something that I am sure you are happy to know is rather quick to make (considering the date, it is last minute, isn't it?) but does not come short in decadence and sophistication. The ingredient that certainly makes it a grown-up cake is red wine and you will only need so much that there is still enough left to enjoy along with it. Cherries and red wine go together perfectly.

Oh yes, before I forget. Over the week-end, I finally found some time to do minor additions to the blog that were more than needed. For one thing, there now is a 'About'-page where you can read a little bit about the author of this blog, who would be me. For another thing, there now is a Facebook page for this blog. So if you like what you see and read, feel free to like me on FaceyB and be informed about every update and maybe some tidbids that come to my mind. :)

The only tricky thing with this recipe is that you need to flip the first cake over.

Cherry & Red Wine Chocolate Cake

Cherry & Red Wine Chocolate Cake
Makes 16 slices

For the cake:
As you bake two layers, you will need this amount of ingredients TWICE. I would not recommend making the double amount at once.

  • 250g (8.8 oz) all-purpose flour
  • 50g (1.8 oz) dutch process cocoa powder
  • 150ml (5 fl. oz) oil (I used canola oil)
  • 1tblsp. (15g or a sachet) baking powder
  • 2 eggs
  • 75ml (2.5 fl. oz) strong coffee
  • 275ml (9.3 fl. oz) milk
  • 250g (8.8 oz) sugar

For the filling:

  • 150g (5.3 oz) sugar
  • 200ml (6.8 fl. oz) red wine
  • 4-16g (0.15-0.56 oz) agar agar (this depends crucially on the kind and brand of agar agar you are using. Best thing you can do is to read the instructions on the package. I used the amount needed for 1000ml or 33.4 fl. oz. The amazing thing about agar agar is that the process can be undone, which means that you can simply re-heat the mass and add some more of it in case it was not firm enough. So all you can basically lose is time but no ingredients!)
  • 1 complete jar of cherries (mine had 680g including the juice which I used as well. The complete filling for the cake should make about 1000ml or 33.4 fl. oz, so when your jar contains more or less than mine, I would simply balance it out with red wine)


  1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
  2. In a medium sized bowl, combine all ingredients for the cake with a wooden spoon. 
  3. Spread on a sheet pan about 42,5x36x3cm in size (the equivalent would be 13x18x1''. It does not matter much if the size of the pan is slightly different) lined with parchment paper. Bake on centre rack for 10 minutes or until a stick comes out clean. Let the whole pan cool down.
  4. In the meantime, repeat step no. 2.
  5. Remove first cake from pan, lay on a flat and clean surface.
  6. Use the now empty sheet pan again for step no. 3.
  7. While the second layer cools down,  blend cherries along with the red wine until smooth either in a blender or with a hand blender (before you do this, you may want to check whether there are still some pits left in some of the cherries).
  8. In a medium pot, pour in mixture,combine with sugar and agar agar. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring continuously. 
  9. Pour over the layer of chocolate cake that is still in the pan. 
  10. Let it cool off completely until it is firm (This will probably take way less time than you would expect).
  11. Carefully lay first cake layer on top of the filling.
Enjoy!

33 comments:

  1. Looks like an amazing recipe! I would love to try them all.

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  2. If I am to choose among a display of cakes, I will choose yours because there's red wine in it and there are cherries too. Best of all, you described it as divine. That's enough for me to grab a slice of your delicious looking cake. Happy Valentine's Tobias and keep on reviving the memories of your grandfather.

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    1. Weng, dear. Thank you so much for your kind words and this was one of the greatest compliments I have ever gotten. Happy Valentine's again as long as it lasts. :)

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  3. I understand your mixed feelings about this particular day, one should express love at all times. The cake looks and sounds lovely. I really like that you used the agar agar I don't see that much. Cheers to your Gramps and you and a hearty sip of red. Happy Valentine's Day!!

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    1. Hello Suzi! I'm no vegetarian by all means, but using gelatin just does not seems right to me so I use agar agar instead whenever possible which was in any case so far, frankly. Thank you and Happy Valentine's right back at you! Considering that I've downed that generously poured glass of red wine in the background that day, I've already had my very hearty sip! ;)

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  4. Hi Tobias! Happy Valentine's Day!!!! Am glad to be back.. However, I have fallen off the baking wagon, as work is creeping up on me a lot lately. No fear, I shall try to whip something when I can. Your cherry red wine choco cake looks simply divine. I could really use a slice.. Imagining myself eating your luscious cake right now. Yummmmmmm.. Thanks for buzzing me at my blog. Hugggsssss

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    1. Thank you Joanna and Happy Valentine's to you, too! ;) Oh tell me about it! I know exactly how it is to be swamped with work! Hang in there, love!

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    1. Thank you a lot, Russell. I'm glad you like it. :)

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  6. I have recently discovered a love for cherries. I use to loathe them. This cake looks fab :D

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    1. REEAALLY, Nic?! Not that there was any doubt before, but now I'm sure we can be friends. ;)

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  7. This looks terrific and I it sounds like your grandfather was certainly deserving of his own day! My honey bunny and I celebrate a non-traditional Valentines day! We decided before we married that we'd rather have hugs and kisses all year long than an expensive gift on the 14th. Rather than fight the restaurant lines, we go for a fast food lunch and spend some quality time together.....company and conversation is the order of the day for us!

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    1. Thank you, Ann.
      Ha! You and your husband sound adorable. And I doubt that you have ever regretted that decision. Given your approach in healthy eating and having a balanced diet, a fast food lunch seems special in a different way, in your case. ;)

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  8. Wow this looks amazing! I love the red wine in the dessert and it sounds perfect with chocolate and cherries. Thanks for linking up to my vday blog hop!

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  9. Looks like this came from an uber-expensive hotel dinner date...My husband will love to try this and he won't believe this is homemade. I will have to try this recipe!Thanks for sharing.

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  10. Happy Birthday to your grandfather! I'm glad you baked something at the end and shared this beautiful chocolate cake. Cherry and red wine must go so well with the chocolate. It's a beeeaautiful cake! I'm happy you added Facebook, now next is twitter? ;-)

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    1. Nami, dear. Thank you! The combination of those three ingredients is still intriguing me and in fact, I am already thinking of what to do next with them. ;)

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  11. Heavenly dessert for me. This looks amazing! Great sweet treat for party.

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  12. I've never really ever done anything for Valentines Day (much less bake something for it!) because like your grandfather, my sister's birthday also falls on the same day- and of course, that's more important ;)

    Your chocolate cake looks really decadent!! *sigh* I was looking for a recipe like this yesterday... too bad I already made my chocolate cake- there's always next time!

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  13. Happy Birthday to your grandfather, and lovely tribute :)
    Your cake looks amazing and I am in love with these flavors, gorgeous!
    I liked your facebook page, and will check out you "about" as well :)
    Have a great weekend!

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  14. Such a memorable cake to celebrate sweet memories of your grandfather.

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  15. Putting agar agar jelly in a is an amazing idea! Thanks so much for the inspiration. And happy birthday to your grandfather, he sounds like such a wonderful man.

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  16. I made smitten kitchen's red wine chocolate cake, but substituted a cherry red wine blend instead of plain old red wine. It was awesome. This cake looks great. If I pick up another bottle I would love to try it with the blended wine.

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  17. Hiya Reney! Coming from smitten kitchen, I am sure the cake was awesome! I like where you're mind went by adding cherry juice. ;)

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  18. How do I print out JUST the recipes? I've been hand writing them and that's a chore! Thanks in advance!

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    1. Hi there!
      I am very happy to hear you want to keep one of my recipes. :)

      There are two ways to print them:

      1. Beneath every post, there is a green button that says Print/PDF. Things brings you to a print-friendly and modifiable version of posts. Right at the top of the site is a box that says "remove images". Now, if you don't want to print/save all my blabbering (which I completely understand), you can remove any clause by hovering over it with your mouse (it will turn orange and an 'x' will appear. Clicking it will remove the clause).
      When everything has been edited and removed to your liking, you can either print it by clicking on the option at the top, send it to an email address of your choice or, if you want to keep it on your computer, save it as a pdf document file.

      2. As I usually keep the recipe itself free of photos, an easer option would be to simply mark the recipe directly in the post and print it using the function in your browser, telling it to only print the marked area.

      I hope that helped. :)

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  19. This is just what i was thinking. I love it.
    Cheers
    Jack

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  20. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  21. Small bits of content which are explained in details, helps me understand the topic, thank you!

    Chocolate tea

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  22. Last year when we completed our bachelors one of our friend has brought some wine cakes, after tasting them i found them delicious and now you have shared the recipe out here which made me happy as a smiley. After 2 years of bachelors and completing my master which i have to Buy a Degree from online distance learning university i found something what i was looking for.

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