I made yet another version of my delicious raspberry red wine chocolate cake recipe – I just can’t get enough of this one! I turned it into individual servings that are perfect for Valentine’s Day! You can find individual pans in most baking sections of stores. I found these cute heart shaped pans, and mini Bundt pans in my local Homegoods. They are also available at Michael’s Craft Stores. I wanted these to resemble a Petit Four, which is a small piece of cake, covered in a thin , sweet glaze. This glaze is typically made with confectioner’s sugar and either milk or water, and is tinted lightly with food coloring. The glaze envelopes the cake in just a small amount of icing, provides a beautifully smooth finish to the little cake, and keeps it fresh by protecting the cake from the air.

For these little “mini” cakes, I wanted to bring the raspberry red wine flavor in the cake, to the glaze as well. I used the raspberry red wine as the liquid for the glaze, and added several tablespoons of this to dissolve the confectioner’s sugar. It worked beautifully, and colored the glaze a perfect “pink” so I didn’t even need to use any food coloring! WIN! You can glaze the cakes completely if you like, but I thought the “drizzle” on the Bundt cakes was beautiful, and the glaze over the hearts looked lovely with the chocolate cake showing through on the sides.

Don’t have the time or desire to make these “mini cakes”, then try making 1 larger 9″ cake!

Raspberry Red Wine Chocolate Mini Cakes – makes 3 small Bundt pans, and 6 small heart shaped pans.

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare selected mini pans with cooking spray, and parchment (for heart shaped pans).

Ingredients:

3 oz. bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped.
1/3 c Dutch processed cocoa powder
1/2 c hot coffee
2 large eggs
1/3 c vegetable oil
1/2 c red wine (raspberry dessert wine such as Framboise)
1 c all purpose flour
1 c sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Combine chocolate, cocoa powder, and coffee in a small bowl, and let sit for about 5 min – to melt the chocolate.  Then stir gently using a whisk, til blended and smooth.  Set aside to cool.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, add eggs, oil, and red wine.

Mix til blended.  SLOWLY pour chocolate mixture into mixing bowl, while mixer set on LOW speed.

Combine dry ingredients into a separate bowl, and sift together, or blend using a whisk.

Add dry ingredients SLOWLY into mixing bowl with wet ingredients.  Keep mixer on LOW speed until all dry ingredients added, then increase speed to med.  Blend until very smooth.

Fill prepared mini pans to about 3/4 full. Bake on a cookie sheet for about 10 min, then check for doneness. If they still look wet in the center, return to the oven for 3 min intervals, til a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (Bundt cakes will take a bit longer than the heart pans). Cool completely.

Remove cakes from pans, and place on a cooling rack over parchment paper.

Prepare glaze:

1 1/2 c confectioner’s sugar
4-5 Tbsp raspberry red wine

Combine til smooth and lump-free, and on a “drizzling” consistency.

Drizzle as desired over the cooled cakes. Allow to dry.

The bundt cakes look beautiful with a drizzle of glaze, then top with a few fresh raspberries! I found these last only about 3 days in the refrigerator, so fresh is best!