Red Wine Velvet Cake with Whipped Mascarpone
Cake:
- 16 tablespoons (225 grams or 2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for pans
- 2¾ cups (345 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
- 2 cups (380 grams) firmly packed dark brown sugar
- ⅔ cup (135 grams) granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 cups (475 ml) red wine (any kind you like)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1⅓ cups (115 grams) Dutch cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon table salt
- 16 ounces (500 grams) mascarpone cheese
- 2⅓ cups (280 grams) confectionters’ sugar
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions:
The flavor trifecta is red wine, chocolate, and a slip of cinnamon, three things that you will quickly see have always been meant to be together.
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Line the bottom of three 9-inch round cake pans with parchment, and either butter and lightly flour the parchment and exposed sides of the pans, or spray the interior with a nonstick spray. In a large bowl, at the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and beat well, then the red wine and vanilla. Don’t worry if the batter looks a little uneven. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together, right over your wet ingredients. Mix until three-quarters combined, then fold the rest together with a rubber spatula. Divide batter between prepared pans (about 2½ cups batter per pan). Bake for 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of each layer comes out clean. The top of each cake should be shiny and smooth, like a puddle of chocolate. Cool in pan on a rack for about 10 minutes, then flip out of pan and cool the rest of the way on a cooling rack.
- If your cakes have domed a bit and you want nice even layers in your stack, you can trim the tops. Use a long serrated knife, held horizontally, and use gentle back-and-forth motions with your hand on top of the cake to even it out. Share the cake scraps with whoever is around; no one will mind helping you remove “debris.”
- In a medium bowl, beat the mascarpone with the confectioners’ sugar, pinch of salt, and vanilla extract at medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Place the first cake layer on a cake stand or plate, and spread with one-third of the filling. Repeat with remaining two layers. Chill the cake in the fridge until you’re ready to serve it.