00:00 Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Mulled Wine Cake.
00:08 That's right, I'm going to show you how to enjoy this festive holiday beverage in cake
00:13 form.
00:14 And don't worry if you haven't had or don't know what mulled wine is.
00:17 Okay, as long as you understand cake, you're going to be fine.
00:21 And to get started, the first thing we'll do is pour some red wine into a saucepan.
00:26 And we'll want to use something cheap, but not terrible.
00:30 And then to that, we will add a couple tablespoons of brandy, followed by a few classic mulled
00:35 wine spices.
00:36 And what I have here is some whole cloves, some whole allspice, and some star anise.
00:43 And we will toss those in and set our heat to medium.
00:46 And we will wait for this mixture to just barely start to simmer, at which point we'll
00:50 reduce our heat to low.
00:52 And we will let this cook for about 15 minutes to give those spices time to infuse into our
00:57 wine.
00:58 And of course, if we were making actual mulled wine, we'd be adding a lot more things to
01:03 this, like sugar and orange zest and cinnamon and ginger and things like that.
01:08 But since those ingredients are going to go into our cake batter, this is all we're going
01:12 to need to add at this point.
01:14 And that's it.
01:15 Once that's been on low for about 15 minutes, it is ready to use hot like this in our batter,
01:20 which we're going to put together in a minute.
01:22 And then whatever is left over, we will let cool.
01:24 And we'll use that to make an incredible red wine icing.
01:28 And that's it.
01:29 Once our wine is set, we can move on to make one of the easiest cake batters ever, which
01:33 starts with some all-purpose flour, to which we will add a little bit of cocoa.
01:38 And not really enough to call this a chocolate cake.
01:40 OK, here we're using it more like a spice.
01:43 And then we'll also need to add some brown sugar, as well as its good friend and neighbor,
01:48 white sugar.
01:49 And then we'll definitely also need some salt, as well as some baking soda.
01:53 No, not baking powder, baking soda.
01:57 And then we will spice this up with some cinnamon, as well as some ground ginger.
02:01 Plus, since this is basically a spice cake, we'll also do a few shakes of cayenne, which
02:07 might seem odd, unless you've seen any of our previous videos.
02:12 But anyway, once all that's in the bowl, we will take a whisk and we'll mix this together
02:16 for about 30 seconds, just to make sure everything is evenly distributed, before we introduce
02:21 our wet ingredients.
02:23 Starting with the least wet, which would be some freshly grated orange zest.
02:28 And then we will finish up with some vegetable oil.
02:30 And sure, if you want, you could use melted butter instead.
02:34 But personally, I do prefer the oil.
02:36 And then we'll finish up with a couple large beaten eggs.
02:39 And once that's in, we're going to give this a stir with our fork, starting off slowly
02:43 at first, so as not to knock everything out of the bowl.
02:46 And we are only going to stir this for about a minute, or until basically all that flour
02:50 disappears.
02:51 Oh, and in case you're wondering, yes, we're supposed to cream the fat and the sugar first,
02:56 and then slowly whisk in the eggs until everything's light and fluffy.
02:59 And then eventually sift in our dry ingredients.
03:02 But here we're not doing that.
03:04 Right, this is what we call in the business a "rustic cake," which is chef speak for something
03:09 that's not quite as good, but way, way easier.
03:13 And having said that, don't worry, even with this simple technique, it is still an amazing
03:17 cake.
03:18 In large part to this next and last ingredient, which is about two-thirds of a cup of our
03:22 still hot mulled wine.
03:24 Oh, and if you make your wine component ahead of time, just go ahead and heat it back up
03:28 before you add it.
03:30 And basically, once that hot wine is mixed in, our batter is done.
03:35 And if you're thinking, "Wouldn't this be a lot easier with a whisk?"
03:38 Well, you know what, I had that exact thought right about here.
03:42 So I grabbed a whisk and cleaned off my spatula, and then continued mixing until I was looking
03:47 at a nice, shiny, relatively smooth batter.
03:51 And once we do have something that looks like this, we can transfer that into our prepared
03:55 cake pan, which was generously oiled and has a round piece of parchment paper in the bottom,
04:01 which I didn't show how to do this time, but I just did that in a recent cheesecake video.
04:06 And I will add a link to that at the end of this.
04:09 And then once our pan's been battered, before it goes in the oven, we'll go ahead and give
04:13 it the old tapa tapa, and maybe even sneak in a quick old shake-a-shake-a, just to help
04:20 settle things down and bring bubbles up to the surface.
04:24 At which point it's ready to transfer into the center of a 350 degree oven for about
04:29 25 to 30 minutes, or until it probably looks like this.
04:35 But it is really hard to tell if a cake is done by looking at it, so we'll test it with
04:39 a skewer or a toothpick.
04:41 And if it's done, that should come out virtually clean.
04:43 Okay, if it has a bunch of raw batter on it, put it back in and give it a few more minutes.
04:48 But if it is done, and mine was, we will let it sit cooling on this rack for 20 minutes
04:53 before we attempt to remove it.
04:55 All right, if you do it too soon before it sets up, it can break.
05:00 And once that has rested and cooled down a bit, we'll place a plate over the top, and
05:04 we will very carefully turn this over.
05:07 And then we'll go ahead and peel the parchment paper off the top, which by the way is really
05:11 the bottom.
05:12 So once that's been removed, we'll go ahead and put our rack on top and carefully turn
05:16 this back over, so that the real top, which was on the bottom, is now on top.
05:22 And then before we ice this, we're going to want to let it cool down all the way to room
05:26 temp.
05:27 So we will let it sit on this rack to continue cooling, while we move on to make a very simple,
05:32 but fabulous red wine icing.
05:35 And for that, all we need is a couple cups of powdered sugar, and we'll transfer in about
05:39 three tablespoons of our cooled mulled wine.
05:42 And we will give that a whisk to form an absolutely gorgeous icing that has the perfect consistency
05:48 to drizzle over the top of our cake.
05:51 And if it seems too thick, just add a little more wine.
05:54 Or if it seems too runny, add a little more sugar.
05:57 But somehow, someway, we'll want to end up with something that flows like this.
06:02 And that's it.
06:03 Once our cake is cooled, we can apply that to the top.
06:06 Although before we do, I recommend putting something under the rack to catch the drips.
06:12 And my favorite way to apply this is just by letting it drip right off the whisk, as
06:16 we sort of shake it back and forth, creating whatever kind of pattern we want.
06:20 Oh, and remember when I said we should let this cool down before we ice it?
06:24 I didn't actually do that, and this was still a little bit warm, which really isn't a huge
06:29 problem.
06:30 But what'll happen as you apply the icing is that it's going to pool up in the center,
06:35 where we have that little depression that formed as the cake cooled.
06:38 And having all that icing in that low spot will cause it to kind of saturate into the
06:42 cake, which I don't think is a problem taste or texture-wise, but it will affect the appearance,
06:48 so I wanted to point it out.
06:50 And while you can go for total coverage, I think this is going to look nicer and much
06:54 more provocative if we see some of that beautiful cake peeking through.
06:58 So I'm going to go ahead and stop right here.
07:01 And that's it, once we're happy with how that looks, we'll go ahead and transfer it onto
07:04 a serving platter.
07:06 And then once we top a cake with an icing like this, we have to let it sit until it
07:10 dries out and firms up, but that's only if we want the best, neatest results.
07:15 So if you want to slice into this while it's still flowing, feel free.
07:19 And I think this icing is so gorgeous, we probably don't need anything else.
07:23 But despite that, I decided to go ahead and dust over a little bit of cocoa, just to create
07:27 a little bit of contrast.
07:29 And then for a final, final touch, we could top this with an edible flower.
07:34 But of course, that kind of stuff is up to you.
07:36 I mean, you are after all the boss of your wine cakes gloss, and you could do something
07:41 like a little bunch of grapes instead.
07:44 And after doing that, I grabbed a knife and cut out a nice piece.
07:48 And for now, I'm going to go ahead and enjoy this as is, even though it is spectacular
07:52 with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
07:55 But anyway, I went in for a taste.
07:57 And that, my friends, for such a dead simple recipe, really is an absolutely delicious
08:02 bite of cake.
08:03 All right, this is wonderfully tender and moist, with an extremely interesting flavor.
08:08 Okay, it really doesn't taste like red wine, but it also doesn't not taste like red wine.
08:14 Which makes sense, because what that wine brings is some sweetness and acidity, which
08:19 works perfectly with all those warm holiday spices.
08:22 So basically, if you enjoy cake, and you're a fan of the annual glass of mulled wine,
08:27 I really do think you're going to love this.
08:30 But even if you're not a fan of mulled wine, or you're not even sure what that is, I think
08:35 you're still going to love this cake.
08:37 And that goes for any time of the year, but especially around the holidays, when all these
08:42 smells and flavors seem even more appropriate.
08:44 Oh, and before we sign off, let me show you one quick extra trick.
08:49 If we make some extra mulled wine, and bring it to a boil with an equal amount of sugar,
08:53 and then let that cool, we can use that to soak our cake before we ice it, or just apply
08:58 to a slice like this.
09:00 And that's going to give us a much more pronounced mulled wine flavor, and obviously some extra
09:05 moisture.
09:06 So just a little extra thing I wanted to show you.
09:09 And yes, even though it's two ingredients in one step, we will include those instructions
09:13 in the written recipe.
09:15 But whether you do that or not, I think you're going to love this very unusual and gorgeous
09:20 mulled wine cake.
09:22 Which is why I really do hope you give this a try soon.
09:26 So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much
09:31 more info as usual.
09:33 And as always, enjoy!
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