Recipes that promise to help you bake the Most Perfectly Moist chocolate cake are a dime a dozen. "Rich" and "decadent" are the buzzwords for these recipes, which the eager masses seek out in the hopes of perfecting their chocolate cake baking prowess. A lot of these recipes may just be mumbo jumbo, capitalising on the chocolate cake mania of an innocent crowd.
But now, we have it on good authority that there is indeed one ingredient to rule them all, one hack that puts every other hack to shame, and promises that your chocolate cake will always live its best life.
What's this ingredient you ask? The Daily Meal's Allie Sivak writes that red wine is the secret elixir that grants any chocolate cake that elusive rich moistness.
"When added to chocolate cake, red wine adds both flavor depth and moisture," Sivak informs, further asserting: "The fruity, warm-spiced, and earthy notes imparted from the wine enhance the chocolate. Additionally, red wine is quite acidic... When added to cake batter, it activates the chemical leaveners, such as baking soda or powder so that tiny air pockets can form and expand in the heat of the oven, giving rise to a cake that is soft, fudgy, not overly dense — and intriguingly flavorful."
That sounds absolutely delightful. But how exactly does one incorporate red wine into the cake recipe? Sivak advises adding it in with the other wet ingredients. She also recommends picking a wine for the recipe the same way you would when pairing one with chocolate.
Her rule of thumb? Bordeaux if you want a dark chocolate cake that's not overly sweet. Pinot Noir for a delicately spiced cake. Cabernet Sauvignon if you want a woody, oaky note. She also has some ideas about adding red wine to cake glaze or buttercream frosting, but that's a hack for another day.