0 Dark Chocolate Cake with Malbec-Quince Filling and Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

This is the completely decadent cake from my Foodbuzz 24x24 dinner.  I've been seeing so many great chocolate cakes on blogs lately, so I really thought about how to make mine different.  I decided to do a later of Quince paste, since Raspberry and Cherry go so well with chocolate and to me Quince tastes very similar to those two.

When I was warming the Quince paste to make it spreadable, the bottle of Malbec just called to me and oh why not, I added it to the Quince, tasted and it was so rich and had a deep fruity flavor.  Perfect!

Recipe:


Ingredients:


Cake:

2 cups boiling water
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 3/4 cups Cake flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 1/4 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Filling:

1/4 cup Malbec (or other fruity red wine)

5 oz. Quince Paste

Icing:

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 cups confectioners' sugar
8 Tablespoon (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 Tablespoon milk, plus more, if needed
1 teaspoon. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt
Trader Joe's Grinder with Sugar, Cocoa and Coffee Bean

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 2,  9 inch round cake pans.

2.  In medium bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool.

3.  Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.

4.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at time, then stir in vanilla. 

5.  Add the flour mixture alternately with the cocoa mixture. 

6.  Spread batter evenly between the 2 pans.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool.

7.  In a small pot, add the Quince paste and wine.  Cook over medium-low heat until smooth.  

8.  Spread evenly over the top of the bottom layer of cake.  Place top layer over it when done.

9.  In your mixing bowl combine the confectioners sugar, butter, milk, vanilla and salt and beat on low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes, then reduce the speed to low. 

10.  Melt the chocolate either in a double boiler, or like I did in the microwave for 10 second intervals.  Stirring between each one.  Add the chocolate to the butter mixture and stir until combined.  You are ready to frost!

Note: If the frosting is dry, add more milk, 1 tsp. at a time, until it is creamy but still holds peaks. Makes about 2 1/4 cups.

11.  After icing the cake, sprinkle generously with the Trader Joe's Grinder.  The coffee flavor gives the icing a great mocha taste that goes well with the fruit too.  It's just layers of flavor!

This is an incredible cake, enjoy!