Chocolate and Red Wine cake
serves 12-16
butter and flour for the cake tin
125 g dark chocolate
300 g soft butter
300 g fine sugar
pinch of salt
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
6 eggs (medium)
300 g flour
3 tsp baking powder (you can substitute self-raising flour if that is what you buy)
1 tsp dark cocoa
150 ml red wine (good quality)
200-300 g dark chocolate to glaze

Preheat oven to 180 °C. Grease and flour cake tin (26-28 cm in diameter). Chop chocolate and melt over a bain marie. Let cool slightly. Cream together butter, sugar, salt and vanilla sugar until pale and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, whisking thoroughly. Add cooled chocolate. Mix flour, baking powder and cocoa and add with red wine, not stirring too long. Pour dough in cake tin and bake in centre of hot oven for 50-60 minutes, cover the surface with some baking parchment for the last 10-15 minutes, so that it doesn't get too dark. Leave to cool on a wire rack, then turn out of the tin. Chop and melt chocolate and glaze the cake with it. Leave to dry and eat.
It's very nice when you substitute vanilla with cinnamon or a combination of Christmassy spices for the winter months