Red Wine Chocolate Cake

I have SUCH an amazing post for you guys today.

It starts with this amazing book, Simply Beautiful Homemade Cakes, by my friend, Lindsay.

She is the amazingly talented blogger behind Life, Love, and Sugar. And before I tell you about her book and about her blog, can I tell you about her?

Ingredients

For Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup dark cocoa powder

1 tbsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup sweet red wine

3/4 cup milk room temperature

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 large eggs room temperature

For Frosting

2 cups fresh raspberries

1 1/2 cups salted butter room temperature

1 cup 2 TBSPs vegetable shortening

9 cups powdered sugar

sprinkles

chocolate for shaving

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three 9 inch cake pans by place parchment paper in the bottom and spraying the sides with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the salt, red wine, milk, vegetable oil, vanilla, and eggs. Pour the wine mixture into the flour mixture and stir until smooth. The batter will be thin.

Distribute the batter evenly between the three pans and bake until a tooth pick comes out with just a few crumbs, 22 to 25 minutes. Remove from the cake pan a few minutes after baking, remove parchment paper, and let it cool completely.

To make the frosting, puree the raspberries until smooth. Strain to remove the seeds. You should have approximately 1/2 a cup of raspberry puree. Beat the butter and vegetable shortening until smooth. Add the raspberry puree. Slowly add the powdered sugar one cup at a time until it is all added and the frosting is smooth.

After the cakes have cooled, level the tops of the cakes using a serrated knife. Place the first of those two on the cake stand. Add one cup of the frosting. Add the second cake, with the removed dome top. Add another cup of frosting. Finally, add the third layer. Pipe on dollops of frosting using an 808 icing tip. Hold the tip approximately 1/2 an inch over the top of the cake and put pressure on the frosting bag, piping a dollop of frosting onto the edge of the cake, releasing once it has spread outwards, touching the dollop next to it. (It's helpful to practice on a plate first.) Make a ring of dollops around the outside of the cake, and then repeat, working your way inward.

Add sprinkles, and chocolate shavings to the top of the cake. A vegetable peeler works well to create chocolate shavings.