As you might know, I live in Northern California so we have many wineries around us (plus Napa Valley is very close to where I live). I really never like wine when I lived in Peru, if I had a drink was mostly a cocktail or something made with pisco which is a grape based drink that you can mix with sodas or juice. Anyway, after I moved to California, my husband and I began exploring some wineries in the area and I started enjoying wine tastings and visiting wineries.

Last week I went to Trader Joe’s and I got a couple of inexpensive wines, we opened one for my husband’s birthday but we did not finished it so I decided to add it to this bake. I wanted something easy to make with not so many leftovers (I still have some of my husband’s birthday cake).

These chocolate lava cakes have wine, a touch of cinnamon and the perfect amount of dry ingredients to make sure you achieve the gooey center that we all look when eating lava cakes. Perfect treat for date night or just to indulge yourself.

Let’s start with the recipe and if you want to watch how I made this recipe, don’t forget to visit me on Instagram @pastry_tales

Yield: 3 good size ramekins. Mine are 4 inches wide by 2 inches tall.

Ingredients

3 ounces good quality chocolate or chocolate chips

4 tablespoons unsalted butter chopped in small pieces

2 tablespoons red wine

2 large eggs at room temperature

1 large egg yolk at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon dark cocoa powder

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

6 tablespoons powdered sugar

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1.- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease your ramekins with cooking spray or softened butter. I used cooking spray.

2.- Add the chocolate and butter to a heat-proof bowl and place it in the microwave. Heat in high for about 60 seconds. Stir. Then keep heating up the bowl in the microwave but check every 30 seconds and stir. Be careful with this mixture because it can burnt super quick. When everything is melted, mix whisk well until smooth and let it cool for 5 minutes.

3.- After 5 minutes, add wine and whisk. Add eggs, yolk and keep mixing. Add vanilla, salt and mix.

4.- Now, sift your dry ingredients: cocoa powder, flour and powdered sugar, cinnamon and incorporate them into your chocolate mixture. Mix well until smooth and shiny.

5.- Divide the batter between your prepared ramekins. Place them on top of a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. The centers will still look soft and gooey. Do not overbake.

6.- Take them out from the oven and run knife around the borders and invert the cakes on serving plates.

7.- Sprinkle some powdered sugar on top or serve with ice cream or cream.

Enjoy!