Here’s a delightful pairing of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo wine with bitter chocolate, in our Appetibilis friend Sara’s cupcakes interpretation.

I would like to pay homage to my Abruzzo region with this recipe: unsweetened cocoa cupcakes with Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, our intense ruby-red wine.

I gave the name “drunk cupcakes” as they hide a bit of wine in their dough, and they are glazed with wine and cocoa icing. In the oven they will give off a strong chocolate flavor combined with the typical red-berry scent of the Montepulciano wine.

The perfect pairing for Montepulciano is with red meat, but I chose to use it for this miniature cakes, topped with sour cherry in syrup, my “cherry on the cake!”

Recipe for Montepulciano Drunken Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 60 gr unsweetened cocoa powder
• 200 gr sugar
• 200 gr butter
• 100 ml Montepulciano d’Abruzzo wine
• 150 gr wheat flour
• 4 eggs
• 2 spoonfuls of Altino mild pepper powder (*)
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 pack baking powder (16 gr)
• Sour cherries in syrup to decorate (*) you can use some hot chili pepper powder, if you like.
• Special cookware: Muffin trays and paper cups

Directions

1. Use a food processor to mix sugar, unsweetened cocoa, butter and wine.
2. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and cook for a few minutes on low heat until boiling point.
3. Set aside about a glass of this glaze (about 170 grams).
4. Pour the remaining glaze into a blender bowl, add eggs, sift in wheat, pepper and baking powder, with a pinch of salt. Blend until it gets smooth.
5. Place the paper cups into the muffin trays and fill them 3/4 full max.
6. If a muffin tray is not available, pour the mixture into a 24 cm diameter cake pan or into a ring-shaped mold. Bake at 180 °C, 20-25 minutes.
7. Check with a toothpick if ready (toothpick should come out dry clean).

Presentation: Take the cupcakes out of the oven, remove them form the molds and with a spoon top each cake with Montepulciano glaze.

Serve it with some sour cherries in syrup whose sweet flavour will perfectly match the Montepulciano.

Pairing: A shot of Ratafià liqueur will be the perfect pairing for these pastry.

photo