Cooking with Wine

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease your bundtlette pan and set aside. We highly recommend Baker's Joy, but you can also use butter.

Combine finely chopped chocolate, cocoa powder and espresso powder in a large bowl. Heat milk in a saucepan over medium low until just warm (alternatively, you can microwave the milk at 1/2 power in 30 second intervals until warm), then pour warm milk over the top of the chocolate mixture and let it sit for 1 minute. Then, whisk until smooth and place the bowl in the fridge to cool for about 5 minutes while you prepare your remaining ingredients.

In another bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

Remove chocolate espresso mixture from the fridge and add the oil, vinegar, eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla. Whisk to fully combine. Add the flour mixture a little bit at a time, and whisk to incorporate completely.

Add your roughly chopped peppermint bark into the mixture and stir to combine, then immediately pour your batter into your bundtlette pan and distribute evenly. Your batter should fill the molds about 80-90%.

Bake for 20 minutes on the center rack. You want to bake these until just firm and a toothpick comes out clean. Once done, remove the bundtlettes from the oven and allow them to cool for about 10-15 minutes in the tray while you prepare the sauce.

To make the sauce, combine the butter, bourbon, water, sugar and peppermint extract in a sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and maintain at a boil for 1 minute, then reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce has thickened slightly.

Using a wooden skewer or toothpick, poke many holes in the bundtlettes that are still in the pan. Next, pour the sauce evenly over each bundtlette. Let soak for 5 minutes or until most of the liquid has absorbed and the cakes have cooled slightly.

To turn the cakes out, place a wire cooling rack over the pan, then flip it over. There may be some residual liquid, so we like to flip the cakes onto a sheet pan to avoid any mess. Lift the bundtlette pan off the cakes gently and sprinkle to additional chopped peppermint bark on top. Enjoy!