Red-wine and chocolate cake

Very easy to prepare, with an intense flavor. A perfect little chocolate bite to end a Christmas meal.

1. Preheat oven at 170 ºC
2. In a bowl and using a hand mixer, add these one by one, mixing until smooth each time:
   85 g unsalted butter (better if it is already at room temperature)
   + 180 g brown sugar
   + 50 g white sugar
   + 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
   + 175 mL red wine
   + 5 mL vanilla extract
3. In a second bowl, mix together, using a sieve:
   135 g wheat flour
   + 40 g pure cacao powder
   + 1 sachet baking powder
   + 1/4 teaspoon salt
   + 1/4 ground cinnamon
4. Pour the dry ingredients over the wet batter and mix well together until homogeneous.
5. Transfer to a greased 20 cm baking tin.
6. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until fully cooked inside.
7. Let the cake cool down and sprinkle some caster sugar on the top.

I learnt this from Smitten Kitchen.

Sunday treat: Lemon Sponge Cake

It was one of those weekends when I fancied a breakfast treat but we hadn't made plans to go for brunch on Sunday - the perfect excuse to prepare a sponge cake! My man likes it simple (no frosting at all) so that he can dip it in his coffee, and as you might suspect by now, I love citrus, so this is a regular at home: lemon cake. Easy to make, tasty, and moist. Check by yourselves!

What you need:

• 4 eggs
• 10 full spoons of white sugar
• 10 full spoons of wheat flour
• 2 lemons
• 1 glass (250 cc) of sunflower oil
• 1 packet of baking powder

How to prepare a lemon sponge cake:

Pre-heat your oven to 180 ºC.

Blend the eggs and sugar together in a big bowl. Add the oil and keep mixing.

Zest the lemon skins (try to avoid the white part) and then squeeze the lemons. And the zest and juice to the bowl and blend everything very well until you obtain a somewhat foaming mixture.

While you keep mixing with your hand blender, slowly add the flour and baking powder. Make sure that you obtain a very homogeneous mixture.

Pour into a baking pan and bake for about 35 minutes. That's it! you will obtain something like this:

Have a nice breakfast!