Red wine cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and red wine syrup

Sometimes we start off not being very good at something. We keep trying, practicing, learning from others and before we know it, we are on the path towards excellence. At other times, we stay stuck at the level of "sorry, you suck" no matter how hard we try.

For some people, it might be sports. For others, it could be understanding metaphysics. For me, it is co-

Wait, did I hear you say 'cooking'?

I was actually going to say 'consuming wine'.

For the first three decades of my life, I didn't drink. Something about drinking being vaguely linked to lack of morals, like most forms of brainwashing.

I really, really tried to appreciate wine. However, I just don't get it. It looks very likely that I am going to remain a plain-water-or-juice kinda gal.

In spite of that, my heart still bleeds when I see B, who is very particular about his wines, pour the contents of bottles after bottles of wine down the sink when he proclaims them 'dead'.

But everyone, and everything, deserves a second chance. Including wine that I don't drink.

How convenient that Sues posted a recipe on red wine cupcakes!

Leading leftovers: Red wine

Red wine cupcakes (makes 24)

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
5 oz. chocolate chips
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cup self-rising flour
3/4 cup red wine (Sues recommends Shiraz)

1. Pre-heat oven to 175 degrees celsius.
2. In a heatproof bowl combine cocoa powder and chocolate chips and pour in the boiling water.
3. Stir the chocolate until it’s all melted using a whisk.
4. In a larger bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
5. Add in each egg, one at a time, mixing well.
6. Sift flour gradually into the mixture and ensure it is mixed well.
7. Add the chocolate alternatively with the wine to the mixture, until everything is blended.
8. Pour batter into muffin cases, almost all the way to the top.
9. Bake in the pre-heated oven at 175 degrees celsius for about 20 minutes and let cool.

As you know, I already have the failed cream cheese frosting and I added more cream cheese to the runny frosting until I got to the consistency I want and piped (or rather snipped-end-of-Ziploc-ed) it on to the cup cakes. Since the flavour of the red wine in the cupcakes wasn't that strong (this could well be because B was right and the wine was 'dead'), I decided to put this red wine syrup by Martina and swirl it on top of the cream cheese frosting.

Red wine syrup

1 1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup brown sugar

1. Combine ingredients in a saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Let this simmer at a low temperature, stirring occasionally until it has reduced to a thick and dark red syrup for about 20 minutes.

The combo of a dark red cupcake, the yellowish frosting and dark red syrup is a beauty and I wish I had taken a picture of it so I could remember what it looked like. But that's okay, what matters is what it tastes like.

Overall, I tasted more chocolate than wine in the cupcake, and I have no complaints about that because my objective for not pouring wine down the drain is met. If the person you are serving happens to love wine, just put more of the red wine glaze or syrup on the frosting or pour it directly on the cup cake and let the cupcake soak it in.

What would The Failed Chef do next time?

• Serve it very soon after baking. Because while I have heard the term 'dead man walking', I have never heard the term 'dead wine shrinking' (remember, you heard it here first!). For some reason, the cupcakes do shrink with time and I need to take them out of the muffin cases before serving them because they look very sad shrunken in their muffin cases.

A similar recipe I might try (because I anticipate more red wine to be rescued from the sink) is Smitten Kitchen's red wine chocolate cake.

Here's a question. I've read that chefs freeze wine to be used in sauces in future. Does anyone know if frozen wine is also good for baking?