Red Wine Chocolate Cake

Ingredients for Red Wine Chocolate Cake

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing pan
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs, separated
5 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate (82%), very finely chopped (*note- I used Ghirardelli chocolate; 3 oz of 60% bittersweet chocolate chips, and 2 oz 100% unsweetened chocolate bar)
1 cup dry red wine

For Cake: Heat oven to 350º. Grease springform pan (9 inch round x 3 inch deep) and line bottom with parchment paper. (**note- I would recommend lining the sides as well with parchment paper). Butter the parchment.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and ½ cup sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in egg yolks 1 at a time, scraping bowl as necessary. Add chocolate; beat just to combine. In 3 additions, add wine to butter mixture, alternating with flour mixture.
In a large bowl, using clean beaters, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 3/4 cup sugar and beat until the whites are firm and glossy.
Using a spatula, gently fold whites into batter just until no white streaks remain. Pour batter into prepared pan; smooth top with spatula. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 40-45 minutes.
Transfer cake to wire rack; let cool in pan 10 minutes. Run a knife around pan to loosen cake; release from pan. Let cool completely on wire rack.
To serve, cut with a serrated knife. Serve at room temperature with whipped cream and cherries in it's sauce.

In a small heavy-bottom saucepan, bring wine and sugar to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves.
Add cherries to the saucepan, heat over medium heat until liquid reduces by half (about 15 minutes).
Allow to come to room temperature, then place in glass storage container.