I watched about ten minutes of the second presidential debate last night before I had to get up and pour myself a glass of wine. Between Trump's "locker room talk" excuses and the hissy fits he threw for being "interrupted" even though both candidates received an equal amount of time to talk, I don't know how anybody could just watch that whole mess sober. I couldn't even stomach watching the rest of it live - I had to read the NPR's Cliffsnotes version afterward. 

I personally want to have faith in the American populace to make the right decision on election day, but, regardless, we have to ask ourselves: How did Trump's pussy-grabbing ass even get this far in the race? He's potentially only a month away from actually controlling federal legislature that would ruin any semblance of progress this country has made in the last eight years. The fact that living, breathing, voting people have supported this lecherous byproduct of capitalism this far into the year 2016 in and of itself is frightening to me. 

It's like I've had multiple visits to the hospital and have complained about a headache and the latest doctor's solution was a lobotomy. 

No, thanks. I'll stick to the wine. It won't fix everything, but at least it'll make me feel better.

Ingredients

Chocolate Merlot Cake:

• 12 tbsp  (1 1/2 stick) butter, room temp
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temp
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting the bundt pan
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
•  3/4 cup merlot or cabernet wine

Pomegranate Merlot Glaze:

• the seeds of 1 whole pomegranate, plus more for garnish
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 4 cup powdered sugar

Method

Chocolate Merlot Cake: 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a large bundt pan using the paper liners for the 12 tablespoons of butter, dust generously with flour, then tap excess out.
• In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and both sugars on medium high until light and fluffy. Lower mixing speed to medium, and beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between each egg. Mix in the vanilla.
• Remove the bowl from the mixer. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing by hand. Pour in the red wine and the  sour cream, mix well, then add the remaining half of the flour mixture. Mix by hand, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl, until no streaks of flour remain.
• Pour batter into the prepared bundt pan. Use a spatula to even out the batter. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a chopstick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven, place on a wire cooling rack, and allow the cake to cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes. Invert the cake and leave on the rack to cool completely.

Pomegranate Merlot Glaze:

• Remove all the seeds from the pomegranate and place in a blender, along with the wine. Blend on high until mostly smooth, then strain juice into a medium bowl. Discard the pomegranate pulp.
• Add powdered sugar to the wine mixture and whisk together until thick. The mixture should drip in a ribbon when the whisk is lifted. If the mixture is too runny, continue to add more powdered sugar until the desired consistency is reached.

Assembly

• Position the cooling rack over a baking sheet lined with parchment. Place the completely cooled cake on the rack, then pour the glaze all over the top of the cake. Garnish with fresh pomegranate seeds.