Port Wine in Baking: Syrup Soaking and Reduction. Port is a fortified wine — sweeter and more concentrated than table wine — which makes it uniquely suited to baking because it reduces beautifully into a syrup without becoming harsh. The most common problem with port in baking is that heat and sugar mute its flavour, leaving only a vague fruitiness. The solution is to use it in two different ways within the same recipe: an unreduced port wine syrup that soaks into warm cake, preserving the wine's bright fruitiness through direct absorption, and a separately reduced port concentrate (half a cup down to three tablespoons) that delivers deep, intense flavour in a buttercream or filling. When making the soaking syrup, warm spices like cinnamon and cloves reference the traditional mulled port served on cool evenings along Porto's Douro River. The crucial technique is to soak the cake while still warm from the oven — poke holes aggressively with a skewer every inch across the surface, then brush the syrup on in stages, allowing each application to absorb before adding more. A warm sponge absorbs far more syrup than a cool one, and the result is a cake that is moist throughout rather than soggy on top and dry beneath.