This Pink Champagne Cake is the perfect way to celebrate New Years Eve. Layers of Champagne infused cake, filled with a Champagne infused Buttercream and frosted with a light and fluffy vanilla buttercream — there's no better way to start the new year!
Can you believe there's only about a week until 2017 is over? This year has had its ups and downs (mostly downs), but my biggest accomplishment has been doing what I'd been dreaming of doing for over 2 years — starting my own food blog!
Ever since I was a child (about 8-9 years ago....I'm only 20), and my obsession for baking began, I always relied on these amazing food bloggers to provide me with the best recipes and teach me how to bake. Now, years later, I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to do the same! This blog has only been up for 6 months now, but in that time I've been working my ass off to share all of my amazing food creations with the world and teach all of my fellow amateur bakers the skills I've learned along the way.
As tiring and expensive as these past few months have been, I only plan to work 10x harder in the years to come. I can only hope that all my hard work pays off one day and I'm able to achieve all of my goals.
Anyways, enough of that. Let's talk about this cake!
Pink Champagne Cake
I usually don't celebrate New Years, and everyone in my family is traveling to one place or another, so Lord knows what I'm gonna do with this cake. Even though I have no one to share this cake with, I just had to make it! I've always wanted to make a champagne cake, and since I can legally purchase alcohol now I thought it would be the best time.
Also there was no way in hell I wasn't gonna share a New Years Eve recipe on here. Although I am pretty late, but that's because I spent the entire time popping out Christmas recipe after Christmas recipe.
Pink Champagne or Sparkling Wine
I have a confession.......no Pink Champagne was used in the making of this cake. In fact, no Champagne was used in the making of this cake. Champagne is pretty damn expensive, so I had to settle for Sparkling White Wine. But hey, Sparkling Wine and Champagne taste similar, and the cake is pink, so this is still a Pink Champagne Cake in my eyes.
Pink Champagne Cake Layers
The pink cake layers are light, fluffy and taste just like champagne (or sparkling wine)! If you can drink a bottle of bubbly in one sitting, like me, then this cake is definitely for you.
I used cake flour for this recipe because it gives the cake a soft and tender texture. You can, of course, substitute the cake flour for 3 cups of all purpose flour. I'm sure the results will be just as delicious!
Champagne Buttercream Filling
In between the cake layers is a champagne infused buttercream! This champagne buttercream is so silky and creamy and might make you dizzy after a few spoonfuls. Just me? I figured.
The champagne buttercream is adapted from my Dreamy Vanilla Buttercream recipe. I simply replaced the heavy cream with champagne, and removed the vanilla and almond extract. The champagne flavour can shine all by itself.
Pink Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
I didn't use my champagne buttercream to frost the outside of the cake, because I didn't want the champagne to be too overwhelming in this cake. Instead, I made a recipe of my tried and true Dreamy Vanilla Buttercream and tinted it light pink.
To decorate the cake, I piped an e-motion border around the top, twice for a tall and beautiful border. If you don't know what an e-motion border is, I recommend checking out my most popular post — How to Pipe Cake Borders! There's plenty of different border ideas that you can try on this cake!
To finish the cake off, I sprinkled some white nonpareils over the top. I tried pressing some up the sides, but I suck at it. My hands kept messing up the frosting and none of the sprinkles were sticking, so I just gave up.
Either way, I love the way the white nonpareils contrast with the pale pink buttercream. And since this is a champagne cake, I like to think of the nonpareils as mini bubbles!
I hope you all have a Happy New Year! Make this Pink Champagne Cake for your celebrations — it's the sweetest way to get a little New Years Eve buzz.
>>PIN ME FOR LATER<<
FOLLOW QUEENSLEE APPÉTIT
Like what you see? Make sure you‘re following Queenslee Appétit for more tasty recipes!
Pinterest | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter |
Have any questions about the recipe? Contact me here, and I’ll be happy to help!
Let’s get baking!
Yield: One 3-layer, 7-inch cake
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Inactive Time: 1 hour 39 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours 9 minutes
This Pink Champagne Cake is the perfect way to celebrate New Years Eve. Layers of Champagne infused cake, filled with a Champagne infused Buttercream and frosted with a light and fluffy vanilla buttercream — there's no better way to start the new year!
Ingredients
Pink Champagne Cake Layers:
- 3 and ¼ cups cake flour
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 and ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 6 large egg whites, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 and ¼ cups Pink Champagne or sparkling wine, room temperature
- Few drops of pink gel food colouring
Champagne Buttercream Filling:
- ½ cup Unsalted Butter, slightly softened
- ½ cup Hi-ratio Shortening
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar, sifted
- ½ cup Pink Champagne (or sparkling wine)
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter, slightly softened
- 1 cup Hi-ratio Shortening
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 8 cups Powdered Sugar, sifted
- ½ cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla Bean Paste or Pure Vanilla Extract
- ½ teaspoon Pure Almond Extract
- Few drops of soft pink gel food colouring
- 1 jar white nonpareils, for decoration
Instructions
For the Pink Champagne Cake Layers:
- Preheat oven to 350° F (177°C). Prepare three 7-inch round cake pans with parchment rounds, and grease the sides. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift cake flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine, set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, 4-6 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Add egg whites one at a time, mixing after each addition until just combined. Add vanilla and mix until combined.
- Alternately add dry ingredients in thirds and pink champagne in 2 additions to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beating each addition just until combined. Tint batter with a few drops of pink gel food colouring, if desired.
- Divide batter equally between the three cake pans, about 2 cups per pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and cake springs back when lightly touched.
- Remove cakes from oven and allow to cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then turn onto cooling racks to cool completely before frosting.
For the Champagne Buttercream Filling:
- In a large bowl with a hand-held mixer, beat the butter, shortening and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 5-6 minutes).
- Turn the mixer to low, and gradually add half of the sugar one cup at a time. Once incorporated, add champagne or sparkling wine and beat until combined. Mixture will look curdled. That's normal.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar one cup at a time and mix on low until combined.
- Once the sugar is combined, increase mixer speed to high and whip until light and fluffy, about 5-7 minutes.
For the Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, shortening and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 5-6 minutes).
- Turn the mixer to low, and gradually add half of the sugar one cup at a time. Once incorporated, add heavy cream, vanilla and almond extract and beat until combined.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar one cup at a time and mix on low until combined.
- Once the sugar is combined, increase mixer speed to medium-high and whip until light and fluffy, about 5-7 minutes. Tint with pink gel food colouring. Set aside.
Assembly of Pink Champagne Cake:
- Once cakes are completely cooled, place one layer on a turntable. Using an offset spatula, spread about 1 cup of the champagne buttercream on top of the first layer. Repeat with all layers, placing the final layer upside down.
- Frost the entire cake with a thin layer of champagne buttercream. Chill the cake for 30 minutes.
- Remove cake from refrigerator and frost the entire cake with a thick layer of the pink vanilla buttercream.
- Transfer remaining frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip (I used Wilton 1M) and pipe an e-motion border around the top of the cake (check out my awesome cake border piping tutorial). Pipe a second e-motion border on top of the first one.
- Press non pareils up the bottom of the cake and sprinkle some more on top. Slice and serve!
Notes
- Cake layers can be made up to 3 days ahead of time. Wrap layers tightly in plastic wrap and keep in the refrigerator or the freezer.
- Cake flour can be substituted for 3 cups of all purpose flour.
- Instead of Pink Champagne, you can use regular champagne, pink sparkling wine or white sparkling wine.
- You can use 8-inch cake pans if you like, but the layers may be thinner.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
©QUEENSLEE APPÉTIT. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.
Bon Appétit!
Love, Dedra ❤️
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure policy for details.
