Today you will get a pink champagne raspberry cake, with no artificial food coloring, but a lot of alcohol. You may also use your favorite rose wine. I decided to use a traditional white cake as the base and put a lot of reduced champagne in it. These cake layers are then brushed in reduced champagne for extra flavor and also to keep the cake moist. The filling, on the other hand, is prepared with raspberries as I find their tart and acid flavor to combine nicely with the alcohol. Let’s celebrate with this pink champagne raspberry cake!
“White cake” is something very American to me. The fact that you only use egg whites for a light crumb is a genius idea. To me white cake is the American answer to sponge cake. Preparing sponge takes more time as you have to beat the eggs separately. In fact I even like the method best where you beat egg whites and egg yolks separately. However, white cake is perfect as you only need to stir in the unbeaten egg whites into the batter. I did reduce the amount of sugar though as American recipes tend to me way too sweet for my taste. If you ask me, too much sugar takes away from the other flavors. You want to taste all the other flavors, that’s why I usually reduce the sugar amount. So don’t expect this to be as sweet as white cake from a box!!!
I don’t have that many recipes with alcohol on my blog. If you are a chocolate lover, I can recommend this chocolate caramel cake with whisky. A very tropical cake is this piña colada cake with pineapple, coconut and rum. Let’s hope that 2022 is going to be better than 2020 and 2021!
This pink champagne cake contains reduced champagne in the batter, is also brushed with it and has a fruity raspberry filling. First you need to reduce the alcohol to 350 grams. Place on the stovetop and simmer on medium heat, do not boil. Pour into a bowl. I checked in between and simply poured it back if it was not done yet. Chill immediately. Line two 18cm/6inch cake forms with parchment paper and preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. For the cake layers beat the soft butter with the sugar until light and fluffy, a few minutes. Then add the sour cream and the egg whites (not, you do not need to beat them into stiff meringue) and vanilla extract. Once everything is combined, add the dry ingredients and mix again. The batter will be thick. Then measure 240 grams from the reduced alcohol and slowly beat only until combined. Evenly divide between the two cake forms and bake for about 35min. An inserted toothpick should come out clean. Meanwhile for the filling boil the raspberries with the sugar. Dissolve the cornstarch in a mug with some water. Then add to the mix and stir constantly. Keep on medium heat for about a minute while stirring and it becomes thicker. Let cool and beat in the cream cheese once it has cooled off. Cut each cake layer in half so that you have four cake layers. Brush all cake layers with the left over reduced alcohol. Spread 1/3 of the raspberry filling on the first layer, place the second on top, spread one third of the filling, repeat with the third and then place the fourth cake layer on the top. Chill. For the frosting beat the heavy cream with the sugar and vanilla extract until stiff. Add all remaining dairy products and briefly beat until combined. If you also want the frosting to be pink, put about one tablespoon of the raspberry filling through a sieve and mix with the remaining ingredients. Frost the outside of the cake. With the back of a tablespoon you can create the "waves" like I did. The cake will keep for a few days if chilled, the champagne flavor will intensify over time.Pink Champagne Cake
Ingredients
Instructions
3 Comments
Christine
Wednesday May 10th, 2023 at 12:03 AMHi Jenny! I just found your blog and plan to make this lovely raspberry champagne cake for Mother’s Day.
I have a question about the amount of champagne that the recipe uses. Five hundred grams of champagne are simmered until it measures 350 grams. However, I can only find 240 grams of reduced champagne used in the cake batter. Is the remaining 110 grams used somewhere else that I’m missing? Or is it left over?
Christine
Wednesday May 10th, 2023 at 12:21 AMOOPS! Never mind! The remaining 110 grams of champagne are brushed on the cakes!
My 2nd question is about the size of the pans you use. The amount of batter your recipes makes is 6 cups in American measurements (almost a liter; sorry, I haven’t made the batter yet so I haven’t weighed it. I’m using https://www.calculator.net/conversion-calculator.html to “translate” metric to US ounces, and https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/cake-pan-sizes/ for cake pan volumes).
I converted your metric measurements to ounces. The amounts of the ingredients (for example, 11 oz of flour, 6 oz of butter) is used for 8″ 2-layer cakes. Is this recipe for a 2-layer 20 cm cake?
Jenny
Wednesday May 10th, 2023 at 07:51 PMHi Christine,
I made it in a 18cm cake pan (see at the very top of the recipe and in the instructions). It would yield prett thick layers if done in a 20cm/8inch cake pan, but I know that in the US you like pretty thick layers. You can give that a try. Let me know how it goes.
Best,
Jenny