This Champagne Cake is the perfect make ahead cake to ring in the New Year (and to impress your guests)! I had so, so much fun making this cake … www.bakingforfriends.com

I know, it seems a little early to be talking about the New Year when Christmas hasn’t even happened yet but it is right around the corner! And with all your holiday planning you might as well add this show-stopping party cake to the list! This Champagne Cake is the perfect make-ahead cake to ring in the New Year (and to impress your guests)!

I had so, so much fun making this cake and coming up with a little flavour twist for a fun party. Not to mention once I opened the bottle of champagne to make the cake, well, it had to be drunk or it would have gone flat, and we don’t want that!! So drinking bubbly, dancing around the kitchen and making the cake wasn’t a bad day spent, if you ask me!!

I had the pleasure of collaborating with the lovely Carrie from Straight Laser to create this custom cake and topper for the New Year. Isn’t this metallic pink cake topper the perfect addition to making this Champagne cake so special?! She has such a perfect eye for the little details while keeping things sweet and simple. I just love her shop, check her out guys you won’t regret it!! Not to mention she takes custom orders for any of your party needs!! I’ve got another beautiful cake topper that I can’t wait to share with all of you.

Back to the cake… oh the sparkling naked cake dusted in gold and layered with a champagne buttercream icing is almost too pretty to eat! Using a paintbrush I applied gold dust on the cake layers and then pressed gold coloured sprinkles (that I purchased from my local bulk store) into the buttercream icing leaving room to showcase the layers and the white contrast of icing. You should be able to easily find gold/silver coloured sugar and dust at your local bulk store or any specialty baking store in your area, especially around this time of year. A little goes a long way, plus you don’t want to overdo the ‘sparkle’. Once you apply it you won’t be able to take it away, so start small and add more as you go if you feel it needs more.

I can’t believe the year is coming to an end, how time flies!! I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year, be safe, and have lots of fun.

Happy Baking and Happy Happy New Year!

xoxo

Champagne Cake!

Print Recipe

This champagne cake is the perfect cake to ring in the New Year and to impress your guests! It’s super moist with a little pop of champagne flavour not to mention a show stopper of a dessert!

Author: Alie Romano
Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 40 mins
Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins
Yield: 1–8 inch cake 1x
Category: Dessert
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Units Scale

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups sugar, divided
3 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/3 cups buttermilk (or sour milk)
1/3 cup sparkling wine (Prosecco)

Instructions

Grease 3, 8-inch cake pans. Line the bottom with parchment paper, and grease the sides. Set aside
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter with 2 cups of sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into butter mixture alternating with buttermilk (making 3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of buttermilk). Note the mixture will seem a little thick at this point.
In another (clean) bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold one-quarter into batter; then fold in remaining egg whites, working gently not to deflate the egg whites. Scrape evenly into prepared pans.
Bake in the centre of 350°F oven for about 35-40 minutes or until cake is browning on the edges (or until a cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean). Let cool, turn out onto cooling racks; peel off paper.
Brush the tops of each cake with prosecco, set aside or freeze until you’re ready to decorate
Make your icing (see recipe below)
Layer cake and icing 3 times, ending with icing as your last layer and leaving the outside of the cake bare. Using gold dust and sprinkles decorate cake edges.

Notes

This cake freezes beautifully. You can either freeze it before you ice the cake or after (before is better so you have fresh icing and the sparkles stay sparkly!). Wrap in freezer bags or in a plastic container for up to 3 weeks.

This is a very dense cake and it can be a bit tricky to determine when it’s baked. In the past I have underbaked it a few times, it should be brown on the sides and browning on the top.