14 May 2012

Rock with my posse.

A few months ago I pinned this pink champagne cake. Champagne? Pink? What's not to love? I decided it would be the perfect Mother's Day cake and got baking last Friday afternoon.


The recipe called for a box cake (I know, I know... But a) it was in the recipe!, and b) I have had mixed luck with from-scratch cakes). A white box cake, with NO pudding. I've never made a white cake so I have no idea why they all do seem to include pudding, but it was tricky finding one that didn't. The only one was this Duncan Hines mix. As per usual, I swapped out the oil with applesauce, and, per the recipe, I swapped out the water with champagne. For this, I picked up a bottle of the classic Asti Spumante. Then, in with the red food coloring.


The recipe says that you should only need 3 drops of red, so I was hesitant to add to much, but even the 5 or 6 drops didn't do much more than add a pink tint.


Before. After.

The frosting I did make from scratch, happily softening my sticks of butter in the warm sun on my kitchen windowsills. My two whole sticks of butter. More champagne in the mix, and again, definitely could have been more aggressive with the food coloring but I didn't want to end up with blood red frosting. I still can't quite believe how much butter or powdered sugar is in frosting, but it DID make enough frosting for three cakes, so I guess the breakdown isn't too scary (I froze a bunch - per Google, this is ok. We shall see!). When it came time to frost, I am happy to report things went pretty smoothly - I also have had mixed results with frosting cakes and cupcakes. First things first, though - the taste test!


Two tails up!


 Layer one. Layer two.


...of course, happy to highlight my vintage cake carrier, too.


This fridge is ready for a par-tay!

So a night in the fridge to soak up the champagne-y flavors. A bbq of wieners and asparagus. Some homemade macaroni salad. And finally, time for cake.


Now, this was definitely no Hillary coconut cake (seriously, I may forever compare cake to THE coconut cake), but, despite not being super pink, it was really tasty. You don't taste the champagne really, but you definitely taste its effects. The cake was light and fluffy and while texturally it seemed like regular cake, it tasted almost angel cakey. Obviously, more frosting can always be used, but I went a little light because it is super rich. I would definitely make this again. I suggest you do the same.

Cheers, champagne cake! < clink >

1 comment:

troyandhill said...

We very much enjoyed our cake this evening. And I am taking your hints...coconut cake soon.