Today we are excited to share a uniquely light and flavorful recipe with you for Pink Champagne Cake.
This elegant dessert, with it’s moist champagne infused layers & delicious buttercream is perfect for weddings, engagement parties, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Eve, or any occasion that calls for something special.
Southern bakers have been flavoring their cakes with sweet beverages for decades (cocoa cola cake, 7 up cake, etc.)…but Pink Champagne cake takes that practice to a whole new level of delicious sophistication.
It is believed that Pink Champagne Cake first originated on the west coast in the ’50s and ’60s, and was a hugely popular to choice for bridal showers, weddings, and bachelorette parties.
There’s just something a bit glamorous about a dessert flavored with Pink Champagne, don’t you think? The Los Angeles Times printed a Pink Champagne Cake decades ago and to this day it remains one of it’s most requested.
If you like Pink Champagne, you are going to fall in love with this recipe. While the pink champagne isn’t overpowering, the flavor is unmistakable.
We love to fill it with our Pink Champagne Buttercream Frosting, but traditionally pink champagne cakes have often been paired with bavarian cream or coconut fillings.
We hope that you enjoy this fantastic recipe. Make sure to check out our Pink Champagne Buttercream link below, as well as a doctored cake mix option! Enjoy!
Pink Champagne Cake
Ingredients
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour 3 (8 inch) pans
- 3 cups (342 g) cake flour
- 1 Tablespoon (15 g) baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon (2g) salt
- 6 egg whites (194g)
- 1 cup (242g) pink champagne, I used Andre Blush Champagne
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) vanilla
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil (18 g)
- 2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) (226 g) unsalted butter
- Small amount of pink food color, I used AmeriColor Deep Pink but any pink would be fine. I added the color with a toothpick, just a small amount will give you blush pink
Directions
- In a medium size bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside
- In another bowl combine the egg whites, champagne, vanilla and vegetable oil. Whisk until blended and set aside.
- In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter and sugar 3 to 5 minutes. When it is light and fluffy add approximately 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix until blended. Then add 1/2 of the liquid ingredients mixing until blended. Continue alternating dry and wet ingredients. Begin and end with dry ingredients (3 additions of dry and 2 wet). Add the pink color at any time during the mixing of the dry and wet ingredients. *Makes 7 1/2 cups of batter.
- Pour into prepared pans and bake 25 to 30 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted the center comes out clean. Cool in baking pans 10 min. then turn out.
Every Pink Champagne Cake needs a delicious Pink Champagne Buttercream Frosting to go with it! We have just the one: Pink Champagne Buttercream Recipe
Also, If you are looking for an easy doctored cake mix version of Pink Champagne Cake, we love this recipe!: Pink Champagne Cake (doctored cake mix) Recipe.
Hi. Thanks for recepi. Made this gor first time, but it’s came not as expected. It’s too moist and heavy. What can be a reason? I did use cream cheese on heavy cream.
Hi Irina, Your cake is perfectly beautiful!! I am sorry there was a problem. In the picture I see dark red above the bottom layer and a thinner red streaks above that. Is that a raspberry filling? If it is I think that the filling or the cream cheese frosting, if it was very wet must have seeped into the cake layer making it too moist and heavy. That is what I think happened because if the layers came out of the oven and were nice and light something that came into contact with them must have caused the change. Let me know what you think.
Thank you for the answer. Yes, the red layer is raspberry jelly. I think the reason was cream and jelly. Butter cream is better for this sort of cake,but we don’t really like buttercream,that’s why decided to change it on other one. Next time will do with buttercream. Anyway, it was delicious…
Hi Irina, I think possibly the raspberry puree was not thick enough and seeped into the layer. Bakers use raspberry filling often without a problem so if you cook it a bit longer to reduce the liquid and thicken it, the problem could be solved. I’m sure next time will be better. I’m happy you liked the flavor.
Success with this lovely recipe everyone loved it❤
Also made cupcakes delish but I only wish they had more crown, otherwise perfection.
Hi Rachel, Thank you for the pictures, your cake and cupcakes look fantastic!! I find that often cupcakes baked from a scratch recipe are more level or have only a slight dome. To get more of a dome on your cupcakes, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. As soon as you put the cupcakes into the oven, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees.
I made a 6″ double layer cake using half a recipe to test this after a couple failed recipes for strawberries and champagne cake. This recipe was great! Just sweet enough to pair well with the cream cheese buttercream strawberry champagne frosting i made. I was originally looking for a strawberry champagne cake. Is there a way to incorporate some strawberry puree into this recipe? Either way, thank you for this lovely cake recipe. I will definitely be making this one again! Please ignore the decorating skills or lack there of. I’m still figuring that part out! My warm hands keep melting the frosting through the piping bag :(
Cheers!
I used your recipe to make cupcakes last night. Such a light and fluffy cake! Mine were not at all dry and I baked them for almost 20 minutes at 325 in the convection oven. I did substitute raspberry flavored sparkling ICE water. This added plenty of coloring so I didn’t add any more. I do think i would cut the sugar back as I believe the flavored water added too much sweetness. My cakes didn’t dome, which doesn’t bother me, but I did find that the batter rose nicely and I nearly overfilled a few cups! This was my test run for a bridal shower and I will be making this batter again! Thanks so much!
Hi Kelly, Thank you for posting your thoughts on the recipe. One solution to “hot hands” when piping is to prepare two piping bags and when one bag becomes too warm, place it in the refrigerator for a few minutes and piped with the second bag. You can keep alternating bags this way until the piping is complete…..so happy you like the recipe.
Hi Jen, Thank you for trying the recipe and posting your thoughts. It is good to know about substitutions that can be used. I am trilled that you will be using the recipe for the bridal shower!!.
If I multiplied the recipe by 1.5 would it be enough for a 3 layer 9-inch cake, and the layers not be thin? Or would I need to double it?
Thanks, JoAnna
Hi JoAnna, This recipe makes 7 1/2 cups batter, multiplying it by half will give you 11 cups batter. This is a link to the Wilton chart, link to wilton.com. For a 9 inch pan Wilton uses 5 cups cake batter. I don’t usually use quite that much. Going by the Wilton chart you will need to double the recipe and you will have some leftover. How many cups of batter do you usually put in your 9″ pans. That will help you make your decision.
Hi. This looks lovely and I’m looking forward to baking it tomorrow! Just wondering what your thoughts are on using whole eggs instead of egg whites. I prefer the yolk in cakes and cookies for the richness in flavor and binding the moisture in. Can you let me know how this would alter the consistency of the cake if I were to use the whole egg? Thank you!
Hi Susan, Using egg whites in this recipe give it a light and fluffy consistency and this fits with the idea of a champagne cake. It would be a bit more dense using whole eggs. I hope you like the recipe.
Hi!
I’d like to incorporate some fresh strawberries or a strawberry puree into this cake. I have looked and looked and cannot find a recipe! Someone else asked earlier.
Hello I am making this cake for an engagement party! I need to make it a little bigger to accommodate the crowd! I am planning on using three 10 inch pans. I baked a single from scratch recipe for the cake this evening to try it out using 9 inch pans and they came out a bit thinner and a crispier edge than I was expecting. Do you think doubling the recipe is enough or should I triple it to make the cakes thicker and accommodate for the bigger pans?
hi! I am
Going to make this for a child’s cake. Could I substitute champagne for pink soda? Thanks Sandra
Hi Sandra, I am not sure if the pink soda would add too much sugar. Some have used a sparkling white grape juice instead of champagne for a non-alcoholic version. The taste would not be quite the same but it would work. A small amount to pink coloring will give you the look you want.
ik bak deze taart eerste keer. Ik was heel geinteresserd door dit recept. ik kan niet zeggen dat het me lukt op 100%. da taar was stevig niet zo zacht als ik op de foto kan zien.
maar heel erg lekker
Hey! I made this cake and found it was really dense. I followed the recipe, do you think maybe I folded the egg whites in wrong?
Also this may be a silly question but does the champagne need to be sparkling or will that effect the cake as well?
I have just made this but am not sure I have done it right. Do the eggs whites need to be whisked to stiff peaks before combining with champagne or do you whisk altogether.
You don’t mention folding in at all. Should flour and wet ingredients be folded?
Hi Sarah, I an glad you posted. When I answered the question above I must have been thinking about another cake with folded in egg whites. I hope you followed the recipe as written in the instructions. Egg whites are not whisked to stiff peaks and folded in. They are whisked with the champagne as written. I’m sorry for the confusion. I will be deleting the other post.
Do I need to use clear vanilla to get a true pink colour in the sponge ?
Hi Lee, Yes, if you have clear vanilla on hand that is a good idea.
I think this is beautiful! I’d like to make it as a wedding cake. I’m just wondering how long it will stay fresh? Does it need to be eaten the same day or can it be frosted and decorated beforehand?
I made this cake following the directly exactly, and it failed…twice. It didn’t rise, didn’t seem to be enough batter for three layers, and isn’t light and fluffy but kind of dense and chewy. Are there any tips or techniques left out of the directions? I’ve made some complicated cake recipes and never had a cake not turn out. I was really disappointed.
Hi Jennifer, I am sorry you had a problem. I am not sure why you would not have enough batter. I think this is the first comment about not enough batter so I am a bit stumped. Did you weigh the ingredients? If so, did you zero out the weight of the bowl before weighing? Were you using 8 x 2 inch cake pans? When a cake doesn’t rise I always suggest checking to see if the baking powder of out of date. Look forward to hearing from you.