Champagne and Strawberries Cake Recipe
This sophisticated Champagne and Strawberries Cake is amazingly moist and flavorful!
Servings: 15 servings
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 3 cups cake flour (342g)
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder (15g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (2g)
- 6 egg whites (194g)
- 1 cup champagne (242g)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8g)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (18g) we use canola oil
- 1 teaspoon strawberry extract (4g)
- 2 cups sugar (400g)
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (226g)
- ¾ cup of finely chopped strawberries
Champagne Simple Syrup
- ½ cup 100g sugar
- ½ cup 116g champagne
For the strawberry Whipped Cream Filling
- 8 oz Full Fat Cream Cheese, softened (226g)
- 2 cups powdered sugar (measure or weigh, then sift.) (230g)
- 3 Tablespoons Strawberry Puree 4-5 strawberries (34g)
- 1 teaspoon Strawberry Extract (optional) (4g)
- 1 cup Heavy Cream (232g)
For the Strawberries and Champagne Buttercream
- 3 sticks unsalted butter, softened (339g)
- ¼ Cup Pureed Strawberries (approximately 5-6 medium strawberries)
- ¼ Cup Champagne
- ½ teaspoon Salt (optional) this will cut the sweetness (popcorn salt will dissolve more quickly) (3g)
- 7 ½ -8 cups Powdered Sugar (863g) (You can adjust amount slightly up or down to your liking.)
- 1 teaspoon strawberry extract (4g)
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat Oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour three (8 inch) pans
- In a medium size bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside
- In another bowl combine the egg whites, champagne, vanilla, strawberry extract, 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 ⅓ of the dry ingredients and mix until blended. Then add ½ 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). *Makes 7 ½ cups of batter.
- Pour into prepared pans and sprinkle finely chopped strawberries over the batter, trying to avoid clumping the strawberries together. 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.
- For the Champagne Simple Syrup
- In a small saucepan add the sugar and champagne. Over medium heat, cook until the sugar dissolves, stirring constantly until the mixture is clear.
- Remove from the heat and cool completely before using. It can be stored in the refrigerator approximately 2 weeks.
- Use sparingly on your cake layers. Using a toothpick or skewer, make a few holes on the top of each cake layer. Remember that using too much syrup can cause the cake to become soggy. Using a pastry brush, brush the simple syrup on top of each cake layer. Now you are ready to fill and frost your cake.
For the Whipped Strawberry Cream Cheese Filling:
- Freeze your mixing bowl and beaters 10-15 minutes before whipping the cream).
- Use the whisk attachment for a stand mixer, or beaters if using a hand mixer. Starting on medium speed and increasing to high, mix the cream until stiff peaks form. This can happen very quickly so don't walk away from the mixer. You are at the stiff peak stage when you can lift the beater and the cream stands straight up forming a peak.
- In another bowl, add the cream cheese, powdered sugar, strawberry puree and strawberry extract. Mix until blended and smooth.
- Gently fold in the whipped heavy cream until well combined.
- This is a soft filling which requires refrigeration.
- For the Champagne and Strawberries Buttercream Frosting
- In the bowl of your mixer, cream the softened butter until smooth. Blend in strawberry extract.
- Gradually add the powdered sugar along with the champagne and strawberries until the powdered sugar is incorporated. Beat at medium speed 3 to 4 minutes. The texture will become very smooth. If you are tinting the entire batch of buttercream light pink, you can add a very small amount of coloring gel while it is mixing.
- If the buttercream is too thin add more powdered sugar.
Putting it all Together
- After baking the cake layers, I poked the top of the cake layers with a thin stir straw. This will help our champagne syrup soak into the cake.
- Next, I brushed my cake layers with a simple champagne syrup.
- Pipe a dam of buttercream about ¼ to ½ inch within the edges of the cake layers and then fill with the strawberry cream filling. (The dam helps to keep the filling from escaping).
- Once the layers are stacked, fill in any remaining gaps between layers with buttercream. Then frost the cake. We like to frost a thin "crumb coat" layer of frosting first and then chill in the freezer for 10 minutes (or longer in the refrigerator) to firm things up before following with the final layer of frosting. We added a bit of texture using a small offset spatula.
- This cake should be chilled in the refrigerator under a cake dome or airtight container. However, for the very best flavor and texture, remove from the refrigerator 2-3 hours before serving so that the cake can warm and soften.