Oh, she’s gone and done it. She being me of course. I just had to play around in the kitchen again and I had lots of grand ideas, but through my survey of my newsletter subscribers I learned that you wanted two flavor profiles that I haven’t yet given you: lavender and champagne! Not together. Ew.
But that was kinda news to me. You also asked for cookies. Over and over again I saw cookies, so you’ll be getting bunches of those coming up 🙂 Ask and you shall receive!
Ideas abound with champagne cake and I had never made one before so I figured I’d grab one of my favorite flavor lines to help me out, Amoretti. I LOVES all of their natural, compound, and Artisan flavors so I knew I’d knock the cake part out of the park with their help.
The buttercream, though. It had to highlight the cake and not take away from it. Champagne is too classic to mess with and what’s more romantic and timeless than pairing strawberries with it?
Nothing. There’s nothing. Other than sparkly baubles and I couldn’t very well put diamonds INTO my recipe.
You can’t add diamonds to cake, Kara. You cant do that… (I’m not totally convinced.)
Anywhoooo. It became the strawberry buttercream that I fixated on and since I already have a killer real strawberry frosting recipe I wanted to do it again but in the Swiss fashion. And real strawberries were my crux. They were a must. And they must be my freeze dried and powdered favorites �?� I’m a sucker for freezedried fruits!
Experimental Kara reared her head and made a conscious choice to ignore what most would do - I added my powdered strawberries BEFORE whipping my whites and sugar. Because why not? Give it a try, she said to herself. There’s no fat whatsoever in the powder so it should work, she said. You love experimenting anyways, she said.
And that’s precisely what I did. I mixed my strawberry powder in with my meringue powder and sugar THEN added my whites and went about my meringue-y business.
I was worried the powder would still clump in the mix - it did not.
I was worried it wouldn’t fully incorporate before heading to the mixer - it did.
I was reeeeeaaalllllyyyy worried it wouldn’t foam and whip the way a beautiful and supple meringue should - IT. DID!!!
Oh my heavens was I giddy about what was happening in my kitchen! I must have messaged three other cakers within a split second when I realized it was coming together. They may have thought I was a bit nuts. But they know me well and know how science-y and geeky I get about this stuff so they casually (virtually) nodded their heads with a smile and told me they thought it was cool. (yes, guys, I know you patronize my weirdness as my loving friends. and I thank you for that 🙂 )
So here she be. My lovely, delicate, Pink Champagne Cake and REAL Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream!
The cake is based on my Kara’s Perfect Vanilla Cake recipe featuring the high-ratio method of mixing and if you haven’t tried it (the method as well as the recipe) or have been too intimidated by it, I IMPLORE you to go give it a shot! I’ve converted so many cakers around the globe to my recipe and baking scratch and high-ratio. You’ll never need another cake again. AND it’s all-purpose (plain, 500) flour! No cake flour, so no matter where you are on the green and blue planet you can make my cake!
I must tell you this is glorious. And while I didn’t use it, you could make a simple syrup with champagne only (no water) and soak the layers with some real bubble-y. Equal parts champagne and sugar, half cup of each boiled down and cooled should do for this cake.
Oh! And be sure to add a drop of Vivid Pink gel food color to get that delicate pink blush to the cake and buttercream. Of course you don’t have to, and you could even use an ivory color for the cake to make the classic champagne color. But hey. Pink.
- 1 cup Butter, Unsalted
- 3 cups sugar
- 5 eggs room temperature
- 1.5 cups Cake flour
- 1.5 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- .75 tsp salt
- .5 cup Vegetable oil
- 1 cup whole fat buttermilk room temperature
- 1.5 Tbsp Amoretti Champagne Extract
- 2 drops Vivid Pink food color gel from Chef Alan
- Preheat oven to 330˚F and prepare 3 8x2" pans with goop (see below for Goop recipe). I prefer using baking strips with all my cakes, but they are optional.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment cream together butter and sugar until light in color. Add eggs one at a time scraping down the bowl between each addition. Mix well between additions.
- Sift together flours, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- Mix together vegetable oil, buttermilk and champagne extract and pink food color.
- Add flour mixture in 3 stages and liquid mixture in 2 stages alternating, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix gently until it just comes together.
- Divide equally into 3 pans and bake for 50-60 minutes, until it just begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and the center is set.
- Allow to cool 10 minutes in pan then invert onto a baking rack to finish cooling.
You can get my Goop recipe at the bottom of my Vanilla Cake Blog post.
And you can get Chef Alan's Vivid Pink food gel color here.
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 70 ounces | 40 minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 5 minutes |
|
|
|
The classic and most beloved of buttercreams, but STRAWBERRY! And not with extract... with real, honest to goodness strawberries for that beautiful pop of real strawberry flavor.
|
- 20 oz sugar
- 12.6 gr Meringue powder optional, adds extra stability
- 2 1.2 ounce bags Freeze dried Strawberries ground to a powder in a spice grinder
- 13 oz Egg whites
- 32 oz Butter, Unsalted room temp
- 7 oz Shortening
- 2 Tbsp vanilla bean paste
- Be sure all of your equipment is fat free. You can do this by wiping everything that will touch your whites with fresh lemon juice or white vinegar.
- Measure all ingredients.
- Whisk sugar, strawberry powder (trust me) and meringue powder together in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
- Add egg whites to the sugar mixture in the stand mixer bowl.
- Heat gently over boiling water to 135˚F (all sugar should be dissolved) whisking the whole time.*
- Using the whip attachment, whisk on high speed for 20 minutes in stand mixer or until room temp and firm, glossy peaks.
- Change to paddle attachment, set to medium speed and slowly add the shortening in chunks, then butter and vanilla and any other flavoring.
- Beat till fully incorporated and light in color.
*When whisking the egg whites and sugar over boiling water you do not need to foam them. Keep them moving to evenly distribute the heat and keep your whites from coagulating and scrambling.
I use a kitchen scale when I do just about all of my baking. I highly suggest having one as they are the best way to ensure your ingredients are exact every time.
This may seem to “break” at some point, where the butter may look curdled. No worries, keep beating and it comes back together.
Enjoy!
Looking forward to trying your recipe! I have a tip for you if you want the color to ‘pop’ or to be more vibrant, add a sifted tablespoon of powdered sugar to mix in with buttercream before adding your color. You’ll be amazed by the result.
Jo, thanks for the tip! Always, looking for new tips and tricks!
This looks so good. I am intrigued by the freeze dried fruits.
It’s a must! Try it and let me know what you think!
Holly Watson says
Kara, I’m beyond excited to try this recipe…I’ve been waiting in suspense for it to come out. I have my Amazon shopping cart brimming with things like Amoretti extracts and other ingredients for these recipes. However, I noticed when I went to change this recipe for a weight vs volume measuring method, it puts floz next to the amts. I can only assume this means the converter is doing fluid oz? I use a scale so I’m really not interested in the volume method (I’m also lazy so there’s that). Can I can just follow the measurements as ounces with my scale and forget about the fluid part?
Also, any tips for altering your recipes for higher elevation? Google says you are about 600′ above sea level in Buffalo and I’m about 4,500′ above sea level here in MT. I suspect this is why I’m struggling with these recipes cratering. Thoughts? Suggestions? Before I beat my face against my oven door…
Yes, I don’t have this recipe provided in weight measures, so it converts first to metric volume (mls) and then if you change it back to US Imperial it will give your fl oz (still volume, just not listed as cups). There’s nothing I can do with the converter. It’s all the developer (who clearly does not bake �?� ). And no, you can’t use fluid ounces for weight ounces. they are distinctly different. They do not convert 1:1.
And I don’t do high altitude baking at all. SO yes, my recipe will not work the same. Check out Avaloncakesschool.com as she’s converted my recipe ( I believe since she’s at 6,000, and formerly 11,000 feet).
Sharon Baskin says
Why do you put shortening into your Swiss Meringue Buttercream? I have never heard of that. Thanks so much,
I use shortening in my SMBCs for stability and temperature resistance.
Cindy says
Can’t wait to try it! I did your perfect Vanilla Cake and added blueberry diplomat cream as filling. My family loved it!
Amazing! That sounds like a winning combination! Glad you loved it! 🙂
Hi Kara,
You have totally got me turned on by the freeze dried strawberries, I love using them!
Quick question: Why do you use the shortening?
Thanks!
I use shortening in my SMBCs because it adds to stability and temperature resistance.
Kay says
Hi Kara. I LOVE your work and recipes. Quick question, is the 32 oz eggs measured by weight or volume? Measurements are really tricky.
Weight! Hope this helps!
Irene Ortiz says
Kara, thanks for always sharing. Will egg whites from a carton work?
You absolutely can!
cassandra says
Hi kara,
I am planning on trying this recipe in a few days and i’m just wondering if you NEED to use cake flour or if you can substitute all purpose plus baking powder?
thanks!
Well, to substitute AP flour in recipes doesn’t require the addition of baking powder. In general it’s just a 1:1 sub. But this recipe is formulated for cake flour and while you *can* sub AP flour, you won’t get the same results.
Jessica says
Kara,
If this is based off your vanilla cake why did you use cake flour? Should we use cake flour or will it work fine w/regular AP ?
Nope. I intentionally cut the flours for this iteration of the recipe. The added strawberry powder requires an alteration to get the final crumb and texture I wanted.