Strawberry Champagne Layer Cake
Flavors of champagne and strawberry compliment one another in this impressive layer cake that is festive for any special occasion.
Can you guys believe this year is almost OVER. It’s literally going to be 2014 soon. This year flew by faster than I could have imagined… Do you have plans for New Years Eve? Hubby and I are hosting a little party at our house on New Years Eve. So on top of holiday shopping (thank you Amazon), working a ton, and being sick, I’ve also been thinking about the food for our NYE party.
I’m planning to do a spread of appetizers and a couple desserts. I like to do one big and impressive dessert for celebrations like New Years Eve. And since everyone drinks champagne on NYE, this is the perfect cake to make one last impression for 2013.
I actually made this cake to take to a friend’s party earlier in the year. It was so good that it’s on the top of my list for the NYE party. And that’s saying something since I rarely re-make desserts, especially layer cakes.
The flavors in this cake are all subtle. The champagne comes through, as do the strawberries, and they compliment each other without either one overpowering the other.
I made a few changes from the original recipe. First, I added a thin layer of strawberries between the layers of cake. Second, I opted to leave off the white chocolate ganache. Be sure to check out Megan’s version of this cake to see it with the ganache. How can you not be impressed by this cake?!?
Two Years Ago: Candy Cane Chocolate Oreo Cupcakes and Cranberry Cheesecake Spread
Three Years Ago: Gingerbread Caramels and Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies
Five Years Ago: Chocolate Peppermint Meringue Kisses and Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies
Strawberry Champagne Layer Cake
Flavors of champagne and strawberry compliment one another in this impressive layer cake that is festive for any special occasion.
Yield: Serves 16
Total Time: 3 hours
Ingredients:
For the Champagne Cake
3 3/4 cups Flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp table salt
3 1/3 cups sugar
15 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 1/2 cup champagne, flattened
5 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp vanilla
9 egg yolks, room temperature
5 egg whites, room temperature
For the Strawberry Swiss Meringue Frosting
5 egg Whites
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup butter, cut into cubes
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup strawberry puree
pinch of salt
10-12 strawberries, thinly sliced
Directions:
For the Champagne Cake
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 340 degrees. Grease three 9” round cake pans and line bottoms with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and 2 1/2 cups sugar together in large bowl. In mixing bowl whisk together melted butter, champagne, oil, vanilla, and yolks.
In clean bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat egg whites at medium-high speed until foamy, about 30 seconds, gradually adding in remaining sugar; continue to beat until stiff peaks just form. Transfer to a separate bowl and set aside.
Add flour mixture to now empty mixing bowl fitted with whisk attachment. Gradually add in butter mixture and mix until just incorporated. Stop mixer and scrape whisk and sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium-low speed and beat until smooth and fully incorporated.
Fold the egg whites into the batter, pour into cake pans and bake for approximately 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cake rest in cake tins for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire cooling rack. Cool Completely before frosting. When cool, level tops of cake with sharp knife and discard cake cuttings. Set aside until ready to decorate.
For the Strawberry Swiss Meringue Frosting
Place three to four strawberries into food processor and puree, set aside ¼-⅓ cup of Strawberry puree.
Wipe the mixer bowl and attachments with lemon or vinegar to make sure they are all completely clear of any residual grease. Add egg whites and sugar to mixing bowl, and place it over a sauce pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly but gently, until temperature reaches 160°F, or until the sugar is totally dissolved and the eggs are hot.
With whisk attachment of mixer, begin to whip until the meringue is thick, glossy, and the bottom of the bowl feels nearly room temperature. *Don't begin adding butter until the bottom of the bowl feels neutral, and not warm.
Switch over to paddle attachment and add butter one cube at a time until all has been added and is incorporated. and mix until it becomes smooth. If mixture is too soft and runny, place in refrigerator for about 15 minutes and continue mixing with paddle attachment until it comes together. Add vanilla and salt, continuing to beat on low speed until well combined.
Add strawberry puree and beat until evenly incorporated. Add small amount of pink food colouring, if desired.
To assemble Cake
Level cakes and invert one cake layer on cake plate so that the bottom of the cake is the top. Dollop frosting onto it and spread evenly. Add a layer of thinly sliced strawberries. Repeat with other two layers. Frost top layer and smooth. Frost sides of the cake. Garnish with fresh strawberries.
Recipe adapted inspired by Country Cleaver, frosting recipe from Sweetapolita, cake recipe from Cake Fixation
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
OMG, I am in love with these cupcakes! They’re so awesome! I love HP, and I made owl cupcakes when the movie came out. I might need to give these a try before going to see the IMAX 3D movie.
How cute are those?! And i was wondering how you got the lettering so perfect – thanks for the step-by-step. Lol – I just dragged DH to the Harry Potter exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry – I’m sure he’ll be happy when the final movie comes out and he doesn’t have to hear about it anymore!
Great job, how lucky are your friends?
I’m so jealous! My two sisters are going to the exhibit this weekend. I thought about flying to Chicago to join them. Luckily I found out the exhibit is coming here in October. Whew!
These look fabulous! You did such a great job on them!
WOW JEN!! Those are fantastic!! Better than professional! Seriously, what talent you have to make those! 🙂
Aw thanks Katie – you’re making me blush.
I hate when cupcakes do that to me too. Instead of baking up they bake out! 🙁
Love your Harry Potter cupcake toppers! Very cute and creative!
~ingrid
Hi Jen! A friend of mine forwarded me your page for HP Cupcakes and I just wanted to drop in and say that I think they’re awesome and I want to run home now and try to create some fun hp themed cakes! I had done some in the past–cauldron cakes if you will, by buying mini cauldrons and cutting the bottom off so the tops sat just on the cakes and then used a bit of green frosting on the inside. You should join up with the HP-MA crew! We’ve been organizing some meet-ups for Boston Fans!
Sounds awesome Manda.
Oh my goodness, what adorable little cupcakes!
So so cute! And yeah, those “HPs” must have taken FOREVER. I have a fabulous vanilla cupcake recipe that never fails me here: http://annies-eats.com/2008/07/18/vanilla-cupcakes/. Also, I recently made Dorie’s perfect party cake into cupcakes and had great results with that as well.
I love your HP cupcakes! I too am a huge Harry Potter fan but I have to admit, I don’t think I’d be patient enough to make cupcakes and toppings as cute as yours!
These are so awesome!! I wish I would have seen them and did some of these with the HP cake I did!!