I have been asked to make a champagne cake for next week. I've never made one before and need some help from you wonderfully knowledgable people. Here goes....

1. Does anyone have a tried and true recipe for this? I looked at the 3 in the recipe section- don't want to make the ones with filling. Any input on the champagne cakeI recipe?

2. What kind of champagne works best?

3. Are there any tips/advice for working with this type of cake?

4. What type of icing is traditionally used with this flavor cake?

The people that asked me have used the same person for years and are not happy with her anymore and are looking for someone to replace her for all of their family functions (and they get A LOT of cake during the year- actaully spent almost $300 on grandson's cake) I want to be sure to impress- don't get me wrong... I don't want to take away business but if they aren't happy with the taste of her cakes (and have told her so) then maybe I can satisfy them.

Any help woud be most appreciated.

I would love to know as well

Don't know but would like to as well. I'll bump ya!

I use a basic white cake recipe, and use very dry champagne to replace 1/2 of the water in the recipe. The best fillings and icings are berry flavors, or regular old buttercream. I also have a champagne filling/icing that I use, but I think it's a tad too much, IMO.

If you'd like any of the recipes, give me a PM.

Also, this particular cake is best if you bake about 2 days before. It doesn't have a strong overwhelming champagne taste, it's like a sponge cake with a kick.

I don't know if you are into doctored boxed mixes, but I used this recipe recently and it was surprisingly moist. I torted and filled it with rasperry jam and then iced it in Raspberry flavored IMBC. I used Almond Champagne and I got a lot of great feedback on this one. I beleive you can also find champagne flavoring that you could use to flavor your icing.

Champagne Cake Recipe courtesy Sandra Lee
Show: Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee


1 box (1-pound 2 1/4-ounce) moist white cake mix
1 1/4 cups extra dry Champagne
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 large egg whites

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat the bottom of a 9 by-13-inch cake pan with cooking spray.
In a large mixing bowl combine the cake mix, Champagne, vegetable oil, and egg whites. Beat on low speed with an electric mixer until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and continue beating on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Remove it from the oven and cool completely.

I use Champagne Cake I from the recipe section. I have sold it a couple of times and the people have been THRILLED. http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1119-0-Champagne-Cake-I.html

I've only used cheap champagne for this, so I'm not really sure how much better the cake would taste with better champagne. But basically there are levels of flavor in champagne from dry to sweet, this is for cake, so sweeter is better. I made one with Brut and it was pretty good, I filled it with raspberry mousse and it was really enjoyable. I made another with Spumante and it was fabulous.

I use Cook's brand champage because it's about $5 a bottle at the grocery store http://www.cookschampagne.com/ProductInformation/ProductInformation.htm

Hopefully someone else can enlighten us if pricier champagne makes a better tasting cake.

Check out these sites for some ideas...

www.recipezaar.com/153192

www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_31137,00.html

www.floras-hideout.com/recipes/cake-ALL.html

I've never made champagne cake, so I can't vouch for any of these recipes, but it's at least something to take a look at. Good luck!

Thanks so much all! Because it is like a sponge cake, I assume it is light and fluffy ;not dense? Is it easy to work with??