Pink Champagne Cake
This cake enjoyed its heyday in the '50s, yet it remains a best seller in many bakeshops today.
There's a long tradition of conjuring cakes from sugary beverages. Southern cooks have been putting soda in their desserts since at least the mid-20th century, when the first recipes for chocolate cola cakes appeared in newspapers and community cookbooks.
But on the West Coast, far from corporate headquarters for the most popular soda brands, the beverage most likely to surface in after-dinner sweets might be pink champagne. The supremely elegant pink champagne cake, largely unknown east of the Mississippi, is a house specialty at California's Madonna Inn and a staple of many local bakeries. It's so delicious that San Francisco cops once nabbed a suspect in a pastry shop robbery because he had pink frosting on his gloves: He apparently couldn't resist swiping his finger across the cake.
The recipe for pink champagne cake, ranked among the recipes most frequently requested from the Los Angeles Times, calls for six egg whites and three-quarters of a cup of champagne. The cake is traditionally filled with Bavarian cream or coconut and frosted with fondant, although there are variations. A 1961 display ad for the Yosemite Bakery in the Modesto Bee describes the cake as "a tender, moist layer, split and filled, iced with French butter cream and champagne, then topped with shaved pink chocolate."
"It's the elite of party cakes!," the ad promises.
The cake was so popular for weddings, bridal showers and graduations in the 1950s and 1960s that some enterprising home cooks remade the recipe for teetotalers, substituting strawberry pop for alcohol.
It's unclear exactly when and where pink champagne cake originated, but it's been the hallmark of McGavin's Bakery in Bremerton, Washington, for 30 years. Business is apparently still brisk.
Pink Champagne Cake
with sparkling white frosting
from Cuisine at Home magazine, June 2009
For the Cake:
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. table salt
1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup brut sparkling wine
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
6 drops red food coloring
6 egg whites
For the Frosting:
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup brut sparkling wine
5 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. unflavored gelatin
1 Tbsp. cold water
3/4 cup heavy cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper and coat with nonstick spray. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
Cream butter and granulated sugar in a stand mixer until mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Combine 3/4 cup sparkling wine, milk, and vanilla.
Add flour and wine mixtures alternately to butter mixture, combining well after each addition. Tint batter with red food coloring.
Beat egg whites in a separate bowl with clean beaters until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes. Fold egg whites into cake batter in thirds, stopping as soon as whites are incorporated. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans.
Bake cakes until a toothpick inserted in the center has only or or two crumbs on it, about 30 minutes. Cool cakes in pans for 10 minutes, then turn cakes out onto a rack to cool completely.
Frosting:
Beat together shortening, 1/3 cup sparkling wine, and powdered sugar for frosting in a bowl until smooth. Spread 1 cup frosting on top of one cooled cake round. Place second cake round on top of the frosted round.
Sprinkle gelatin into water in a small saucepan. Let mixture sit for 5 minutes, then gently warm over low heat until gelatin dissolves. Cool to room temperature.
Beat heavy cream until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes. Add gelatin mixture to cream; continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Working in batches, gently fold whipped cream into remaining frosting.
Spread frosting onto top and sides of cake, being careful not to overwork. Refrigerate cake 1 hour with a large bowl over the top to protect frosting. Use a spatula to gently swirl frosting before serving.
12 servings
Pink Champagne Cake
from LA Times
Pink Champagne Cake is the perfect Eastertime cake.
2 3/4 cups sifted flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup Champagne
6 egg whites
Coconut Filling (recipe below)
Fondant Frosting (recipe below)
6 large marshmallows, quartered
Resift flour with baking powder and salt. Cream shortening with 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Blend in flour mixture and Champagne alternately, mixing to smooth batter. Beat egg whites until stiff. Gradually beat in remaining 1/2 cup sugar, continuing to beat to stiff meringue. Fold about half of meringue into batter, mixing thoroughly with whisk. Gently fold in remaining meringue. Turn into 2 greased and floured 9-inch layer cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees 25 to 30 minutes, just until cake tests done. Let stand 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to cool.
When layers are cold, place together with Coconut Filling between layers. Using 2/3 cup Fondant Frosting, spread thin layer smoothly over top and sides. This seals any crumbs. Pour about 1/2 cup additional frosting over top of cake and spread quickly to smooth layer. Cover sides of cake with second layer of frosting. Dip marshmallow quarters in remaining frosting to coat both sides and set randomly over top and sides of cake.
Coconut Filling
1/4 cup butter or margarine
16 large marshmallows, quartered
1 tablespoon white wine
1 cup flake coconut
Combine butter, marshmallows and wine in top of double boiler. Set over boiling water and stir occasionally until marshmallows are melted. Remove from heat and stir in coconut. Cool until thick enough to spread.
Fondant Frosting
1 pound powdered sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Dash salt
Few drops almond extract
2 to 3 drops red food color, optional
Sift sugar into top of double boiler. Add corn syrup and water. Stir over boiling water until smooth. Blend in vanilla, salt and almond extract. Stir in food color. Keep frosting warm while using so it spreads smoothly.
