Pink Champagne Cake: NOT GOOD.

[aggie94]

In case you guys missed the thread, Katie (brykate) brought as her gift exchange item for the Seattle weekend a wonderful pink champagne cake from a bakery in Bremerton. Lisa found a recipe online so I thought I'd try it out and see how they compared.

NOT GOOD. For starters, my layers came out heavy, dense, and thin. I imagine it's how some people's lemonade cake layers turned out. Then, I must have added a drop or two more of red food coloring to the frosting than I should have, because mine did NOT come out the lovely pale shade of pink that Katie's was. Mine is more the color of Pepto-Bismol. :eek: :o

And the "fondant frosting" was not nearly thick enough to spread. It was runny and thin and sort of just ran off the cake. No way could I "spread" it on the sides.

But obviously, none of this matters if the cake tastes wonderful. Well, IT DOESN'T. :( The cake has the texture of pound cake and the champagne flavor is really strong. It's almost salty. :eek: This is SO not the cake we had in Seattle. The coconut filling was quite tasty, though. Maybe I should just scrape it out from between the layers and eat it with a spoon. :rolleyes:

Okay, this is going in the trash. I'll have to think of something else for my neighbor. Maybe I'll give her part of the Bon Appetit cake I made tonight also (which I have much higher hopes for) and show up to Em's with just part of a cake. :(

[sushibones]

How disappointing, Eva. That cake really was melt-in-your-mouth.

But you know you can show up at Em's with no cake at all and be welcome. Especially since, knowing her, there will be an overabundance of food. How long does opened champagne last?

Have a great time this weekend, and give em a hug for me. Then she can give you one from me too. :D

[brykate]

Yippee!!!! Mine's still the best!!!:D :) :p ;)

:cool: Katie

[ReneeV]

Hi Aggie,

I have a recipe for champagne cake that is really easy and always gets compliments - it's light and moist and very tastey. Let me say up front that it is made from a box mix. The alcohol disburses that "box mix" taste and the butter adds richnes.

Basically, you replace the water with champagne and replace the oil with butter which has been melted and then cooled, but still liquid. Then bake as directed.

One thing, I always bake my cakes about 15-25 degrees lower than recommended. In most cases that is 325 to 335. Also I DO NOT wait for the cake to "pull away from the sides" before removing from the oven. As we all have experienced, things continue to bake/cook after they are removed from the oven. Bake a butter cake until it feels firm in the center and not liquid-y, but not until it is "springy" or pulls away from the sides. IT will continue to cook as it cools and will pull away from the sides within 10 minutes of removing it from the oven. I learned this in a confectionary class and it does seem to work! If anyone has the Cake Bible, Rose Levy Bernbaum recommends this same method to test for doneness.

As for fondant icing, I'm afraid the recipe mislead you. Fondant takes 2 forms: pourable and rollable. Poured or dipping fondant is what is used to cover petit fors. It can also be poured over a cake. It leaves a really smooth, shiney suface. Usually, the cake is place on a cake rack over a rimmed cookie sheet and the fondant is poured over the top in a circular pattern and allowed to drip over the sides. You can use a spatula to kind of "guide" over bare areas. Then it is left to dry. On the other hand, rolled fondant is the consistancy of a dough. You actually roll it out and place it over the cake almost like pie dough. Then you smooth down the sides. The surface is matte and makes for a beautiful presentation.

Sorry to go on so long, but I really hate it when recipes mislead people. It ruins the finished product, wastes ingredients and makes the baker (us) very frustrated. So if you ever see a recipe again with "spreadable" fondant, be wary. I'm no expert, but I've never heard of such a thing. Sorry you had a bad experience!

If you don't object to cake mixes, try this recipe. IT's been floating around the cake decorating world for years! Many brides request this cake and it is most often made with a mix.

Renée

[aggie94]

Thanks, Renee, but I think I'm done with expensive experiments for awhile. The champagne wasn't cheap, and I ended up tossing the rest of the bottle because what else was I gonna do with it? Not like I'm gonna throw together a champagne risotto (thanks anyway, Jewel) at midnight on a Friday night. Then there was the entire pound of powdered sugar, etc. Ever see that commercial where the woman spends all that time frosting that pretty pink cake and then sticks the whole plate in the dishwasher, cake and all? That was me last night. :rolleyes:

I don't think it was the *baking* of the cake that caused the texture problems. I knew before I even put it in that it was weird. The "batter" was like a cross between pizza dough and cookie batter -- it was springy and thick, definitely not beatable or smooth, and it didn't pour into the pans like a normal cake batter does.

If I decide to try it again sometime, I'll try the cake your way and use the coconut filling from this recipe, which actually was very good. Do you use a white box cake mix?

But on the bright side, my Bon Appetit cake is sitting in the fridge ready to go to Houston, and it looks BEAUTIFUL. I can't wait to try it - I think it will be delicious!

[lisas3575]

Eva, oh noooooooooooo! I'm sorry I posted a dud. I thought it looked promising, given the LA Times credit. :( :( :( How totally frustrating. Don't throw your eggshells at me!

Renee-- What type of frosting do you use for your cake? The one Kate brought was really light and fluffy, not buttercream. So good!

[ReneeV]

HI Aggie and Lisa,

Aggie, that batter does sound odd! I think that would have sent up a red flag for me too!

Lisa, yes I do use a white or french vanilla mix for this cake. Sometimes I add a touch of pink color, but frankly I think it's more elegant without. JMO.

The fluffy icing could have been a couple of different things. If it had a marshmallowy texture and flavor, it might have been boiled icing, or commonly called white mountain icing, made with whipped egg whites.

If it had a whipped cream texture or flavor, it may have been a commercial product called "Bettercream" which us lay folks can't purchase. Frankly, that's just as well since it is made from a lot of non-pronounceable ingredients, not unlike Cool Whip, but denser and creamier. I do have a really great cooked icing recipe that has a lovely whipped texture and tastes like vanilla ice cream. One of my all time favorite icings. You make a eggless custard with milk and flour and salt. Let it cool and beat in extra fine granular sugar, NOT POWDERED sugar, and butter and flavoring. The recipe I have also contains melted white chocolate in the custard part of the recipe. I beleive this type of icing is often called Waldorf icing. It is perishable, so the cake needs to be refriderated if it's iced with this.

I'd be happy to post it, if you want it. It's not as sweet as many icings and is light and whipped, yet rich in flavor. It is not light in calories or fat unfortunately.

Renée