Strawberries and Cream Champagne Vanilla Cake

My Strawberries & Cream Champagne Vanilla Cake is the one to bake when you want to both celebrate and impress your guests while keeping things approachable and not spending a fortune ordering a custom cake.

Wedding showers, birthdays, or simply celebrating with your favorite friends, it’s a cake that sure knows how to party.

And since you’ll have leftover champagne from making the cake, you can also whip together some Pink Champagne Margarita Punch in less than 5 minutes flat. All of these fun and festive recipes were created for my column, Aimee’s Pretty Palate, in the most recent inRegister’s 30th-anniversary issue. 

I wanted a celebratory cake that would look impressive but be easy enough for most home cooks. I think it’s wonderful to see all the glorious photos on social media and in magazines, but know that more often than not, they are out of my skill set. Fondant and I are never going to be friends (I won’t sacrifice taste for appearance) and most of my family and friends don’t have several days to devote to a cake masterpiece. 

That’s where I come in. Or, where this Strawberries and Cream Champagne Vanilla Cake comes in. Anyone can make it. In less than an hour. You won’t spend hours upon hours forming sugar crystal flowers, because you’ll adorn your cake with faux flowers instead. 

Strawberries and Cream Champagne Vanilla Cake

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Wedding showers, birthdays, or simply celebrating with your favorite friends, the Strawberries and Cream Champagne Vanilla Cake is one that sure knows how to party.

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Ingredients

• For the Cake:
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 large egg whites
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup champagne (you can use the same pink champagne if you wish)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 16 ounce container of fresh strawberries, (washed, hulled & sliced)
• For the Pink Champagne Buttercream:
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 Tablespoons pink champagne, room temperature

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 8-inch round cake pans with parchment circles, spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg whites, a little at a time, until well combined. Add the vanilla extract.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add a third of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat on low until incorporated. Add half
of the champagne. Alternate between the flour and champagne, scraping down the
bowl as you go.

Divide batter between pans and bake for 23-25 minutes, or until lightly golden and a cake tester comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.

To make the buttercream:  With the paddle attachment
of a stand mixer attached, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in vanilla extract. Add the champagne, 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is
reached.

To assemble the cake:  Place the bottom layer onto a cake
board, top with buttercream and use an offset spatula to smooth, add sliced strawberries. Place the second layer on top of the strawberries and repeat. Top the final layer with the remaining buttercream and smooth the top and sides of the cake.   Garnish with faux flowers, pearl
sprinkles, etc.  

You could always use real flowers, but if you’ve ever tried it, you’ll know that flowers wilt and when they wilt they bleed and when they bleed, both your cake and the flowers have the potential to go downhill fast. 

Just save yourself the heartache and grab some of the better quality flowers from Michael’s Craft Store. They’re on the wedding aisle. You’ll need to remove them prior to serving, though. 

These dainty little rosettes? Also from Michael’s and found on the baking aisle. Both the rosettes and pearls are edible! And no, this is not a sponsored post for them but I wanted you to know my sources for my “fake it till ya make it” cake. 

It’s a fabulous compromise for presenting a cake that rivals custom, costs tremendously less and once cut into, the real magic happens anyway. 

Deliciously smooth layers of moist vanilla cake lightly flavored with pink champagne with strawberries and Pink Champagne Buttercream nestled in between. 

It’s what celebrating is all about. Sweet, sweet deliciousness with those folks that you love.