A birthday for a co-worker proved the perfect opportunity to try a new cake recipe. Cooked Like A Champion blog had recently made a strawberry champagne ruffle cake which looked too good to pass up. Two of my favorite things: champagne and strawberries.
The cake was so moist, and I had a lot of extra strawberry puree so I put it in between the two layers coated by buttercream frosting.
Strawberry Cake
Ingredients:
For the strawberry purée:
24 ounces frozen strawberries, thawed
For the cake:
3/4 cup strawberry purée, room temperature
1/4 cup milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup cake flour, sifted
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
Directions:
To make the strawberry purée, pour thawed strawberries into a fine mesh strainer set over a large bowl to remove any liquid. Save liquid for a later use or discard. Purée strawberries in a blender or food processor and set aside 3/4 cup for the cake. The remaining 1/2 cup can be used to fill the cake, top ice cream, make daiquiris or almost anything else you can think of.
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| Strawberry Puree |
To make the cake, preheat oven to 350º. Butter and flour two 8-inch pans and line with a parchment round.
In a small bowl, whisk together strawberry purée, milk, egg whites and vanilla. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt on low speed. Add butter and continue mixing until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the purée mixture and beat at medium speed until smooth, scraping down the sides and bottom of bowl as needed. Divide the batter evenly among the pans (a kitchen scale works wonders here) and smooth tops with a rubber spatula.
Bake cakes for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans for 10 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.
I made an extra half bath of the champagne buttercream so that I would have enough to frost the whole outside and put in between. It turned out to be the perfect amount. I'm listed that updated version below, but you can also use the original recipe.
If you have a sec, go check out the original recipe page as the way she decorated the cake was just gorgeous! If I had any kind of talent for frosting a cake, I would have attempted it but alas, I don't have the skill or the patience.
Champagne Buttercream
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon champagne, prosecco or other sparkling wine
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) butter, softened
4 cups confectioners sugar
Place 1 cup of champagne in a small saucepan set over medium-high heat. Simmer for about 10 minutes, or until champagne has been reduced to 2 tablespoons. Pour into a small bowl and allow to cool.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle or whisk attachment, beat butter and sugar together on low speed, gradually increasing to medium-high. Beat until butter is lightened and the frosting is thick and fluffy. Add the reduced champagne and the remaining 1 tablespoon of champagne and continue beating until incorporated.
**UPDATE: I added a little food color to the frosting, just to give it a light pink hue, but you don't have to. It still looks lovely without it.
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