So every year when I get to make my own birthday cake and put all of those things into one big fluffy, sugary creation....I get a little excited.
Behold. My master piece.
{Pink Champagne cake (you can't really go wrong when you add alcohol to cake...), with raspberries and white chocolate-champagne butter cream.}
{ I loved how the colors came out. }
The only down side to having moved around so much the last couple of years is that my friends are spread out all over the world, and I couldn't have all the people i love in one room for my birthday. I DID get tons of wonderful emails and phone calls (And even a text message sent from Cuba!) wishing me a happy birthday, and that made me beyond happy. And big thank you to all my friends who DID make it to my house to celebrate I appreciate you guys so much and am so lucky! Now come back... there's still half a cake and about 20 beers in my fridge!
So the thing that drove me absolutely crazy about this cake was finding a recipe I liked. For some crazy ridiculous cheating, reason all of the recipes I found online called for a boxed cake mix. Um excuse me? That's not....we don't....I can't.....so many feelings. Boxed cake mixes are fine and all....if you're not trying to make a cake from scratch. So I kind of created my own recipe with help from here for my own take on a classic-American cake.
{the cake}
{ 4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 cup white sugar
1 cup butter
1 tbl spoon and 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1- 1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 cup champagne.
9 egg whites }
This make 3, 10 in cake rounds. But it doesn't rise much, so if you're making a layer cake and you don't want three layers, you can fit all the batter in 2 rounds. This also makes a LOT of cake.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in dry indigence and champagne alternately. At this point add in food coloring. In a separate bowl whip egg whites until they peak. Fold peaked egg whites and batter together.
Butter and flour pans and pour in batter.
Bake for about 30 minutes.
That easy.
After it bakes let it cool, then completely wrap the layers in plastic and put in the freezer for about 10 minutes. This will make it easier to frost or shape without crumbling.
{the frosting}
{2 cups butter
9 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup champagne
1/2 cup white chocolate chips, melted
food coloring of choice}
Mix it all together. It the texture isn't how you like it, add more powdered sugar. The amount of frosting you'll need will vary depending on how you frost your cake, how many layer you want, and if you 'dirty ice' it.
{assembly}
For my cake I actually cut the layers down from 10 in rounds to 8 in rounds by stacking them on top of each other and just cutting out the middle. The left over cake can be used for cake pops if you're feeling ambitious.
Put the first layer of cake on your stand and generously ice the top, adding raspberries. Set the next layer on top and gently press down. Repeat for the next layer(s), then put the cake in the fridge again for a few minutes.
Next 'dirty ice' your cake, and follow this guide for how to do the petal effect on the outer icing. I just used the back of a spoon instead of an spatula. Add some home made cute cake toppers and, voila!!!
Enjoy!
