Scratch Pink Champagne Cake - Page 8

Would you pls pm me your recipe to, I would love to try it...Thank you

Well bummer, just thought I'd let you all know that my version of this (taking the lazy route by subbing out wine for 1/2 the buttermilk) didn't work so well, they tasted good when they came out of the oven but after being frozen for 24 hours they have lost any taste of wine in them at all and are really dry, which suprised the heck out of me because my cake is like, never dry. So, I think syrup is necessary to keep the booze flavor, especially if I was to make this as a wedding cake the flavor would need to be able to last for at least a few days ion the freezer and a few days to decorate/serve.

Fromscratch, I think it was probably a little drier than usual because you removed some of the fat when you replaced some of your buttermilk with the wine.

I would up the fat in the recipe a bit to balance it.

I thought there was very little fat in buttermilk. Is that right? FromScratch, would the wine flavor remain better if it was reduced before adding it to the batter? (Maybe you did that and I missed it.) Or does the alcohol evaporate during baking, reducing the overall liquid remaining in the batter? Just some thoughts. I haven't baked with alcohol much and am still learning how it behaves in baked goods. Thanks for sharing that, though, so that now I know not to try that!

In some areas buttermilk is made with full fat milk. I'm fortunate to live in an area that sells full fat buttermilk.


I know some people can only get lowfat buttermilk or even fat free, in that case I would make my own.

Interesting, Cakestyles. I have only used the lowfat buttermilk which is readily available where I live. I'll have to see if I can find the full-fat version or, as you suggested, make my own. Not to keep this way off topic, but is there a significant flavor or performance difference with the full-fat buttermilk?

I'm not sure since I've only ever used the full fat buttermilk.


It's probably psychological with me...I always try to use the full fat version of everything in my baking i.e. sour cream, milk, cream cheese etc.

My thinking is if there's less fat then there's probably more water in the product which may throw off the chemistry of my recipes since I've come up with them using the full fat version of everything.

We have a wonderful dairy farm in our area and that's where I buy my milk, cream and buttermilk.

I am not sure if anyone has these stores by you, but I purchase my full-fat buttermilk from Wegman's or Shopper's Food Warehouse. I cannot find it at our local farmer's market.

HTH

I don't have those stores near me, but there is a nearby family farm that I've heard sells to the public now in a little store on their property. I've been meaning to check it out and now I have even more of a reason! If I use heavy cream to make butter, is the resulting "milk" full-fat buttermilk? Or do I need to add something to it to make it sour? (Sorry if that is a silly question!) I just made butter last weekend for fun and to try it and I haven't used the "milk" from that yet.

Totally off topic, but this is what I've been told and have researched: Commercial buttermilk is made from culturing 2% or 1% milk. It's not "real" buttermilk in the sense that it's the leftover liquid from the butter making process. I know of no dairy near me, organic or otherwise, that uses the liquid from the butter making process to make cultured buttermilk, they all use milk and add cultures to it simply because they cannot produce it in any quantity any other way. We use cultured buttermilk for flavor, but we really want it because the cultures are an emulsifier. If you are using straight liquid from making butter it's no better in your cake then water since you've removed all fat when removing the butter.

I was told that the good cultures that makes milk "buttermilk" cannot grow if there is an overabundance of fat, because fat breeds bacteria which eat the cultures and make your dairy rancid, so all cultured buttermilk is low or no fat. I have seen some brands of cultured buttermilk that add butter pieces (it's weird, literally little fake yellow dots floating in the buttermilk) making it higher in calories and fat, but I don't use it.

Anyway, back on topic, I think my cake was dry because of the tannins of the wine and I think all the flavor just evaporated out. Like I said, it tasted great day 1, but it don't taste so good now. I scrapped it and made something else. Strawberry daiquiri cupcakes. Those, my friends, rocked.

scp1127; I have never made this cake myself and it is not totally from scratch, but the picture of it on my calendar looks so yummy. It calls for Pink Champagne in the ingredients. I thought I would post it for you even if you have already found the cake you want to use. Also the recipe came from Pampered chef and it does not state what size pans to use, but I am guessing 9".

Raspberry-Champagne Cream Cake
Pampered Chef Calendar-2010-2011


Yields 16 servings
Cake: 1 pkg. white cake mix(18.25 oz)
3 Egg Whites
¾ C. Pink Champagne
½ C. Milk
2 T. Vegetable Oil
1 t. Vanilla
6 drops Red food coloring

Frosting: 2 C. Heavy whipping Cream
½ C. Powdered Sugar
1 t. Vanilla
2 lg. Marshmallows sliced into quarters
Fresh Raspberries(optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare cake pans; set aside. Combine cake ingredients and whishk 2-3 minutes or until smooth. Divide batter between pans spreading evenly. Bake 20-24 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean. Remove pans from oven. Press cakes gently with a clean kitchen towel; cool 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto cooling racks then invert again so they are top-side up; cool completely.

For frosting; beat cream, sugar and vanilla on high speed of electric hand mixer until starting to thicken. Place marshmallows in another dish and microwave on high 10-20 seconds or until almost melted; add to whipping cream and beat on high speed until soft peaks form.
To put together, cut cakes into 2 layers each(4 layers altogether. Place one layer on cake plate spread with 2/3 c. of the frosting; top with another cake layer repeat with remaining layers. Frost top and sides of cake with remaining frosting. Garnish with raspberries if desired.
Let us know how your cake turns out, please? TIA

Thanks for the info on buttermilk. That actually makes a lot of sense. Your strawberry daiquiri cupcakes sound amazing!

Jules, the recipe sounds good except for the box mix part! I was actually thinking of making the champagne cake from Susan, but with raspberries and Chambord instead of the wild strawberry Fragoli.