Scratch Pink Champagne Cake - Page 3

If I wasn't trying to replicate a cake, there are a lot of possibilities. My white cake has 1 c milk. I wanted to keep as much as I could, less the reduction. I thought I would make the batter without the milk, use the reduction to taste and fill in with the milk. This is a base for the only cake that I use with a simple syrup, so I know it can handle the syrup. That cake is good with no frosting, so I don't want to veer too far off of that base recipe. I am really going to try to see if the strawberry will be something that interests her. I use a line of gourmet strawberry jam that I could add to the middle filling.

Jen, I have that book and Boozy Baker. I get ideas from them, but end up doing my own thing. As I said in an earlier post, I don't do novelty alcohol flavors. When I add Makers Mark, the cake is better than if I used vanilla. I use it in my Boston Cream Pie (cake). I did make an Absinthe cupcake as a novelty, but it turned out really good. In that recipe, I used the sugar cube and lit the Absinthe. The result was an anise/licorice flavored reduction in the IMBC frosting with the resulting Absinthe syrup brushed onto the chocolate cupcake. That was how I got the idea for this reduction. I can't drink alcohol without getting a headache, but a few years ago, I financed revamping my construction company by bartending at a casino. I loved it. I used to smell the aroma of the vast amount of flavors and go home and make desserts. For example, Nuts and Berries... Frangelico and Chambord. I think it is on my menu. I rarely bake alcohol in a cake. It is usually brushed on and/or in the frosting and filling. I flavor ganache too.

There is more information in this thread than on the web. You can find plenty of recipes that aren't scratch and plenty that just don't look right. I think Pink Champagne IMBC returns nothing.

I think we are going to do very well with this one. I'm bummed that I have too much to do until Saturday. Tonight I had one 9 inch chocolate to make. But no, I decided to completely redesign my IMBC recipe and I had to play with a new decorating toy. I started at 10 and ended at 130. Oh well, I had fun and the results were worth it.

Is anyone trying the Mimosa cake?

I went to the liquor store today and bought my $25 bottle of Cointreau. I wanted to sub GM, which I always have on hand, but after a quick google, I found that GM is brandy based and Cointreau is neutral based. So I bought it. When I got home, I smelled both. The Cointreau had a very nice pure, strong, orange aroma, where the GM was heavier and spicier. I always smell vs. taste because the smell gives you a better indicator of the taste in food.

I just finished my big order. I hope between orders and 300 jumbo chocolate chip cookies for my daughter's school fair, that I will do the Mimosa cake .

I found a bottle of Barefoot Pink Moscato. It was described on the label as fruity and sweet. So I think this may work for all of the cakes in this thread.

cakestyles... and Bailey's.

I bought my orange for the zest and I found the moscato di asti, so I'm ready to do it. I think curd and syrup tonight. Then the cake hopefully tomorrow night.

I hope the base cake works because I still need a plain version or one with strawberry filling for my client. But I think I will call her and give her a big slice of this Mimosa cake and see what she thinks. I haven't even bothered to price out this cake yet. The pint of Cointreau will only make three cakes because 3 tbsp go into the buttercream.

Right, cakestyles. I read that too. I'm thinking of making it a two layer 8" cake. Did you see the 10 x 3 pan size? I don't want that size. I'm thinking of torting the layers, but splitting the curd between two of the layers. I didn't look at the syrup, but I know for my Bailey's cake and coconut cake, I use 1/2 c and that is quite enough to soak. I also use a six to 7 1/2 yolk/white buttercream for that size cake. It allows for some piping.

I've made the curd and the syrup. Thought I'd post my changes.

For the syrup, I don't have beans because I make my own extract. I combined a little homemade extract and a tiny bit of vanilla bean paste. Because I didn't need my bean to steep, I cooked the syrup to 220 right away. I let it cool before I let the extract or the Cointreau touch the syrup. This stuff is really good.

Now for the curd. She never told the amount of concentrate. She just said be generous and make sure it has a good bite. 2/3 like in the recipe was too mild. I went up to about 1 c and added 2 tsp more cornstarch to compensate. I like to be generous with the cornstarch anyway. It never hurts and always helps. The curd is excellent. It's cooling now.

I did half the syrup and it is still probably enough for more than two cakes. I made the whole curd recipe, but I will make corrections after I assemble the cake. It wasn't a huge amount. But because I upped the flavor, I will be able to use less and keep the layers more stable. I think with the curd, I would have this cake cold for transporting and maybe a center straw? Any suggestions?

I'll make the layers tomorrow in between 240 4" chocolate chip cookies... just the dough.

Wait cakestyles!!!! There is way too much liquid going in that IMBC. I reduced the moscato by 50%. I took it from 1/2 c to 1/4 c. On the IMBC, I used 5 eggs, 4 sticks of butter, the entire reduction of Moscato, 2 tbsp of Cointreau, and 2 tbsp Cream de Cacao. It was a lot of liquid, but I needed it to get the flavor, especially the Moscato. I think next time I will reduce the Moscato even more.

I bought the orange, but forgot the zest. But with the added concentrate, I didn't miss it.

This is a test cake, so not a pretty one. I sliced off a sliver of the cake, cut it in half, brushed it with syrup, added a little buttercream to make a barrier for the curd, layered a small amount of curd, topped it with the other half of the sliver, and added the IMBC. I have four layers, but this was just for tasting. I think I'll make little rounds to stack for a picture and for my client. I can always cut a six inch round to complete... or a 4 inch.

Overall it was a really good, refreshing cake. I did not, against my better judgement, let the Moscato become fully flat and I did get some big bubbles. It didn't indicate it in the directions on this and many other cakes, but Lisa said it had big holes and she was right.

I think the cake is much lighter and more refreshing than my white cake made with milk or the other with white chocolate. But it does need a simple syrup for flavor. There is not much flavor on its own. This cake, because of the curd, is definitely an orange cake. It really was no different in time to make it than any other cake with a filling. The cost is high to buy the ingredients, but they go farther than I originally anticipated. The Cointreau in the IMBC is higher, but the syrup goes far. I'm freezing mine. The Moscato was only $7.00.

Now I will make this cake again with the same recipe, using the pink Moscato and a tiny bit of food coloring. I think I will get a strawberry liqueur and copy the simple syrup recipe. For the frosting, I will pull some aside and add extract and liqueur to make it strawberry. Here I will add pink coloring a little deeper than the cake. This will be the filling. For the frosting, I will use the champagne reduction, strawberry liqueur, and maybe the cream de cacao again. I'll keep this white.

Cakestyles, just add the reduction of the champagne to the finished IMBC and give it a spin. I really may take it close to a 75% reduction. The taste is there. Without it, it was just a Cointreau buttercream.

In European buttercreams, my rule of thumb is 1 tbsp liqueur for each stick of butter. This doesn't compromise the stability of the buttercream. I don't reduce the good stuff in buttercreams, but I didn't care about the Moscato.