Champagne Mimosa Cake – tender, orange sponge cake smothered with silky champagne buttercream. A new layer cake recipe by our contributor, Tessa Huff.
Cheers to surviving the holidays and welcoming a new year! As we pack away our twinkly lights, candy canes, and gingerbread, be sure to keep out those cake pans and baking tools for one last hurrah! December is also a time for reflection and hitting “refresh,” on yet another crazy year. Kick off 2017 with a bang, and a slice of this Champagne Mimosa Cake, of course!
Do you like to celebrate a new year the moment it begins at midnight or on the day itself? When I was a kid, New Year’s Eve was always a good excuse to stay up passed bedtime and make an obscene amount of noise when the clock struck 12. As I grew older, those pyjama parties turned into sequin dresses and fancy heels and apple cider turned to champagne. Today, I am all about the New Years Day brunch. I’ll still be “Cheers”-ing at home with my little family come midnight, but most of the celebrating will have to wait until morning. Who’s with me?
Better brunching is at the top of my 2017 resolutions list, so why not start right away with a New Year’s Day breakfast feast! Of course every good brunch kicks off with a mimosa and this cake incorporates those flavors into a sparkling sweet treat. Tender, orange sponge cake is smothered with silky champagne buttercream. The flavors pair together perfectly! No need for any other frills, except for the décor – of course. Loopy ruffles give this cake extra festive flair and a sprinkling of gold sprinkles is the perfect touch. Cheers, everyone!
CHAMPAGNE MIMOSA CAKE
a layer cake recipe by Tessa Huff
For the Orange Sponge Cake:
2 ¾ cup cake flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
zest of one orange
½ vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons canola oil
4 eggs
1/3 cup orange juice
1 ¼ cup milk
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 8-inch round cake pans and set aside.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar, and orange zest on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add in the vanilla and oil. Mix until combined.
- With the mixer on medium-low, add in the eggs, one at a time. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl.
- Add in half of the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. With the mixer on low, stream in the orange juice and milk. Add in the remaining dry ingredients and mix until smooth.
- Evenly distribute the batter between the prepared pans. Bake for 22 to 26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes then remove the cakes from their pans.
For the Champagne Buttercream:
6 large egg whites
2 cups granulated sugar
3 cups unsalted butter, cubed, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup champagne or sparkling wine
- Place the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Gently whisk until combined.
- Place mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water to create a double-boiler. Whisking constantly, heat the egg mixture until it registers 160 degrees on a candy thermometer. Carefully transfer the bowl back to the stand mixer.
- Using the whisk attachment, whip the egg mixture on high for 8 to 10 minutes until stiff, glossy peaks and the outside of the mixing bowl returns to room temperature.
- Switch to the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low, slowly add cubed butter and mix until incorporated.
- Add vanilla extract. Whip on medium until silky smooth, about 3 to 5 minutes. The buttercream may look curdled or soupy. Keep mixing until it is completely smooth.
- With the mixer on low, slowly stream in the champagne until fully incorporated. Turn up the mixer to medium-high and mix for one minute or until silky smooth.
For the Assembly:
Gold Sprinkles, optional
Place the bottom layer of cake on a serving dish or cake board. Spread on about ½ to 1 cup of buttercream. Top with the next layer of cake a repeat. Crumb coat the cake with the buttercream.
For the ruffle design, frost the top of the cake as normal. Using a pastry bag fitted with a petal piping tip, pipe spiral ruffles in vertical rows around the cake. Start at the bottom of the cake and work up the sides, similar to this tutorial. Hold the piping bag vertically with the narrow end of the piping tip facing out. Finish with gold sprinkles, if desired.
YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY:
Raspberry Champagne Cake
Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Cake
Eggnog Cake
Champagne & Raspberry Cupcakes
Sprinkle NYE Cake
Does the orange juice get added along with the milk?
Yes, thank you! We’ve updated the recipe to clarify. =)
This cake is beautiful! Pinned!
Not clear on what it means to keep the narrow end “out”. It seems that it would either be up/down or left/right. Please help! The cake is beautiful–I love orange cake and the design is gorgeous!
I believe Tessa is making vertical rows of ruffles, similar to what we show in this tutorial but using a petal piping tip. So when you’re holding your piping bag vertically, the piping tip is pointing down, and the narrow end of the tip should be facing out away from the cake. The wide end of the tip will be closet to the cake. Click through to the ruffle tutorial, grab your petal tip, and hopefully it will all make sense! =)
The cake looks and sounds amazing! Could you please share where your champagne glasses are from? Those are the exact ones I’m looking for.
They’re the Edge Champagne Glass from Crate&Barrel. Here’s a link.
This is a beautiful cake. Is there anything suitable to substitute for the champaigne, or sparkling wine in the icing recipe?
I think that could be skipped all together. I have made few recipes for SMBC and no liquid whatsoever is added.
This cake looks amazing! I hope that it tastes as good as it looks. Just finished making it for Christmas! Now if everyone can resist it until then!
SO DELICIOUS CAKE!!! great article, its a struggle everytime I bake, especially sponge cake, though i grease it, the cake is having a hard time coming out in the pan, there are times it leaves a crumble, worse, it deformed a my cake.. I took me online about the DIY effective grease by blondektichen
I just mixed the three
– 1/2 cup all purpose flour
– 1/2 cup shortening
– 1/2 cup vegetable (or canola) oil
accrdng to it, it can last for atleast 3 mos in tight air container. It did and someho, it didnt stuck my cake in the pan
This cake is beautiful and sounds delicious! Would the spongcake recipe be suitable for cupcakes also, or would changes to the recipe need to be made? If so, what changes? I appreciate any advice, or baking help anyone gives me.
I know this was a few months ago…but just decrease the baking time. Check them at about 12 min and go from there. I also dropped my oven temp a bit but it tends to run hot. Happy baking!
This cake looks absolutely amazing! Does it take a long time to do the beautiful ruffle icing?
Ola, I have the same question about cupcakes! Thank you in advance!
Yes, just decrease the baking time checking them around 15 minutes. We also have a raspberry champagne cupcake recipe that you might like. You can find it HERE.
Hi
This recipe sounds and looks divine. Could you please tell me if the 160 degrees is in Celcius or Farenheit?
Thanks so much
All temperatures are in Fahrenheit. Happy Baking!
Beautiful cake! Can this buttercream be used to cover the cake with fondant?
Thanks!
Sure, it would hold up fine under fondant. Just chill the frosted cake to firm up the buttercream before covering with fondant.
Do you think it would be possible to use non-alcoholic champagne in the frosting recipe without ruining the taste?
If you enjoy the taste of the non-alcoholic champagne, then you should enjoy the frosting recipe. A good rule of thumb is to only bake/cook with an alcohol that you enjoy drinking. So the same rule would apply to a non-alcoholic beverage as well. =)
I just made this cake which was amazing flavor however I found the icing to be too buttery and no one ate it unfortunately that is all we could taste. Is there a different icing that could be used. I found 3 cups to much butter. Thanks in advance
If the butter flavor was too strong for your preference, you can reduce the amount of butter used. We have other SMBC recipes that use 1 3/4 cups of butter for 6 egg whites. So definitely feel free to adjust as needed for your tastes.
Yes the icing is gross….way too much butter! I kept checking the recipe to make sure 3 cups of butter was correct. Too bad I didn’t see this post before making the cake. I would definitely decrease the amount of butter! Also, you couldn’t taste the champagne.
How many days in advance can this be made? I would imagine it just needs to be refrigerated if being made in advance?
I am unsure about the 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out. Do you put in the actual split bean skin in, or the seeds? Can you also use pure vanilla extract instead? If so then how much? Thanks
Hi! I used your butter cake recipe a few weeks ago and it was phenomenal! I want to use this orange sponge cake recipe but use lime instead. Do you think using lime will translate the same as the orange? Thanks!!