This pink champagne cake is super moist and fluffy thanks to real champagne mixed right into the batter, layered with tart raspberry filling, and frosted with my easy buttercream frosting with a little touch of molasses to warm up the flavor. It's the perfect cake for New Year's Eve, birthdays, bridal showers, or any time you want to pop a bottle and celebrate!
I adapted this recipe from my famous pink velvet cake, cut the sugar back a bit, and swapped in champagne and a splash of sparkling wine flavoring. There's just something about those pink layers that SCREAMS celebration. I originally made this cake for New Year's Eve, and for this version I filled it with my homemade raspberry cake filling and finished it with pretty pink vintage piping. It's a showstopper for any celebration.
Quick Glance: Pink Champagne Cake
- Recipe Name: Pink Champagne Cake.
- Why You'll Love It: Moist, fluffy champagne-flavored layers, tart raspberry filling, easy buttercream with a hint of molasses, and pretty pink vintage piping.
- Time and Difficulty: About 15 minutes of prep and 35 to 40 minutes to bake, plus time to make and chill the raspberry filling. The cake is beginner-friendly, and the vintage piping is an intermediate project.
- Main Ingredients: Cake flour, brut champagne, egg whites, buttermilk, butter, raspberries, powdered sugar, molasses.
- Method: Reverse-creamed cake batter with champagne, baked in three 8" layers, filled with raspberry filling, frosted with easy buttercream, and finished with pink vintage piping.
- Texture and Flavor: Soft, tender, fluffy crumb with sweet vanilla and a little champagne tang.
- Quick Tip: Use freshly opened, room temperature champagne. The bubbles help give the cake lift.
Jump to:
- Quick Glance: Pink Champagne Cake
- What Makes This Pink Champagne Cake So Good
- What's The Best Champagne For Pink Champagne Cake?
- Pink Champagne Cake Ingredients
- How To Make Pink Champagne Cake Step-By-Step
- Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator
- Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator
- Cups of Batter Needed
- Cups of Frosting Needed
- Common Pink Champagne Cake Problems To Avoid
- Final Thoughts
- Make This Recipe Your Own
- Pink Champagne Cake FAQs
- More Celebration Cake Recipes To Try
- Leave Me A Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Recipe
What Makes This Pink Champagne Cake So Good
This cake is made for celebrating. It's soft, fluffy, and pretty enough to be the centerpiece of any party. Here's what makes it so good:
- Real champagne right in the batter, so you can actually taste it
- Reverse creaming gives you a super tender, fine crumb that's still sturdy enough to stack and decorate
- Tart raspberry filling cuts through the sweetness and looks gorgeous when you slice into it
- Easy buttercream with a Tablespoon of molasses warms up the flavor so it's not just plain sweet
- Easy to make kid-friendly or alcohol-free with sparkling juice (see Make This Recipe Your Own)
- The layers freeze beautifully, so you can bake ahead for a party
What's The Best Champagne For Pink Champagne Cake?
Did you know that not all champagnes are the same? They range from not sweet at all (brut nature) to very sweet (demi-sec). For this pink champagne cake, anything in the middle of the road works great. Look for the word "brut" on the bottle. If you use a sweeter champagne like demi-sec, reduce the sugar in the recipe by 1 Tablespoon to account for the extra sweetness.
You can totally use a pink champagne, a sparkling rosé, or André Blush if that's what you have. I prefer brut plus a drop or two of pink gel color because brut lets me control the sweetness, and the gel color gives me a reliable pink every time. The pink is optional though, the color doesn't change the flavor at all.
And yes, the bubbles matter! Use a freshly opened bottle at room temperature. The carbonation adds lift to the batter, so flat leftover champagne won't give you quite the same fluffy cake.
Pink Champagne Cake Ingredients
This cake is made with simple ingredients you probably already have, plus a bottle of bubbly. I always recommend weighing your ingredients with a digital kitchen scale for the most accurate results.
- Cake flour - Lower protein than all-purpose flour, so you get a soft, tender crumb. No cake flour on hand? My cake flour substitute is what I reach for.
- Granulated sugar - Sweetens the cake and the raspberry filling, and helps keep the cake moist.
- Baking powder and baking soda - Work together with the buttermilk and champagne to give the cake its rise.
- Salt - Balances the sweetness in both the cake and the buttercream.
- Unsalted butter - Used for the cake batter and the buttercream. Soft, room temperature butter is key so your batter and frosting don't break.
- Buttermilk - Adds tenderness and a little tang. If you don't have any, use my buttermilk substitute.
- Champagne - Brut champagne at room temperature. See the section above for picking the right bottle.
- Egg whites - Whites only in the cake keep the crumb light and the color clean. Use pasteurized egg whites in the buttercream since they aren't cooked. Pasteurized whites work in the cake too.
- Vegetable oil - Keeps the cake moist and soft, even after chilling. You can substitute any other type of oil that you prefer but depending on what you use, it can alter the flavor.
- Vanilla extract - Used in both the cake and the buttercream.
- Sparkling wine flavoring - Optional, but it boosts the champagne flavor. I use LorAnn sparkling wine flavoring.
- Pink gel food color - Just a drop or two gives the cake that pretty pink, and a little more tints the buttercream for the piping. Optional for the cake.
- Powdered sugar - Sweetens and gives body to the easy buttercream.
- Molasses - Just a Tablespoon in the buttercream warms up the flavor.
- Raspberries - Fresh or frozen both work for the filling.
- Lemon - The zest and juice brighten up the raspberry filling.
- Clear Jel or cornstarch - Thickens the filling so it holds its shape between the layers. Always mix it with water first, never straight into the hot fruit.
- Water - For the clear jel or cornstarch slurry.
How To Make Pink Champagne Cake Step-By-Step
Preheat your oven to 335º F and prepare three 8"x2" cake pans with cake goop or your favorite pan release. Make sure your champagne, buttermilk, egg whites, and butter are all at room temperature, or even slightly warm, so your batter doesn't curdle. Make the raspberry filling first (or the day before) so it has time to chill completely.
- Make the raspberry filling. Cook your raspberries and sugar until bubbling, strain out the seeds if you like, then stir in the Clear Jel or cornstarch slurry and cook for 1 minute until glossy. Stir in the lemon juice and zest, cool, and chill until completely cold.
- Mix the dry ingredients. Combine your cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix for about 10 seconds.
- Prep the wet ingredients. In one container, combine your buttermilk and oil. In another, whisk together your egg whites, champagne, vanilla, sparkling wine flavoring, and pink color.
- Add the butter. Add your softened butter to the dry ingredients and mix on low until the mixture looks like coarse sand, about 30 seconds.
- Add the buttermilk and oil. Pour in your buttermilk and oil mixture, mix until the dry ingredients are moistened, then turn up to medium and mix for 2 full minutes to build the cake's structure.
- Add the egg white mixture. Scrape your bowl, turn the mixer to low, and add the egg white mixture in three batches, mixing for about 15 seconds between each one.
PRO TIP: Don't cut that 2-minute mix short! That's what builds the structure of the cake. Skip it and your cake could collapse.
- Divide and bake. Divide the batter evenly between your three pans and bake at 335º F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of the center clean. A little shrinking is normal.
- Tap the pans. As soon as the cakes come out of the oven, tap each pan firmly on the counter once to release the steam. This stops the cakes from shrinking too much.
- Cool the layers. Flash cool your layers in the freezer, unwrapped, for 30 minutes if you want to decorate right away, or wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze until you need them.
- Make the buttercream. Whip your pasteurized egg whites and powdered sugar on high with the whisk attachment for 5 minutes, then add your softened butter in chunks while it whips. Add your salt, molasses, and vanilla.
- Whip until fluffy. Keep whipping until the buttercream no longer looks curdled and is light and fluffy. This can take 15 to 20 minutes depending on your mixer. If it still tastes buttery, keep going. For extra smooth buttercream, switch to the paddle and mix on low for 10 to 15 minutes to knock out the air bubbles.
- Fill the cake. Place your first chilled layer on a cake board, pipe a buttercream dam around the edge, and spread the raspberry filling inside, no more than ¼" thick. Repeat with the second layer, then top with the third.
PRO TIP: If your buttercream is too cold and clinging to the sides of the bowl, take out about a cup, microwave it for 30 seconds, and pour it back in. It'll help the whole batch whip up light and fluffy.
- Crumb coat and final coat. Apply a thin crumb coat and chill for 15 minutes. Then apply your final coat of buttercream and smooth it with an offset spatula and a bench scraper. New to frosting cakes? My how to decorate a cake beginners guide walks you through it. Chill the cake until the buttercream is firm.
- Pipe the vintage decorations. Tint some of your buttercream pink. Use a round cutter or a 3" paper space key to mark even spaces around the top of the cake, then pipe your garlands and swags between the marks and finish with a shell border around the base. My vintage cake with buttercream piping tutorial walks through every piping tip and technique.
Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator
This recipe makes enough batter for three 8"x2" cake layers and enough buttercream to frost and pipe them. Use the servings slider on the recipe card to scale it, or use the calculator below for other pan sizes.
Cake Batter and Frosting Calculator
Select an option below to calculate how much batter or frosting you need. Adjust the servings slider on the recipe card to change the amounts the recipe makes.
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(based on 2" tall cake pan)
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Cupcake Tin Size
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Cups of Batter Needed
8 cups
Cups of Frosting Needed
5 cups
Note: measurements are estimated based off the vanilla cake recipe using standard US cake pans and sizes. Measurements used are for 2" tall cake pans only. Your results may vary. Do not overfill cake pans above manufacturer's recommended guidelines.
Common Pink Champagne Cake Problems To Avoid
- Cake collapsed in the middle. You probably cut the 2-minute mix short after adding the buttermilk and oil. That mixing time builds the structure the cake needs to hold itself up.
- Layers shrank a lot after baking. A little shrinking is normal, but tapping the pans on the counter right out of the oven releases the steam and keeps it to a minimum.
- Batter looks curdled. Your ingredients were too cold. Bring everything to room temperature, or even a little warm, before you start.
- Cake tastes flat, not like champagne. Use a freshly opened bottle and add the sparkling wine flavoring. Flat champagne loses the lift and some of the flavor.
- Filling squishing out the sides. Always pipe a buttercream dam around each layer, keep the filling no thicker than ¼", and make sure it's completely chilled before you use it.
Final Thoughts
Is this not the most gorgeous pink champagne cake you've ever seen? Photos don't do it justice. The pink vintage piping on the white buttercream is SO pretty, and when you slice into it you get those pink layers with bright raspberry filling in between. The cake itself is so soft and fluffy with that little bit of champagne flavor. Pop a bottle, pour yourself a glass, and put the rest in the cake!
Make This Recipe Your Own
- Kid-friendly or alcohol-free. Replace the champagne with sparkling juice and use the sparkling wine flavoring for that champagne taste.
- Champagne buttercream. Adding champagne to buttercream doesn't really add any flavor. If you want the frosting to taste like champagne, add a little sparkling wine flavoring instead.
- Swap the filling. Pink champagne cake pairs really well with any fruit, like my strawberry buttercream in place of the raspberry filling.
- Other frostings. Try my brown sugar Swiss meringue buttercream or white chocolate buttercream.
- Skip the pink. Leave out the gel color for a classic champagne cake. The color doesn't affect the flavor.
Pink Champagne Cake FAQs
It tastes like champagne! It doesn't taste exactly like sipping a glass of champagne, but it has a distinct flavor with notes of sweet vanilla and a little bit of tang.
Most of the alcohol bakes out of the cake, but not all of it. If you want a cake with no alcohol, replace the champagne with sparkling juice and use sparkling wine flavoring instead.
Yes, you can. Pasteurized egg whites work in both the cake batter and the buttercream.
Yes. Store it covered, then bring it back to room temperature and re-whip it before using it so it's smooth and fluffy again.
More Celebration Cake Recipes To Try
Leave Me A Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
If you made my Pink Champagne Cake or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments. I love hearing from you!
Recipe
Equipment
- Three 8″×2″ Cake Pans
- Electric Stand Mixer
- Digital Kitchen Scale
- Piping Bag
- fine mesh strainer optional, for seedless filling
Ingredients
Pink Champagne Cake
- 19 ounces cake flour
- 15 ounces granulated sugar
- 1 ½ Tablespoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 9 ounces unsalted butter room temperature
- 6 ounces buttermilk room temperature
- 3 ounces vegetable oil
- 9 ounces brut champagne room temperature, freshly opened
- 6 ounces egg whites room temperature
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2¼ teaspoons sparkling wine flavoring optional
- 2 to 3 drops pink gel food color optional
Easy Buttercream
- 8 ounces pasteurized egg whites
- 32 ounces powdered sugar
- 32 ounces unsalted butter softened
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon molasses
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Raspberry Filling
- 12 ounces raspberries fresh or frozen
- 5 ounces granulated sugar
- 1 small lemon zested
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 ounce water
- 2 Tablespoons Clear Jel or cornstarch
Instructions
Before You Begin
- Make the raspberry filling first so it can chill completely. Preheat the oven to 335º F. Prepare three 8"x2" cake pans with cake goop or pan spray. Bring the champagne, buttermilk, egg whites, and butter to room temperature.
- Use a scale to weigh your ingredients (including liquids) unless otherwise instructed (Tablespoons, teaspoons, pinch etc). Metric measurements are available in the recipe card.
Raspberry Filling
- Add the raspberries and sugar to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir and heat until bubbling.
- Optional: strain the hot mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds, then return it to the saucepan and bring back to a bubble.
- Whisk the water and Clear Jel or cornstarch together until smooth. Do not add the thickener directly to the hot fruit.
- Pour the slurry into the hot fruit while stirring constantly. Cook for 1 minute, stirring, until clear and glossy.
- Stir in the lemon juice and zest and cook for 1 more minute.
- Transfer to a heatproof container, press plastic wrap onto the surface, cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until fully chilled.
Pink Champagne Cake
- Combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix for 10 seconds.
- Combine the buttermilk and oil and set aside. In a separate container, whisk the egg whites, champagne, vanilla, sparkling wine flavoring, and pink food color together and set aside.
- Add the softened butter to the dry ingredients and mix on low until the mixture resembles coarse sand, about 30 seconds.
- Add the buttermilk and oil mixture and mix on low until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed and mix for 2 full minutes.
- Scrape the bowl. Reduce the speed to low and add the egg white mixture in three additions, mixing for 15 seconds after each.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake at 335º F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Immediately tap each pan firmly on the counter once to release the steam.
- Cool the layers in the freezer, unwrapped, for 30 minutes before decorating, or wrap in plastic wrap and freeze until needed.
Easy Buttercream
- Place the pasteurized egg whites and powdered sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on high for 5 minutes.
- With the mixer running, add the softened butter in chunks until it is all incorporated. Add the salt, molasses, and vanilla.
- Continue whipping until the buttercream is no longer curdled and is light and fluffy, 15 to 20 minutes depending on the mixer.
- Optional: switch to the paddle attachment and mix on low for 10 to 15 minutes to remove air bubbles.
Assembly
- Place the first chilled layer on a cake board. Pipe a buttercream dam around the edge and spread half of the raspberry filling inside, no more than ¼" thick. Repeat with the second layer, then top with the third layer.
- Apply a thin crumb coat and chill for 15 minutes.
- Apply the final coat of buttercream and smooth with an offset spatula and bench scraper. Chill until firm.
- Tint the remaining buttercream pink. Mark even spaces around the top of the cake with a 3" space key, then pipe garlands and swags between the marks and a shell border around the base.
Tasha says
I do not see the buttercream recipe. It is not at the bottom. I even went to print out the recipe and it's not on there.
The Sugar Geek Show says
I updated it for you
Niry Agosto says
Hi
In some recipes you included a way to
change the metrics from ounces to grams, Do you have it for this one?
The Sugar Geek Show says
I'll update it for you 🙂
Sarah says
What food coloring did you use? I've made 3 cakes in about 5days and none came out pink and I upped the food coloring every time. I can't figure it out. And I'm not usually dense,but this has me stumped.
The Sugar Geek Show says
Just a drop of electric pink food coloring from Americolor.
Sarah says
Thank you! I've used 2 other brands and neither stayed pink after baking.?♀️
Melissa says
Forgot to do the star rating
Melissa says
Made this cake yesterday....it was truly amazing! Loved it!
Paige says
I made these in cupcakes and topped with a simple swiss meringue buttercream, and they were INSANELY good. Light and airy, just the right hint of champagne. I followed the tips from your other recipes in that I started the cupcakes at 400 degrees for 5 minutes and then went to 350 for 10, and they came out absolutely perfect.
Thank you so much for sharing your recipes with us, I've made your vanilla cake, and also coconut & chocolate cakes (into cupcakes) and they were all delicious!!
Paige says
Hi! Do you add the oil to the champagne and extracts? I'm not sure where to add it. Love your recipes, thank you for sharing them!
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes you do
Rebecca Cordero says
could you soak the cake with more pink champagne instead of simple syrup to make the cake more moist?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes you could, just be aware too much moisture can make the cake soggy 🙂
Renee says
I made this cake - 4 tiers - for an engagement party, and it was absolutely the best cake I have ever made. The texture was sturdy - I never had to worry about it crumbling - and it was beautiful on the inside. I filled it with buttercream and sliced strawberries soaked in champagne. It was the talk of the party! Thank you for a genius recipe!
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed the champagne cake recipe!
Sarah VanWychen says
I want to make this cake in three different sizes for my sons weddding cake and tiered as well . Is the cake sturdy enough to handle being tiered with three sizes ? Any recommendations ?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes it is. Cake tiers are supported by the cake supports
Hazel A says
Hello Liz,
Good day! May I ask if I can use this cake for carving? Thanks.
Jen says
Filling you stated is white chocolate buttercream and strawberries. I’m assuming a layer of buttercream and sliced strawberries on top? Then repeat for each layer?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Yes or strawberry puree
Dan says
Are the liquids measured by weight or by volume?
The Sugar Geek Show says
Everything is by weight so that you only have to use one bowl for dry and one for liquids
Nicole says
I made this cake yesterday and iced it today after chilling. The flavor is great, but the cake came out kind of dense. Any recommendations or fixes for that?
Thanks!
The Sugar Geek Show says
I do feel like the cake is a bit denser than my vanilla cake recipe if the champagne is not warm enough. I actually will nuke it for about 10 seconds to make sure it's the same temp as everything else.
Heather O'Day says
Try sifting your flour (if you didn't already) and adjusting the speed of your mixer. An airy batter can often equal a fluffier cake. Hope this helps 🙂
Hani says
Hi, thank you for sharing this recipe. May I know what can be used as the alternative to pink champagne pls as I can’t take alcohol.
Thank you.
The Sugar Geek Show says
If you can't use alcohol then I wouldn't make a pink champagne cake 🙂 Try the vanilla cake recipe https://sugargeekshow.com/vanilla-cake/
Laurie says
I just had some of this AMAZING cake at a bridal shower today. Between the two layers they put a band of frosting on the top outer edge of the bottom layer and put strawberry filling in between the two layers. It was absolutely HEAVENLY! Everyone raves about it! That was the most moist cake I’ve ever had and I am not a cake person and I want to make this cake! ❤️❤️❤️
Irenka says
Hello! Thank you for sharing this! How long does the cake last? Does it hold up well under sugarpaste in a tiered cake? Thank you!
The Sugar Geek Show says
What do you mean how long does it last? A cake should be eaten as soon as possible for freshness. Each day you don't eat it, it will taste more dry and stale. I typically will bake a cake one day, frost it the next and deliver on the third day. Yes you can cover it in fondant just like any other butter cake, just chill before handling.