Champagne Cake with Blackberry Buttercream

Cheers to the New Year with a Fault Line designed, white champagne cake with a beautiful natural pink buttercream made with fresh blackberries.

Champagne Fault Line Cake with Blackberry Buttercream | URBAN BAKES

I love the beginning of a new year. It feels like a blank canvas, a clean slate for a fresh start. A time to leave any of the past year’s unpleasantness in the past where they belong and move forward. A time for change. If anything in the past year was a concern, let’s do something about it.

Thing is, this doesn’t have to be at the start of the new year. You can begin setting goals and execute whenever you feel motivated to do so. And one thing I’ve learned from Gary Vee, an inspirational leader, it’s okay to change your mind. As 2019 has come to a close, I’ve changed my mind in a few areas of my life. One of which I’ve found myself yearning to get back into this web space of blogging and who knows, I’ve been entertaining the idea of doing videos!

Champagne Fault Line Cake with Blackberry Buttercream | URBAN BAKES

I didn’t feel it was necessary to “wait” till 2020 hits, despite it being in a couple of days. But as of late, I felt a strong desire and motivated to start, so without further ado, this is it. I bring to you this amazing NEW YEARS themed cake which is super simple to make. Trust me, it’s almost no different from frosting a regular cake, you just do it in 2 separate parts (explained in the Assembly section of the recipe card).

I felt as a New Years cake, it was very fitting to make it champagne flavored. A time to toast to new beginnings. The cake is intentionally white to have a more dramatic contrast from the black buttercream however, you can use a simple yellow, chocolate or even strawberry cake. The general rule of thumb in the recipe is to swap the liquid ingredient (usually milk) out for champagne or sparkling wine but depending on the quantity of the dry ingredients, I recommend not going over more than 1 cup. I’d start with the recipe below and then tweak as you see fit for the future.

Champagne Fault Line Cake with Blackberry Buttercream | URBAN BAKES

Blackberry buttercream was chosen to give a lovely, sweet counterbalance to the champagne flavor while giving a beautiful, natural, pink color to help bring a little femininity to the dark exterior.

You may have recently seen this Fault Line cake design spreading across social media over the past few months. It’s intended to give the illusion of a reveal of something in the center. While there are many variations of a fault line such as piped rosettes, slices of fruit or even a wrapped edible sheet, I opted for sprinkles. I have TONS of sprinkles, like pounds of this stuff. So when the opportunity came to use them, I said HECK YES!

Truth be told, I didn’t have the gold ones needed for this theme, so I bought more… go figure!

Champagne Fault Line Cake with Blackberry Buttercream | URBAN BAKES

Aside from using sprinkles, my absolute favorite part of designing this cake, was painting. I never thought I would find a brush stroke to be SO therapeutic. It’s amazing how a simple line of paint can make an impressive difference! Maybe it’s that metallic color. One thing I would do differently, is make the gold trim wider so it can be easily seen in the photos.

Some items I found most helpful when creating this cake are listed below which can be found in your local craft store or online:

Champagne Cake with Blackberry Buttercream URBAN BAKES 6.1

If you enjoyed this recipe, consider commenting & rating below. I love to see your feedback and help answer any questions. Don’t forget to check below for related recipes.

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Champagne Fault Line Cake with Blackberry Buttercream | URBAN BAKES

Champagne Cake with Blackberry Buttercream


  • Author: URBAN BAKES
  • Total Time: 3 1/2 hours
  • Yield: 6-inch 3 layer cake 1x
  • Diet: Vegetarian

Description

Cheers to the New Year with a Fault Line designed, white cake infused with champagne and a beautiful natural pink buttercream made with fresh blackberries.


Ingredients

Scale

CHAMPAGNE CAKE

  • 2 1/4 all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 cup vegetable shortening
  • 1 cup Champagne or sparkling wine
  • 5 large egg whites
  • 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract

BLACKBERRY COMPOTE

  • 1/2 cup fresh blackberries
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon water

BUTTERCREAM

  • 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
  • 6 cups powdered sugar
  • 6 tablespoons blackberry compote
  • 1 tablespoon milk, optional
  • Black food color gel

 

  • sprinkles
  • gold edible cake paint
  • 1/4 cup dark chocolate candy and molding formula

 


Instructions

CAKE:

 

  1. Heat oven to 350°F.  Prepare three 6-inch round baking pans with baking spray with flour or grease bottom and sides with butter and lightly flour to coat; set aside. 

  2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; set aside. 

  3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on high setting, whip shortening until glossy and smooth, about 30 seconds.  Gradually add flour mixture in 3 parts alternating with champagne or sparkling wine. Whip in eggs and vanilla. Pour batter in even portions among the 3 prepared baking pans.

  4. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or a few crumbs remain. 

  5. Allow cakes to rest in the pans for 5 minutes before inverting them out of the pan and onto a cooling rack.  Ensure each cake has cooled to room temperature before covering each cake separately in plastic wrap; chill in fridge before frosting.

 

COMPOTE:

 

  1. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stir in blackberries, sugar and water together until blackberries begin to swell and burst, about 2 minutes.  Lightly mash any remaining blackberries to breakdown and release its juice for another 5 minutes giving a few stirs.  Decrease heat and allow to simmer until syrup has thickened, about 5 to 7 minutes.  Remove from heat. 

  2. In a small bowl run compote through a fine mesh sieve to remove any skins and large pieces; discard. Set blackberry juice to the side to cool to room temperature.  Note: the juice may firm to a jelly state which can be used for frosting.

 

BUTTERCREAM:

 

  1. In a large bowl using an electric mixer, whip butter until light in color and smooth.  Gradually add 3 cups of powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, and continue to whip until each addition becomes smooth.  Add in blackberry compote and continue to add the remaining 3 cups of powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, whipping the buttercream after each addition. 

  2. If a light pink color is desired, reserve 2 cups of buttercream to frost between cake layers.  Mix in black food color gel to the remaining buttercream to be used for the fault line and exterior of cake. 

 

ASSEMBLY:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

  1. Remove cakes from fridge and using an angled spatula, frost about 1/3 cup of pink buttercream over 2 of the cakes.  Stack all three cakes leaving the unfrosted cake, on top. Gently frost the top and sides of cake. Place in fridge to allow buttercream to dry; about 30 minutes.

  2. Once buttercream has dried, remove from fridge and place cake into a 9 x 13 baking pan.  Frost a thin band of the black buttercream, max 2-inches wide, around the center of the cake.  Be sure the band is not too wide. Grab a handful of sprinkles and begin coating from the bottom of the fault line band by sliding your hand in an upward motion while gently inserting the sprinkles into the frosted band.  NOTE: some sprinkles will fall into the pan; you may reuse these sprinkles. Once the entire band is covered in sprinkles, place cake in the freezer to allow sprinkles to set in place, about 15 minutes.

  3. If by the slightest touch, the sprinkles do not move, the cake is ready for the final frosting.  Place cake on a turntable, using an angled spatula, frost the top and sides of the cake with remaining black buttercream.  Be sure to only overlap the top and bottom of the fault line a maximum of 1 cm to achieve the best look. Alternatively, you may fill a piping bag and frost top and sides for a more even coat.  Using a long angled spatula or bench scraper, smooth out the sides and top of the cake. Place cake in fridge to allow buttercream to dry before painting the gold rim. 

  4. Once buttercream has dried, using a small food-safe flat brush, lightly dip brush in gold paint and paint the rim of the fault line.  If your cake has a raised rim at the top, you may paint this as well. Allow to dry.  

  5. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, microwave 1/4 cup of chocolate in 30 second intervals, stir.  Once all chocolate is melted, spoon into a flexible silicone mold set of 2 and 0. Run a toothpick through the coated mold to remove any air bubbles.  Scrape off excess chocolate and place molds in fridge for 10 to 15 minutes to allow chocolate to harden. Gently remove chocolates from mold and repeat process one more time. 

  6. Using the same flat brush, paint the front and sides of the 2’s and 0’s. NOTE: best to use tweezers to grab the molds as fingertips may cause the chocolates to melt. Once dried, gently insert into the softened buttercream on top of the cake. Toothpicks may be used to hold in place, if needed.  Slice cake and ENJOY!

Notes

  • If you plan to use edible paint, buttercream frosting is recommended over other frostings due to its ability to dry quickly.  Do not paint over wet frosting.
  • Feel free to use a cheaper champagne or sparkling wine as this won’t make a difference in the intensity of the flavor.  Leave the good stuff for the drinks!
  • Cook Time: 40 minutes
  • Cuisine: American

Keywords: champagne cake, new years eve cake, fault-line cake

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14 thoughts on “Champagne Cake with Blackberry Buttercream”

  1. The champagne cake looks so yummy. Appreciate the hard work that goes behind it. Would love to have a slice. Wish you a great year ahead.

  2. Wow. I would love to try making this champagne cake with blackberry butter cream frosting. It sure looks really pleasing to the eyes, I want a slice like right now! Wish me luck in my attempt to create this pretty cake!

  3. OMG this cake looks so good. I have never once even considered black icing. I love the look of this amazing cake though. Looks like a huge commitment and effort. Happy New Year!

    1. Hi Paula, Yes, the cake looks like a lot of effort but surprisingly, it’s the same as frosting a regular cake, you just do the center first, throw on the sprinkles and then frost the rest of it. So fun to do! Hope you’re able to give it a try and that you love it.
      HAPPY NEW YEAR!

    1. Hi Emman,
      Yes, you should have a try! The champagne flavor of a cake is a nice change from a regular vanilla/chocolate kind.
      Happy New Year!

    1. Hi Lashunta,
      Figured strawberries and champagne was too common so I decided to change it up and I loved it!
      HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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