This Elegant Pink Champagne Cake Tastes as Good as It Looks!

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Pretty pink champagne cake is as effervescent and fun as a freshly popped bottle of brut! It’s a perfect celebration cake for bridal showers, New Year’s Eve or engagement parties. Recipe includes a how-to video!

Slice of pink champagne cake on a plate with one bite missing.

Champagne Cake: The Perfect Celebration Cake

Just in time for New Year’s Eve, today’s pink champagne cake recipe comes by viewer request from my YouTube channel. If I could only use one word to describe this cake, I’d say it’s lovely. The cake layers are perfectly sweetened and lightly flavored with pink champagne, and the pretty pink buttercream frosting has a vibrant champagne flavor. Paired together, it’s incredible–soft, not too sweet, and simply put, lovely!

What’s to Love about This Recipe

Incredibly light and fluffy cake layers based on my white cake recipe. We achieve this texture by incorporating whipped egg whites into the batter–an extra step, yes, but well worth it for the end result.
Distinct champagne flavored frosting, thanks to a champagne reduction. I do this with my champagne star cookies too, and it works like a charm. Reducing the champagne also helps prevent the frosting from breaking when you add it.
So celebratory and elegant! I picture this cake being served at bridal showers, engagement parties, on New Year’s Eve, for Valentine’s Day (decorate with chocolate strawberries!), and so much more. It is absolutely celebration-worthy!

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Champagne Cake: The Perfect Celebration Cake
What’s to Love about This Recipe
Ingredients
How to Make Pink Champagne Cake
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Recipes
Pink Champagne Cake Recipe

Ingredients

Pink champagne. Also known as rosé champagne or rosé sparkling wine. If you can’t find pink champagne, I recommend using sparkling rosé instead. I do not recommend moscato rosé; I found it was too sweet and heavy for this recipe during my testing process.
Egg whites. I don’t recommend using carton egg whites, as they provide inconsistent results. Instead, separate your own eggs and make sure you don’t allow even a drop of egg yolk to get into your whites, or they won’t whip properly. If you don’t want to waste your egg yolks, save them for crème brûlée or chocolate pot de crème (two more celebration-worthy desserts!).
Vanilla. While we are mostly flavoring our cake and frosting with champagne, we are still adding a bit of vanilla extract too. It pairs nicely with the berry notes of the pink champagne.
Buttermilk. I tried this recipe quite a few ways, and using all champagne made the cake too dry and actually less flavorful. Ultimately, using part champagne and part buttermilk was best for flavor and texture!
Pink food coloring. Optional, but I like adding this to the cake (just the cake–not the frosting!) for a soft pink color. We get a nice color in the frosting from the pink champagne reduction, but the cake needs a little boost from food coloring. I linked to the exact food coloring I used in the recipe card below.

Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!

SAM’S TIP: It’s important that you use a champagne you think tastes great, because you will taste it in this cake!

How to Make Pink Champagne Cake

Make the Cake Batter

Fats and sugars after being creamed together.

Step 1: Cream the fats and sugar. Beat the butter until creamy, then add your oil, sugar and vanilla and mix again until everything is well combined and lightened in color.

Step 2: Alternate the buttermilk and dry ingredients. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. We’ll add this mixture to the batter in five parts; start with the flour, then add half the buttermilk. Repeat with another part flour, and the rest of the buttermilk.

Step 3: Alternate the pink champagne and dry ingredients. Continue alternating between the flour mixture and your liquid, this time using the pink champagne (I do the champagne in two parts just like the buttermilk). You should end with the flour mixture.

Mixing pink food coloring into cake batter.

Step 4: Add the food coloring (if using). Finally, stir in your food coloring, if using. I opt to add it because the cake will be pretty much white without it. Set this bowl aside while you prep your egg whites.

Whip the Egg Whites

Close-up of egg whites whipped to stiff peaks.

Step 5: Whip to stiff peaks. In a separate clean, dry, and grease free (important!) bowl, whip your egg whites with an electric mixer. Stop when the eggs reach stiff peaks; they will be fluffy, opaque, and hold their shape. I demonstrate this in my video below, if you need help with this process.

Folding egg whites into a pink cake batter.

Step 6: Gently fold into the batter. Use a spatula (not a mixer) to gently fold the egg whites into your prepared cake batter. Be careful not to deflate the egg whites while also making sure you incorporate them evenly.

Bake the Cakes

Three cake tins filled with pink cake batter before going in the oven.

Step 7: Divide the batter. Evenly portion the batter into your greased, floured, and parchment-lined cake pans. I will sometimes use a kitchen scale for this so I know each pan has the same amount (in this case, that’s 470g per pan).

Three cake layers cooling on stacked cooling rack.

Step 8: Bake and cool completely. Transfer the cake pans to the oven and bake until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, about 25 minutes. Remove the cakes from their pans after 10-15 minutes and let them cool completely on cooling racks.

Make the Frosting & Decorate

Pink champagne after being reduced on the stove until very dark in color.

Step 9: Make the pink champagne reduction. Cook the champagne in a skillet over medium heat until significantly reduced to about 6 tablespoons. It should simmer the whole time; I check it periodically by pouring the liquid into my measuring cup and returning it to the pan until I have the right amount. Make sure to let this cool completely before adding it to your frosting.

Mixing buttercream with an electric mixer.

Step 10: Make the buttercream. Beat the butter until creamy, then gradually add the powdered sugar until fully incorporated. Stir in the vanilla.

Incorporating pink champagne into buttercream with a mixer.

Step 11: Add the pink champagne reduction. Gradually add the champagne to the frosting, working with just a tablespoon at a time (adding it all at once could make the frosting separate!). Give the bowl a good scrape to make sure everything is well combined.

Piping rosettes onto a pink champagne cake.

Step 12: Frost and decorate as desired. Level your cakes if needed, then frost as desired. I have a full tutorial on how to decorate a cake, if you need help with this step. If I have extra frosting, I’ll use it to pipe some rosettes on top–so pretty!

SAM’S TIP: Don’t panic if you reduce your champagne too much! It’s fine; the flavor will just be extra concentrated. You may just need a splash more liquid to make your frosting spreadable–I usually add a bit of milk or cream if this happens to me.

Cake frosted with a pale pink frosting and piped icing flowers on one edge.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does pink champagne cake taste like?

Well, like pink champagne! Pink champagne is like regular champagne but has fruity notes to it (think berries or citrus). Pink champagne cake doesn’t at all taste alcoholic, but rather has an effervescent, light, and very subtle fruity flavor with additional notes of vanilla and butter.

What is the best filling for pink champagne cake?

Personally, I think the frosting used here is a perfect choice and no filling is needed. If you insist on adding one though, I think my raspberry cake filling would pair nicely!

Is champagne cake ok for kids?

The alcohol should mostly cook out in both the cake and the frosting, but I don’t give this to my kids and recommend you use your own discretion.

If you need something that’s 100% alcohol-free for kids, you can always add some pink food coloring to my white cake recipe or white cupcakes, or just use my strawberry cake recipe instead!