Champagne & Strawberry Anniversary Cake

Greetings! Valentine's day is just a few days a way, so today I'm sharing this delicious champagne strawberry cake perfect to share with your partner for date night!

Fun fact: this cake was actually one of the tiers of my husband and I's wedding cake, and by far my favorite of the flavors we had. I decided to recreate it for our anniversary this past year by combining three of my favorite recipes, and it turned out absolutely fantastic! Without further ado, here's how you make this delicious, fluffy cake!

If you are feeling creative and making this for Valentine's Day, you can make this cake a beautiful blush pink. Use pink champagne and pink food coloring. I used regular champagne and omitted the food coloring because I wanted this to be as similar to our wedding cake as possible.

For the champagne sponge you'll need:

3 cups (342g) cake flour

1 Tbsp (15g) baking powder

1/2 (2g) tsp salt

6 egg whites (194g)

1 cup (242g) pink or white champagne

2 tsp (8g) vanilla extract

2 Tbsp (18g) vegetable oil

2 cups (400g) granulated sugar

1 cup (2 sticks, 226g) unsalted butter

Fresh strawberries for decoration

Optional: small amount of pink food coloring

Full recipe directions from My Cake School HERE

For the strawberry goo filling you'll need:

400g frozen strawberries

100g caster sugar

Optional: 1 lemon

Find how to make Fruit Goo from Cupcake Jemma

For the whipped icing you'll need:

2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

14-16 tablespoons sifted powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp skimmed milk powder

(aka nonfat milk powdered milk or nonfat instant dry milk)

Whipped icing recipe by Erren's Kitchen

Assembly and icing instructions:

Level all three cakes. On a cake stand, add the first layer of the cake, then a layer of whipped icing. Add a few spoonfuls of fruit goo, being careful not to add too much and don't get too close to the edges. You don't want it to ooze out of the sides when your building and crumb coating the cake. Add the second cake, icing, and fruit goo. Add the third cake on top and make sure cake is straight and even all around. Complete a light crumb coat of icing all over the sides and top of the cake. Set in fridge for 30 minutes.

After the crumb coat has set, finish icing the cake in whatever style you desire. Get creative! I did a smooth base and used a star tip to create swirls on the top and to make stars around the base. Decorate with fresh strawberries on top. Enjoy!

Store cake in fridge for up to a week, or store in the freezer in saran/cling wrap and freezer paper for up to 6 months.

I hope you all enjoyed this cake tutorial. Leave a comment below if you make it! Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

-Ali