WOW! So it’s been a minute since I’ve had another blog post…and by a minute I mean a sorrowful 10 months that I’ve been off the grid! I have been so incredibly busy as of late which has been taking up most of my time. Between school, a few jobs that I’ve been in and out of, and trying to generally keep my sanity in check I have sadly left my blogging behind. But that doesn’t mean I have been up to my baking ventures as usual! And for my latest blog post after my slight hiatus, I want to unveil, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful cakes I have made. One thing that I love about having my website, even when I’m not keeping it incredibly active, is that it still acts as a portfolio for my creations. All the time, even just running into people while out I will get compliments on things they see on my website or Facebook baking log, and it is truly heartwarming. So when I got a text message from an old friend of mine, Briana, inquiring about a cake I can make for her family the obvious answer was ABSOLUTELY! She wanted a small cake for her Aunts wedding reception party with my Victoria’s Sweets and Eats twist–so we decided on a two layer cake: one layer chocolate, one layer vanilla, with a whipped fudge filling. It was decorated with an ombre, champagne colored vanilla buttercream frosting with a rosette finished and topped with a gum paste bow and her provided wedding topper (which I think was actually a small coin bank lol).  It was such a joy to make and I can’t wait to share it with you all!

Champagne Ombré Cake

Yields: 24-30 servings

Ingredients:

NOTE: These cake recipes will yield one (1), 9-inch cake layer each

Vanilla Cake:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 vanilla bean (if you don’t have a vanilla bean add an extra tablespoon of vanilla extract)
• 1 3/4 cup cake flour (see recipe note)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup whole milk

Chocolate Cake:

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 oz bittersweet chocolate
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
• 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup water

Whipped Fudge Filling:

• 8 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup

Vanilla Buttercream:

• 1.5 servings of vanilla buttercream frosting 

Special Supplies Needed:

• Pastry bags
• 1M frosting tip
• Gel food coloring (for the champagne cake I used ivory and a touch of brown)
• 1 bag of Wilton gum paste 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans by lining the bottom with parchment paper and greasing the sides.

For Vanilla Cake:

1. In a small bowl, combine sugar and seeds from the vanilla bean. Using the back of a spoon, move around the bowl and apply pressure to break up seed clumps. Set aside. (If you are not using the vanilla bean skip this step and add the tablespoon of vanilla extract in with step 5)
2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Add the vanilla bean sugar and mix until well combined.
4. Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes. This will result in a fine crumb texture.
5. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract until smooth.
6. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.
7. Slowly add milk and mix on low-speed just until combined.
8. Fill the prepared pan until a little more than halfway full. Bake for 45-50 minutes, being sure to keep an eye on it at the 45 minute mark. The top may be a dark golden brown, that is ok. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
9. Allow to cool to the touch in the pan then flip out on a wire rack to fully cool.

For Chocolate Cake:

1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix butter and sugar until combined. This will result in a wet sand like texture.
2. Melt the chocolate in the microwave safe bowl in 30-second increments, stirring between each session.
3. Add cooled melted chocolate into butter mixture until combined.
4. Mix in eggs and egg yolks one at a time until combined.
5. Mix in oil, vanilla, and sour cream until combined.
6. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and coca powder. Mix sifted ingredients together to ensure they are well combined.
7. Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients in three additions, mixing until combined after each addition.
8. Mix in the wear until combined.
9. Fill the prepared pan until a little more than halfway full. Bake for 40-45 minutes, being sure keep an eye on the 40 minute mark. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
10. Allow to cool to the touch in the pan then flip out on a wire rack to fully cool.

Whipped Fudge Filling:

1. Place the chocolate in the bowl of a stand mixer; set aside.
2. Whisk together the cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Pour cream mixture over the chocolate and whisk until smooth and fully melted. Refrigerate uncovered, stirring occasionally, unit cooled to room temperature, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. To speed up this process a bit you can place it in the freezer for the last 15 minutes, but be sure to keep an eye on it. The chocolate should still be  a bit malleable but not fully liquified.
3. Place the bowl on the stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment. Beat on high-speed until chocolate mixture is lighter in color and fluffy in texture, about 1 minute. If you see that your mixture isn’t becoming lighter in color, it could be because it did not have enough time to set in the fridge/freezer. Just return the mixture into the freezer for a few minutes and you should be good to go. Once this is done, immediately assemble the cake (as the filling sits it will harden a bit and be difficult to spread).

Assembling the cake:

1. Once all the layers have cooled completely, level each of the cakes. You can do this by using a cake leveler or serrated knife. Center the first layer on the cake board. To ensure no filling will spill out between layers pipe a small ring of icing around the edge of the cake. Fill with whipped fudge filling and smooth out. Top with second layer.
2. Crumb coat the cake and pop that baby in the fridge for 15 minutes. In the meantime prepare the frosting.

Decorating the cake:

With your piping bag at a perpendicular angle to your surface, apply a small amount of pressure with one fluid motion swoop the bag around the center ‘star’

1. Using three separate bowls, place 1 cup of frosting in two, and 1.5 cups in another. The bowl with the most frosting will be the lightest color.
2. Add food coloring to the bowl first until the desired color is reached. For the champagne colored cake I used ivory with a touch of brown to achieve the color I wanted. Color the other two bold with frosting until you have three coherent shades of gradient of frosting. Fill your piping bag with the darkest shade of frosting fixed the 1M tip.
3. Place the cake on a rotating cake stand, if you have one. Starting at the bottom, pipe a row of roses along the cake that covers about 1/3 the height of the cake.
4. Continue with the second row of roses in the next lighter shade of frosting, placing the roses directly above the bottom layer.
5. Finish with the last row of roses in the lightest shade of frosting. Next decorate the top of the cake by piping a rose in the center of the top of the cake. Work your way around the top of the cake. If there’s any large spaces between the roses, you can pipe small stars to fill the space.

Gum paste ribbon:

I followed this great video tutorial on how to make the gum paste ribbon. I used it as a guide line to make the one that I want but check it out!

Recipe Note:

• There is no need to every buy cake flour again! To make it at homemade cake flour, take 2 cups of all-purpose flour and take out 1/4 cup. Replace that 1/4 with cornstarch and viola!