Orange Champagne Cake- An Elegant Party Cake

Orange Champagne Cake is an elegant dessert with baked-in orange peel specks, a lemon curd filling, and champagne buttercream frosting.

This cake has serious party potential.

New Year's parties, bridal showers, wedding showers, engagement parties — Orange Champagne Cake is perfect for any occasion that calls for an elegant and unforgettable dessert.

It looks like it came straight off the pages of a food magazine, and the taste is divine. The cake is rich and flavorful, yet light and moist thanks to the addition of bubbly champagne. (If you've never baked with champagne before, you're in for a serious treat. It does amazing things for baked goods!)

And don't even get me started on the dreamy lemon curd filling. I like to say, "When life gives you lemons, make lemon curd!" I'm a big lemon curd aficionado — I just can't get enough of that sweet-tart flavor pairing.

Orange Champagne Cake (which, by the way, is baked with specks of orange peel) is covered with a thick layer of creamy champagne buttercream frosting which is brushed with gold powder to amp up the glam level of this dessert. It's then accented with a pretty pattern of candied orange and lemon slices.

A few notes about where to find two of the ingredients in this champagne cake:

• Candied orange and lemon slices: You can make these yourself if you're feeling adventurous, or you can purchase them at Trader Joe's. (I absolutely love Trader Joe's!)
• Gold powder/dust: You can find it online, or look for it at a store like Hobby Lobby or Michaels.

Try this elegant Orange Champagne Cake the next time you need to "bake to impress." It's a lot of fun to make and will be enjoyed by everyone who tries it.

If you want to try your hand at a few other desserts that contain champagne, try these:

• Champagne Ganache Covered Cake
• Champagne Cupcakes with Rose Hibiscus Buttercream

Enjoy!

Print

Orange Champagne Cake

Prep Time

25 mins

Cook Time

24 mins

Total Time

49 mins

 

An elegant cake that is great for any season.

Author: Jackie

Ingredients

Champagne Cake

• 2 ¾ cups cake flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ⅔ cup butter room temperature
• 1 teaspoon orange zest freshly grated
• 1 tablespoon orange juice
• 1 ½ cups white sugar
• 1 cup champagne
• 6 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon champagne extract optional
• 1 teaspoon orange zest freshly grated

Champagne Buttercream

• 1 pound unsalted butter room temperature
• 6 cups powdered sugar
• 4 tablespoons Champagne or 1 tablespoon Champagne flavoring
• Lemon or Orange Curd
• Gold Dust
• Candied Lemon and Orange slices

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9 inch round pans or three 6 inch round pans with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In the bowl of your mixer (or beaters), cream butter, sugar, and orange juice and zest until soft and fluffy.
4. Reducing your mixer speed to low, alternate adding flour mixer and champagne until just combined.
5. Transfer batter to another large bowl and wash and dry thoroughly mixer bowl.
6. In clean bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
7. Add ⅓ of stiff egg whites to cupcake batter folding in very gently. Repeat 2 more times.
8. Fill cake pans half full with batter.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-24 minutes, or until a knife is inserted and when removed is clean.
10. Cool completely before filling and frosting.
11. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whip the butter until creamed. Add the powdered sugar and champagne and mix until the ingredients are evenly incorporated and the frosting is smooth and creamy.
12. Layer cakes with generous layer of lemon or orange curd, then frost with frosting.
13. When cake is dry, brush with gold dust and garnish with candied orange and lemon slices.