Champagne Cake (American South)

Whether I'm celebrating Christmas, the New Year or a job well done, champagne is always welcome. It's the ultimate celebratory drink (and it makes a great gift). However, it's not always the time to pop open a bottle of bubbly. At my house, though, it's always time for cake. So why not combine the special, festive feeling of a good glass of bubbles with the all-the-time appeal of a good dessert?

Champagne Cake:
2½ cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
2 cups champagne or sparkling wine
1¾ cups sugar
¾ cup butter, softened
¾ cup milk
1/3 cup sour cream
6 egg whites
3½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
½ tsp. sea salt

Champagne Frosting:
1 cup butter, softened
9 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. champagne
⅔-¾ cup milk

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C/155°C fan, Gas Mark 3). Grease and flour 3 (8") cake pans.

For the Champagne Cake:
Mixing the batter for this cake is very simple. You start like you would for any good cake. In one bowl, mix your dry ingredients - flour, baking powder and salt - and set aside.

Then cream together your butter and sugar until nice and fluffy using a stand or hand mixer. Then add in your sour cream and vanilla extract. Once those ingredients are well combined, add in your egg whites. Beat until nice and fluffy. Once those ingredients are well combined, alternate adding your dry mixture with your milk and concentrated champagne. Scrape the sides as needed.

Divide the batter evenly between the three prepared pans. Bake for 22-25 minutes. To check if the cake is done, just poke a toothpick into the center of one of the cakes. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.

Let the cakes cool in the pans for about 5 minutes before tipping out onto a wire rack. Allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting.

For the Champagne Frosting:
To make this simple buttercream, just beat together your butter, powdered sugar, a smidge of vanilla extract and two Tbsp. of champagne. Then beat in the milk until it reaches the right consistency - somewhere between two-thirds and three-quarters of a cup of milk.

For this cake, I kept it fairly simple and just spread on the buttercream with a large offset spatula, but you can pipe or try other decorating techniques if you like! To give it a subtle but festive finishing touch, I sprinkled on some pearlescent jimmies and sugar pearls.

Makes a three-layer, 8" cake.