Champagne Cake
Vallejo's Home Bakery Copy Cat Champagne Cake
As I reminisce about the celebrations of my youth, I distinctly remember the first time I realized there was such a thing as a business that only sold special cakes, cookies, pies, and other deserts; deserts that were far superior to the frozen or grocery store kind. Beautiful cakes & deserts displayed behind glass, with lights illuminating the artful, sweet creations. Cakes meant for celebrations and special occasions, what a concept! lol. Up until this point, my Mom or Aunts would make our special deserts for holiday’s or birthdays, always beautiful and always delicious. I just didn’t know you could buy these at a specialty place.
For my 9th birthday, my mom took me to our local bakery, Home Bakery in Vallejo, CA. She said I could pick out any cake on display, it didn’t take me long to choose, of course I wanted the Pink cake! I wasn’t exactly a girly girl, but I did like pink, and when we asked what flavor it was, the woman behind the counter said, she didn’t think I would like it, because “it was Champagne Cake, and that it had a rum custard filling, that was for a more sophisticated or mature taste.” Her words made me want to try it even more. “I am mature” I thought, and it sounded fancy to me, so despite her warning, I insisted that the pink one was the one I wanted to try, and hopefully my two brothers would not want to eat any because it was pink! LOL, And my cousin Tammie & I could have all the cake we wanted, while we played Barbies and celebrated my birthday. The lady took my cake to the back of the bakery behind two saloon type double doors, and got it ready for us to take home, she took off the three scoops of cream and replaced it with; “Happy Birthday Karen Sue” and taped a few birthday candles to the lid of the pink box she placed it in. That pink cardboard box became the symbol of special celebrations for the next 20 years. The anticipation of what was under the lid of those iconic pink boxes at each birthday or milestone worthy of a party was never disappointing. As for me, I always chose the Champagne Cake.
Home Bakery closed its doors in 1996, after decades in business. People in Vallejo, Solano, Napa, and Contra Costa County still talk about the Champagne Cake from Home Bakery, it was perfection! When they closed they must have locked the recipe in a vault and threw away the key! The recipe for this cake, has been a desperate search for so many people, that it was the most requested recipe of our local newspaper’s food column for all the years that they had a food column! I have seen and tried many variations of this recipe, and even tried the famous Madonna Inn cake, but nothing ever really tastes the same. After years of trial and error, and a longing to share the taste of that cake with my kids, nieces and nephews this is the recipe I have come up with. It’s not exact, but it’s pretty darn good. If you google “Vallejo Champagne Cake” you will see dozens of stories and replica’s of this cake, it was special to a lot of people over the decades, if you try it, I hope it’s special for you as well. It’s a little bit labor intense, but the outcome is worth the effort!
Recently my 28 year old niece, Jade requested this cake for her Baby Shower. So of course I was honored and happy to make it for her, and I must say it turned out pretty good! I guess I did in some way share the sweet memory of this childhood treat with the next generation of our family.
The Recipe:
The Cake
- 1 box white cake mix
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1 cup champagne
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1/2 tsp sparkling wine extract. (You can buy this online, or make your own by reducing half a cup of champagne until it has a syrup consistency, and cooled)
Mix the flour with the dry cake mix, then add eggs, oil, extract and champagne, beat for about 2 minutes until batter is smooth. You can smell the champagne in this batter, you know it’s gonna be good!
Divide batter into two prepared 8″ cake pans, and bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
When cakes are done, remove and cool on a wire rack, then once cool, cover in parchment paper, and then cling wrap and refrigerate or freeze.
Bavarian Cream
- 1 Envelope unflavored gelatin
- pinch of salt
- 6 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/4 Cup sugar
- 2 Eggs, separated
- 1 1/4 Cup milk
- 1 Cup heavy cream
- 1 Tsp Vanilla
- 1 Tsp Rum extract, or a little more to taste, not more than 2 tsp
- Double boiler, wire whisk, spoon
While the mixture cools in fridge, start on the other two components.
- Beat egg whites with electric mixer adding 4 tbs of sugar until stiff peaks form, set aside.
- In another bowl, whip heavy whipped cream , adding 1/4 cup sugar, vanilla extract and another 1/4 tsp rum extract until stiff peaks form.
When mixture in fridge is cooled, gently fold all three components together in one large ceramic or glass bowl, try not to over mix, but mix well enough that it all becomes one uniform color. It will be loose and not look like much at this point. After it is well folded together, cover in plastic wrap, allowing the wrap to touch the top of the custard as to prevent a skin from developing. Refrigerate about 2 hours, and it will set up as the most delicious boozy custard you have ever tried! This is your filling.
Pink Chocolate Shavings
Preparing the pink chocolate shavings is easy! Melt white chocolate chips in double boiler and add pink food coloring, I like using the gel coloring, the color can be as intense or as subtle as you like depending on how much you use.
Pour melted chocolate into a plastic container prepared with wax or parchment paper in the bottom. Put in fridge to harden.
Grate hardened chocolate into a bowl using a grater or an electric salad shooter (what I like to use) You can also shave strips of the chocolate if you want, to make a dramatic effect like you will see many bakers do.
Icing for the cake
Whipped Cream Frosting
- 2 Cups heavy whipping cream
- 3/4 Cup Powdered sugar
- 3 Tbsp Meringue Powder
- 1 Tbs Vanilla extract
- few drops of Sparkling wine extract ( Optional )
Mix all ingredients on high using stand mixer or electric mixer until stiff peaks form. The meringue powder acts as a stabilizer and makes the whipped cream more like a thick frosting than just a whipped topping. You can add food coloring to the frosting as well. I added just a very little of the same pink color I used for the chocolate shavings, as to just have a blush contrast for my cake.
Many bakers use Buttercream frosting for this cake, I like a light and less sweet frosting, but you can use your favorite. I have even tried using canned frosting and adding a little food coloring and extracts to it, it’s never quite as good, but in a pinch it works too.
Using a flat spatula apply chocolate shavings to sides of cake and just around top, leaving open frosting for contrast or decorating. Dollop 3 scoops of the Bavarian cream on top, topping each dollop with a cherry. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. I hope you enjoy this cake, and let me know how yours turns out!
There you have it, my version of Vallejo’s Home Bakery’s Champagne Cake. I like to keep the small bottles of champagne in my pantry just in case I get a request for the cake, I’ve tried Cooks Champagne and Barefoot Bubbly, both are good, the Barefoot bubbly is a little sweeter. Below are a few pics of champagne cakes I have made, they don’t always have to be pink. lol
4 Comments
Rose costa
I remember this cake very well, and it was delicious, very fond memories. Unfortunately I was too far away in Pittsburg and didn’t get it as often as I would have liked, we had a local bakery prima Donna cake box there gone too. They made a Rum Chantilly Cake. Each layer brushed with rum and Bavarian cream was the same with whipped cream topping, miss those days so much , very happy times, thank you for sharing
Linda
The food editor for the Vallejo Times Herald published the official recipe for this Home Bakery Champagne cake many years ago and Pastry Pride was used for the frosting. Smart and Final might still sell it and it was in the freezer section.
https://static.wixstatic.com/media/86706f_f1dc9f0a2721487693900fd88eca8f6c~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_680,h_680,al_c,q_85,enc_auto/pastrypride_foto_1.jpg
Kathy Webster
This was my favorite cake ever! I looked forward to this cake on my birthday more than getting gifts! Can’t wait to try this recipe !!
Kathy Webster
The best cake ever!! Thank you!