Recipe Review: Champagne Bundt Cake by Homemade Hoopla

Nothing says 'Happy New Year' like a champagne bundt cake.



To be honest, I feel the holidays are an excuse to add brandy, whiskey, rum, wine, champagne and every other type of liquor to baked goods. I like boozy desserts though and i love them when they are well made.

Happy 2019 by the way!!! I ought to have posted this recipe review eons ago but was too busy eating everything in sight. Now I am paying for it #tightclothesproblems.

Back to the champagne cake.
After I ate some strawberry crinkle cookies and dunked them in white wine (true story), I began my search for a champagne bundt cake. I wanted to bake a bundt cake and knew that the addition of champagne or white wine would add something extra to the flavor of the cake.

I quickly found a Champagne Bundt Cake recipe by Homemade Hoopla.

The only problem was that I did not have any champagne at home, only white and red wine. I decided to try this recipe with the white wine and below is my recipe review of the champagne bundt cake by Homemade Hoopla.



The recipe and instructions

The recipe resembled a regular cake recipe. The only ingredient that most people may not have on hand is the champagne. The instructions were clear and easy to follow.

The mixing process involved beating the sugar and oil for a few minutes. Afterward, you mix in the eggs and champagne till well combined. Then,  you add your flour and mix it till just combined. The cake batter is very loose/liquid when compared to the average cake batter.

I turned my cake batter into a bundt pan and baked it for 45 minutes. The instructions state that it could take 45-60 minutes for the cake to be baked. I recommend that you check at the 45-minute mark if you are using a 10-12 cup bundt pan. If you are making this recipe with a 6 cup bundt pan, it will take longer for the cake to be fully baked.
After the cake is done, let it cool for a few minutes before removing it from the bundt pan.

Note: I wanted the flavor of the white wine to be more prominent, so I made a white wine reduction while the cake was in the oven. After turning the cake onto my cake plate, I brushed the white wine reduction onto the cake. I let the wine soak in and repeated this step thrice.

My brush was not soaking wet while I was brushing on the reduction because I did not want my cake to become soggy.

I made the glaze recipe attached to the champagne bundt cake recipe but did not make my glaze as thick. I am not a fan of thick glazes, and I drizzled the glaze on the bundt cake lightly.



The texture

The champagne bundt cake has a beautiful texture. This cake is dense and has a close but fine crumb. The texture of this bundt cake reminds me of a butter pound cake. While the champagne cake is dense, it is soft as well.

This is a moist cake because of the use of oil and the addition of the white wine. Brushing this cake with the white wine reduction also made the crust softer and more appealing in my opinion.

If you want a champagne cake that is light and airy, you will not like this recipe.

The taste

I love the flavor of this cake. THE END. Just joking.

When you bite into this cake, you get a flavor that you cannot put your finger on and that is the white wine. A lot of people may not be able to guess that it is champagne or white wine cake because the flavor is floral. There are light floral notes in the flavor of this cake that gives it body and complexity.

The crust that was brushed with the reduced white wine was a little tart. This has to do with the white wine or champagne that you use. I used a dry white and making a wine reduction increased the tangy taste of the wine.

 If you use a sweet dessert wine, your wine/champagne reduction will not be tart. However, the flavors all worked well together.

The tartness of the wine, the subtle floral notes, and the barely there vanilla provided me with a very well balanced and flavored cake.
This cake is not cloyingly sweet. It is sweet enough to be enjoyed as it is without a glaze. The slight sweetness of this cake can allow you to have multiple servings without feeling too guilty.

This recipe uses a lot of oil, and so, while eating this cake, there was a slick feel on my tongue. I recommend that you use a flavorless oil when making this champagne bundt cake recipe.

The wine or champagne provides a subtle flavor. This flavor can easily be overshadowed if you use an oil with a strong flavor. When you make this recipe, stick to flavorless oils.

 The champagne glaze did not add a lot of flavor to the cake.  After the glaze cooled down, it hardened and added a little crunch to the cake.

Do I recommend the champagne bundt cake from Homemade Hoopla?

Yes, I do.

I baked this cake and left it on the dining table. In 6 hours, the cake was gone.
I recommend that you make this cake ASAP and have it with a glass of champagne.

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2 comments

  1. Would you still happen to have a copy of this recipe from homemade hooplah? I loved this recipe when I made it last year but seems it is not longer available on their site and made the mistake of not printing it out. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello,

    I am sorry but i no longer have this recipe.

    ReplyDelete

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