Strawberry Champagne Cake

This bubbly, bright and beautiful cake is sure to delight any (champagne) lover. This layered cake highlights the classic pairing of strawberries and champagne.

This cake is so me! I love all things pink and who can’t resist a glass of bubbly?? I love everything from the pink frosting to the chocolate covered strawberries and sprinkle medley. This cake is perfect for Valentine’s Day! It would also make for the perfect centrepiece for a Galentine’s Day Brunch. The fresh strawberries paired with the effervescent Champagne make for one delicious cake.

The champagne and strawberries pair so well together… it’s no wonder they are a classic pairing! While this cake has a few different components - they all come together fairly quick! If you would like to make a few things in advanced the cake layers can be made in advanced and frozen. Just fill and frost as usual from frozen. The layers will thaw out beautifully. The strawberry champagne filling can also be made a day in advanced and kept in an airtight container in the fridge.

The champagne syrup really helps to infuse the cake with champagne flavour. It adds the perfect amount of sweetness and flavour to the cakes, while helping to keep the cake layers nice and moist. It is best to infuse this into the cake while the syrup is still hot. The filling is bright and fresh. The strawberry really shines through. The cake itself is moist and has a wonderful crumb. It shockingly (for me anyways) doesn’t have any butter but is an oil based cake. I love the flavour of it paired with the strawberry champagne filling.

I have a love for tall cakes and this one does not disappoint. It has great height which is perfect for a chocolate ganache drip. I like to use a spoon to add the drips where I want them down the sides of the cake and then go back and fill in the top using an off set spatula. I used a small (375ml) bottle of champagne for this cake. It was the perfect size. I had enough bubbly for the syrup and the filling (and a glass to sip).

Strawberry Champagne Cake

Makes: one 6 inch cake

Ingredients

For the Cake

3 ½ c flour

½ tsp salt

1 tbsp baking powder

4 eggs

2 c sugar

1 c canola oil   

1 c milk

1 tsp vanilla

Champagne Syrup

½ c champagne

2 tbsp sugar

Strawberry Champagne Filling

1 ½  c strawberries, diced

½ c champagne

½ c water

½ c sugar

1 tbsp cornstarch

Vanilla Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 cups icing sugar

2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract

1-3 tbsp heavy cream (optional)

Red Gel Food Colouring

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

4-6 Strawberries

½ c white chocolate chips, melted

sprinkles (optional)

White Chocolate Glaze

½ c white chocolate chips

¼ c heavy cream

Directions

For the cake: Pre-heat oven to 350F. Grease and flour three 6 inch cake pans, set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

In a bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, over medium speed beat together eggs and sugar. The mixture should lighten in colour and increase in volume. Continue mixing until very light in colour and almost tripled in volume (about 5 minutes). With the mixer on low-medium speed, continuously add the oil, mix until just combined.  

Alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk and vanilla, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Mix until just combined, do not over mix. Evenly pour batter between the three prepared pans. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

For the Champagne Syrup: In a small saucepan, over medium heat combine champagne and sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and let reduce by half.

For the Strawberry Champagne Filling: In a small saucepan, over medium heat, combine strawberries, champagne, water and sugar. Stir occasionally. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the liquid has reduced by half. Using an immersion blender, puree mixture until smooth. Bring mixture back to a boil and whisk in corn starch. Allow filling to cool completely before use.

For the Buttercream: In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in icing sugar, one cup at a time, until well combined. Beat in vanilla & gel food colouring. Optional - beat in heavy cream 1 tbsp at a time until desired consistency is reached.

For the Chocolate Covered Strawberries: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dip strawberries in white chocolate and place on parchment paper. Top with sprinkles if using. Let chocolate set completely before using.

For the Chocolate Ganache: Heat heavy cream until almost boiling (about 30 seconds to a minute in the microwave). Pour over chocolate chips and stir until smooth.

To Assemble: Fill a piping bag fitted with a round tip with buttercream. Place one layer of cake on your cake board or serving dish. Brush cake layer with hot champagne syrup. Pipe a ring or dam of frosting around cake layer. Fill with strawberry champagne filling. Top with cake layer and continue to fill and stack cake. Once the last cake layer is placed, chill cake in fridge for 10-15 minutes to allow cake to set. Apply a crumb coat of frosting and allow cake to chill for another 10-15 minutes. Frost cake as desired. Top cake with white chocolate ganache and chocolate covered strawberries.

Double Chocolate Donuts

Baked Heart Shaped Chocolate Donuts with a Chocolate Glaze and a medley of Valentine’s Day Sprinkles.

I had so much fun making these baked double chocolate donuts. There were little heart sprinkles ALL over my kitchen… but what else is new? Ha. I bought my heart shaped donut pan a few years ago on sale after Valentine’s Day and then left it sitting in my basement for a few years and when I discovered it again earlier this year… thanks to Marie Kondo lol. I knew I that I had to finally use it this Valentine’s Day.

I decided to go with a double chocolate donut because who doesn’t love chocolate? The more chocolate the better in my opinion. As these are baked donuts the texture is more cake-y than your typically fried donut. I decided to keep my glaze thicker - more frosting like, but you can thin it out with extra heavy cream if you prefer a thinner glaze.

I can’t believe I waited so long to make heart shaped donuts. They are super cute and quick to make. I didn’t even have to pull out my KitchenAid Mixer. I mixed these bad boys by hand and piped them into the donut pan. They bake up quickly and look super cute topped with sprinkles!

Double Chocolate Donuts

Makes: 2 Dozen Donuts

Ingredients

For the Donuts

1 ¼  c flour

½ c sugar

¼ c cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¼ c butter, melted

⅛ c canola oil

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

¾ c milk

For the Frosting

1 c powdered sugar

2+ tbsp heavy cream

2 oz semi sweet chocolate, chopped

2 tbsp butter

Sprinkles

Directions

For the Donuts: Pre-heat oven to 350F. Spray donut pan with cooking oil, set aside. In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, oil, egg, vanilla and milk. Slowly whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Whisk until combined. Transfer the donut batter to a pipping bag. Pipe batter into donut wells. Bake for 6-8 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 3-5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the Glaze: In a small bowl, whisk together icing sugar and two tablespoons of heavy cream. In a microwave bowl, in 20 second intervals, melt together chocolate and butter, stirring between each interval. Stir melted chocolate into icing sugar mixture. *For a thinner glaze add additional heavy cream, one tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Using an off set spatula frost donuts. If using, add sprinkles immediately.

Red Velvet Cookie Sandwiches

These red velvet cookie sandwiches are soft and chewy and filled with everyone’s favourite cream cheese frosting! These heart shaped cookies are perfect to share - anytime!

I am so excited to share this recipe with you. When I started planning what I wanted to make for Valentine’s Day this year cookie sandwiches immediately came to mind. I knew I wanted my cookies to be heart shaped, so I needed a dough that would hold its shape and since everyone loves cream cheese frosting I knew it would be the perfect filling.

Red Velvet Cake has that hint of cocoa flavour and is incredibly moist. I wanted to make sure that my cookies shared the same characteristics while still holding their shape. The cookies have a true red velvet flavour. They have just enough cocoa powder and the addition of sour cream really helps to bring home that red velvet flavour and texture.

There are a few key things that you can do to keep the cookies from spreading while baking. It all comes down to properly chilling your cookies. Chilling them before you roll them out and before they go into the oven really helps them keep their shape.

The cookies are delicious straight from the oven but they taste even better the next day in my opinion. The cream cheese frosting keeps the cookies nice and soft, and that extra day gives all the flavours a chance to meld together.

Red Velvet Cookie Sandwiches

Makes: 2-3 dozen individual cookies or 1-1.5 dozen sandwich cookies

Ingredients

For the Cookies

1 c butter

1 c sugar

1 tsp vinegar

1 egg

Red Gel Food Colouring

2 c flour

¼ c cocoa powder

½ tsp baking soda

2 tbsp sour cream

For the Frosting

8oz cream cheese, at room temperature

½ c butter, at room temperature

3 c icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1-3 tbsp heavy cream (optional)

Directions

For the Cookies: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, on medium speed, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, vinegar and food colouring  to butter mixture. Mix until combined. Sift together flour, cocoa powder and baking soda. On slow speed, add in flour mixture. Finally, mix in sour cream. Mix until just combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in fridge for minimum 1 hour

Preheat oven to 350F. On a lightly floured surface roll out dough to desired thickness. Cut out cookies using desired cookie cutters and transfer to parchment lined baking tray. Chill cut cookies in fridge for 15 minutes before baking. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until cookie edges are light golden brown.  Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

For the Frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer, over medium to high speed, beat together butter and cream cheese until light and creamy. On low speed, mix in icing sugar, one cup at a time, until incorporated. Mix in vanilla. Whip on medium to high speed for 1-2minutes or until light and fluffy. Add heavy cream until desired frosting consistency is reached.

To assemble: Pair up similar sized cookies. Pipe frosting onto cookies and sandwich together. Store cookies in an airtight container. Enjoy!