A high altitude mini champagne cake, frosted with silky champagne buttercream, made in a mini 4-inch size that’s just enough for 2-4 people. This cake is so soft, light and fluffy, and makes a perfect dessert for a small New Year’s Eve celebration. Add a touch of holiday glamour with sparkling sugar and gold sprinkles.
You might also love these high altitude recipes for strawberry rosé cupcakes, grapefruit champagne granita, and pink champagne cake.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Small Size. High altitude bakers love my mini cake recipes, and this mini champagne cake is such a special dessert to make for Christmas or New Year’s. When you want to make a layer cake, but you don’t need too much leftover, a mini cake is a wonderful option for any occasion, birthday or anniversary. This little cake yields four slices, so it’s just enough for a few people to share.
So Soft and Fluffy. The fizzyness of the champagne lightens the cake batter, making an incredibly soft, tender, light and fluffy cake with a delicate champagne flavor. Today’s mini cake recipe is scaled down to 1/4 of my standard sized champagne layer cake.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Cake Flour. For the softest, lightest texture in your cake, use cake flour, not all purpose flour. Cake flour has a lower percentage of protein, and makes the fluffiest white cakes and vanilla cakes.
- Champagne. There’s no need to buy an expensive bottle of champagne for your champagne cake, unless you really want to splurge. I’ve made champagne cakes with both Korbel and Martini & Rossi brands, which are pretty affordable and add wonderful flavor to the cake. A sweet champagne, rather than dry, adds the best flavor. And whatever you have left, just save for the midnight toast on New Year’s Eve.
- Vegetable Oil. Although butter may have the best flavor in cakes, using oil in today’s recipe keeps the cake extra soft, moist and light, rather than dense.
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and grease two 4-inch round cake pans with non-stick baking spray.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Add the champagne, oil, egg and vanilla, and whisk until smooth and well combined. (Tip: first pour the champagne into a liquid measuring cup and let the foam and bubbles settle down, then measure the amount needed for the cake.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake on the center oven rack until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean, about 22-25 minutes.
- Set the pans on a wire cooling rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting. If needed, slice a small portion of the domed tops off the cakes before stacking and frosting.
Buttercream
- With an electric mixer (stand or hand held), beat the butter for one minute.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, the meringue powder and vanilla.
- Increase the speed to medium, and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl several times, until very light and fluffy. Add 1-2 tablespoons of champagne as needed for a smooth consistency.
- Stack, fill and frost the cooled cakes with the buttercream. Decorate the cake with sparkling sugar and gold sprinkles.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
Frequently Asked Questions
This champagne cake is very soft, moist, light and fluffy, and will stay fresh tasting for days and days, if stored in an airtight container or cake carrier at room temperature. You can also freeze the cake in an airtight container for up to 3-6 months.
If you want to make this cake without champagne, try substituting another fizzy, clear bubbly liquid, such as Sprite, Ginger Ale, or a non-alcoholic sparkling beverage.
To decorate my mini champagne cake, I scattered the buttercream with coarse white sparkling sugar, then decorated it with metallic gold sprinkles and gold birthday candles.
I’ve made champagne cakes with both Korbel and Martini & Rossi brands, which are pretty affordable and add wonderful flavor to the cake. A sweet champagne, rather than dry, adds the best flavor.
You Might Also Like
Please check out my Amazon Shop for a curated collection of some of my favorite cake pans from trusted brands, baking tools, ingredients, pretty things and fashion finds. I recommend products that I buy and use every day!
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High Altitude Mini Champagne Cake
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Electric Mixer (Stand or Hand-Held)
- 4-inch Round Cake Pans (x2) (or you can use 6 inch pans, but the cake layers will be much thinner)
Ingredients
Cake
- ¾ cup cake flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 6 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp (scant) baking powder
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 6 tbsp champagne
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
Buttercream
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp meringue powder, optional
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1-2 tbsp champagne
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and grease two 4-inch round cake pans with non-stick baking spray.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Add the champagne, oil, egg and vanilla, and whisk until smooth and well combined. (Tip: first pour the champagne into a liquid measuring cup and let the foam and bubbles settle down, then measure the amount needed for the cake.
- Divide the batter between the pans. Bake on the center oven rack until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean, about 22-25 minutes.
- Set the pans on a wire cooling rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting. If needed, slice a small portion of the domed tops off the cakes before stacking and frosting.
Buttercream
- With an electric mixer (stand or hand held), beat the butter for one minute.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, the meringue powder and vanilla.
- Increase the speed to medium, and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl several times, until very light and fluffy. Add 1-2 tablespoons of champagne as needed for a smooth consistency.
- Stack, fill and frost the cooled cakes with the buttercream. Decorate the cake with sparkling sugar and gold sprinkles.
Notes
- This champagne cake is very soft, moist, light and fluffy, and will stay fresh tasting for days and days, if stored in an airtight container or cake carrier at room temperature.
- If you want to make this cake without champagne, try substituting another fizzy, clear bubbly liquid, such as Sprite, Ginger Ale, or a non-alcoholic sparkling beverage.
After years of going out, my husband and I stay home on NYE and I make a nice dinner. I was reading my overlooked email early afternoon on NYE and saw yours which included this mini cake. I made it and it is great! ! I used two 6 inch pans and baked them for 20 minutes. I also used Prosecco since that’s what I like. What a treat for our 2025 dinner. I love the mini cake since I usually only make cakes for family birthdays. This cake was perfect for 3 servings for my husband and me. Will be my go-to recipe for me and my husband.