Bundt Cake #2 of BCS4: I kind of had to Frankenstein it together

A friend of mine had a birthday on November 10th, since she was turning 25 (yes, I know, so young) and had recently moved into a new place, she and her main squeeze had a party. Since she is a fan of the strawberry champagne (she also extols its virtues in a strawberry mimosa), it seemed appropriate to make her the Strawberry Champagne Celebration Cake. Because this was going to be for a party, I went for the full-size bundt this time. I also skipped the champagne buttercream, because, as I mentioned in that post, it turns out that I don't really like the stuff (buttercream frosting in general, not the champagne one specifically). I decided, instead, to make a Strawberry Champagne Glaze to go on it.

I made the cake (you can find the recipe here) and when I went to turn it out, I started getting nervous that I was going to have a repeat of the disaster of Bundt Cake #1 from this season. The first time I attempted to turn it out, only a small section came out--from just one side of the cake. I let it sit for 15 minutes and tried again, this time an almost equal-sized chunk of cake came out--this time from the other side. Remember, this was supposed to be going to a party. I was seriously starting to freak out!

If you look closely, you can see the two pieces.

And obviously, the cake still in the pan behind it.

Before I turned the cake out for the final time, I got a silicon spatula out, and ran it along the side of the bundt pan to help the cake loosen from the edges. Luckily, that worked! Then I just needed to "Frankenstein" the cake together, which I did by figuring out where the edges matched up, so when I turned it out the final time, the parts all fit together. Too bad I wasn't frosting the cake, because then I could have used the frosting to glue the pieces together. As it was, since the two pieces that came out first were flat-ish, it just kind of stayed together.

Because the cake left some of its crust, so to speak, in the pan, I decided against pouring the glaze on it, for fear it would end up soggy. So I brought it separately to be poured on individual slices.

Crysta Wilson has a recipe in Kiss My Bundt for a 7-Up glaze for her 7-Up Poundcake, so I used that recipe as my guide when making the Strawberry Champagne Glaze.

Strawberry Champagne Glaze

1/2 cup Strawberry Champagne

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar (I recommend sifting the sugar, as my glaze ended up a little lumpy)

Pour the champagne into a small bowl. With a whisk, stir in the powdered sugar a 1/2 cup at a time until fully mixed.

She recommends pouring a 1/2 cup of the glaze on the cake while it's still hot (that way it will absorb some of it) and then once the cake has fully cooled, drizzling the rest on it.

As with the first, more disastrous, cake of Bundt Cake Season 4, this cake was still delicious. And since it was dark at the party, no one really noticed its Frankenstein qualities. This cake is so good! You should definitely give it a try--you don't even need to splurge on the good stuff, Andre or its like will do just fine. This cake would be especially handy if you had some leftover champagne you wanted to use up, but weren't in the mood for drinking it (for some bizarre reason).

After two problematic cakes in a row, I was seriously starting to worry about the fate of Bundt Cake Season 4!